A pair of twists on injury front

Hello Big O. Goodbye Wally. Those were the twin storylines at yesterday's Celtics practice as they look for a sixth straight victory tomorrow night at home against the Golden State Warriors.

Michael Olowokandi, who has been out more than a month with an abdominal strain, made a surprise appearance at practice and was able to go, soup to nuts. Coach Doc Rivers said Olowokandi conceivably could even be activated for the Warriors game, but that he is mostly looking forward to having the 7-footer available for the post-Christmas swing out West. Olowokandi said yesterday he's still in some discomfort.

Asked if he thought he needed a few more practices to get everything back to speed, Olowokandi said, "I wish conditioning was the problem. It's just sudden movements and being able to react. I'm just trying to gauge and see where I'm at."

Wally Szczerbiak, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. He now has a sprained right ankle to go with the just-mended sprained left ankle that sidelined him for five games. "This one is worse," Rivers said. "He's out for a while. He'll miss the West Coast trip. It's a big loss because he had been such a big part of the bench."

Ryan Gomes, who has missed the last two games with a right calf strain, said he was planning to practice today in hopes of playing tomorrow night. He said he hurt the calf in the game last Wednesday in Philadelphia, when he landed awkwardly against the basket support. He's a go for tomorrow night if everything goes well at practice.

"We need bodies as quickly as possible," Rivers said. "Getting Ryan back will be huge."

Rivers was asked for his reaction to Saturday night's fight between the Knicks and Nuggets. "I hate it. It's too bad. Our league takes another hit," he said. He said he felt bad for Carmelo Anthony ("he made a rash decision") but not for too many of the others involved. Seven players were suspended. Rivers also said he didn't think the incident would hurt Knicks coach Isiah Thomas. "He's a tough guy. He likes physical basketball," Rivers said. "As a coach, it's a tough call. Many times you're getting blown out, the other team is running it up, and keeping their starters [in the game]. There are unwritten rules." . . . With games this week against the inconsistent Warriors and the going-nowhere 76ers, the Celtics will have played 25 games by Christmas. Only eight will have been against teams who, as of yesterday, had winning records. Boston was 1-7 in those games, the sole victory coming against the Nuggets last Friday night. December initially looked like a tough month, but the West Coast trip appears less daunting now with four of the five opponents under .500 as of yesterday and the fifth team, Denver, being without Anthony and J.R. Smith.