Gallinari not closing door on playoffs
But veteran has ‘long way’ to go to return to court
Nearly seven months since tearing his ACL, Celtics forward Danilo Gallinari remained hopeful on Thursday that he could return for the playoffs but acknowledged that he still has a lot of work to do before that can happen.
The 34-year-old Gallinari — who signed a twoyear contract with the Celtics last summer — tore the ACL in his left knee on Aug. 27 while playing for Italy in a FIBA World Cup qualifier. A typical recovery timeline for a torn ACL can range from six to 12 months, and while a return this season seems unlikely, Gallinari doesn’t want to rule it out. The possibility has pushed him throughout his rehab.
“Playoffs is still in my head, so that’s something that I’m looking for,” Gallinari said. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not, but on a motivation standpoint, it’s always something that motivates me more. But I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.”
Gallinari has been seen throughout the last couple of months doing light oncourt workouts and has not begun ramping up to the point of playing in smallersided scrimmages. Even if Gallinari is cleared during the playoffs, he recognized it’s more complicated to return during that stage of the season.
“A lot of steps that need to be done before you play an actual game,” Gallinari said. “And even maybe after all those steps, you are not ready for a playoff game because when you don’t play the whole season and then be ready to play a playoff game is not easy for anybody, not just body-wise but mentally-wise. But like I said, it might happen. So we’ll see.”
Still, Gallinari is encouraged with his rehab. He hasn’t had any setbacks and said Thursday that his progress is on track with what was expected.
“Everything is going well,” Gallinari said. “Still a long way, but it’s going well.”
What boxes is he trying to check next?
“Get better results in the tests — the weight-room tests and the tests that we’ve been doing,” Gallinari said. “We’ve been doing different tests to see the differences between the two legs. So we’ve got to get better with that and once we get better with that, we can start ramping up a little bit more on the court.”
In the meantime, Gallinari is still trying to provide value while the Celtics prepare for the playoffs, which begin in less than a month. Gallinari has traveled with the team for most of the season and is offering his veteran guidance when and where it’s needed.
“Just by staying with them in practice and being able to follow the meetings and following the team closer,” Gallinari said. “Being on the bench and seeing what the coaches want, what the players are able to do, the game plans and everything. So just during the game talking to players and coaches about the game plan and stuff that I see that they could individually do better.”
White: Seed ‘doesn’t matter’
The Celtics (50-23) will enter Friday in second place in the Eastern Conference. They’re 2.5 games behind the first-place Bucks and a half-game ahead of the 76ers (49-23), who they’re tied with in the loss column. All three have clinched playoff spots and are likely to hold the top three seeds in the East in some order.
The C’s, who have headto-head road meetings with the Bucks and 76ers remaining among their final nine games, don’t seem necessarily concerned about which seed they get.
“If we get the one seed, it’s cool. If we don’t, it’s the same,” Derrick White said. “We didn’t have it last year so we just want to keep playing the best basketball going into the playoffs, whether we are the No. 1, 2, or 3 (seed), it doesn’t matter.”
The Celtics were the No. 2 seed last season in their path to the NBA Finals, and won critical road games — including Game 6 at Milwaukee in the second round and Game 7 at Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals — on their journey. But, after being the No. 1 seed for most of this season, the C’s would make their road harder by dropping to the No. 3 seed as the 76ers and Bucks would both hold home-court advantage over them in potential series.
Injury report
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said that Robert Williams “came out pretty well” following his return in Tuesday’s win at Sacramento after he missed eight games with a left hamstring strain. Payton Pritchard, who hasn’t played since March 6 due to heel pain, did a live workout on Thursday and “felt a little bit better,” Mazzulla said. The coach expects Pritchard to return before the end of the regular season.