Szczerbiak out for the season
Wally Szczerbiak underwent an MRI on his left knee yesterday at New England Baptist Hospital. Upon reviewing the results, team physician Brian McKeon in consultation with Szczerbiak and Celtics officials, determined that the veteran will undergo arthroscopic surgery Monday. Szczerbiak did not travel with the team to Philadelphia for tonight's game against the 76ers and will not play for the remainder of the season.
Typical recovery time for arthroscopic knee surgery can be anywhere from 2-6 weeks, depending on what type of damage is discovered. Coach Doc Rivers described Szczerbiak's procedure as an opportunity to clean out debris in the knee. The Celtics will be able to better assess recovery time for Szczerbiak post-surgery. In any event, Szczerbiak should be ready for the start of training camp in October, especially since he takes great pride in being in the best shape possible.
''It started hurting more and this was the day off where we could schedule an MRI," said Rivers, who noted the team started looking at dates to schedule the test about a week ago. ''I know a bone bruise showed on the MRI that we didn't foresee. The bone bruise made it more of an immediate need [to have surgery]. Finding out about it was disappointing. He was hoping not to have surgery. From what I hear, [Wally] is feeling OK about it.
''Instead of holding out and playing at this point in the season, we decided he should have the surgery. Instead of him coming back to camp rehabbing, Wally should be fine by July. I hate it when you get through the season, then they look [at injuries]. Guys tend to procrastinate then and take their time [before having surgery]."
The news was not entirely unexpected considering Szczerbiak has been bothered by pain and swelling in his knee almost since coming to Boston in a trade from Minnesota Jan. 26. He raised the possibility of surgery shortly before the All-Star break in February, though he hoped to postpone an operation until after the season. The medical staff told Rivers to limit his playing time to 35 minutes per game, though that often proved difficult as Boston tried to make a push for the playoffs.
With 16 games over 29 days in March, Szczerbiak put a lot of strain on the knee as he averaged 36.6 minutes per game last month. He played through the pain and repeatedly reported his knee was ''OK," though it was clear Szczerbiak could not move as well as he would have liked.
The first indication that Szczerbiak's knee soreness might be more of a problem than first indicated came when he missed practice Feb. 14 and declared himself questionable for the next night's home game against Cleveland. Logging 46 minutes in the Celtics' victory over the Magic Feb. 12 caused the soreness to flare up. Szczerbiak said he felt the knee ''buckling and catching and grabbing" during the fourth quarter against Orlando. He played 46 minutes in a double-overtime loss to Cleveland.
But less than four minutes into Boston's first game back after the break, Feb. 21, Szczerbiak suffered a knee bruise in a collision with Utah point guard Milt Palacio. Szczerbiak missed the Celtics' game the next night against the Suns, then returned to play against Portland Feb. 24. Tony Allen started in place of Szczerbiak against Phoenix and the second-year guard will likely return to the starting lineup tonight.
Without Szczerbiak, the good news for Boston is that more playing time will be available for Gerald Green. Al Jefferson also did not travel with the team to Philadelphia, but he hopes to be back Sunday at home against New York.
