Baron Davis suffers very serious knee injury, might never play again (Ball Don't Lie) ...more ?
In the third quarter of Sunday's New York Knicks win over the Miami Heat, veteran point guard Baron Davis suffered a horrific knee injury (available to view after the jump, if you like awful things). He was taken off in a stretcher, and pretty much everyone watching knew that he had suffered a serious injury that would keep him out for quite some time.
On Monday, we discovered the severity of the damage, and it's not good. As announced by the Knicks on Twitter , the MRI of Davis' right knee showed a partial tear of the patella tendon and complete tears of the MCL and ACL. Howard Beck of The New York Times followed up that recovery from that is typically 12 months , but even that seems optimistic considering Davis would be 34 at the time of that comeback, has suffered several other bad knee injuries in the past, and has been dealing with a bulging disc in his back. On top of that, he will be a free agent and is unlikely to have the support of a franchise during rehab.
[ Marc J. Spears: Blake Griffin refuses to bend in Clippers' OT win ]
In other words, we have probably seen the last of Baron Davis in the NBA. With that in mind, forgive me if the rest of this post sounds like a discarded verse from the Skid Row track "I Remember You" ? from the day he first suited up for UCLA in 1997 to his last season with the Golden State Warriors in 2008, Davis was my favorite basketball player. While his career was near its end anyway, and he was unlikely to be any more than an adequate backup for several more seasons, it's still sad to say goodbye.
Mickael Pietrus will start Game 2 for Celtics, maintain standard eating habits (Ball Don't Lie) ...more ?
Rajon Rondo's suspended . Ray Allen might not play . The Boston Celtics have to turn somewhere for big minutes and a bigger performance in the backcourt in Tuesday night's Game 2 ... and according to Paul Flannery of WEEI.com , coach Doc Rivers has turned to Mickael Pietrus, inserting the nine-year veteran into the starting lineup alongside second-year pro Avery Bradley.
Pietrus has plenty of playoff experience, having made postseason appearances as a member of the 2007 Golden State Warriors and a contributor on the '08-'09 and '09-'10 Orlando Magic, but Game 2 ? his 51st career playoff game ? will be his first career second-season start.
According to Flannery, though, Pietrus plans to stay the course as he moves to the starting five. He doesn't want to change his approach, on the court or in the kitchen:
As for Pietrus he said he would play his game and wouldn't necessarily look to score more just because he's in the starting lineup.
"It's depending on how the game goes," Pietrus said. "I don't project myself, say I have to bring more points for the team. I just have to be Mickael Pietrus, bring the all-around game: rebounding, defense. I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself. Yeah, I have to score. Yeah, I have to eat some chicken. Yeah, I have to eat some beef. At the end of the day it's basketball."
I think we can all agree that making sure you get some chicken and some beef before playing is very important. If you go out there on an empty stomach, you'll get very exhausted very quickly, and that's definitely not going to be helpful on a night where Rivers will likely need major minutes out of the guard from Guadeloupe.