No sooner had Del Harris heard the news about Kevin Garnett's injury than the former Lakers coach flashed back a decade to when his star player, Shaquille O'Neal, was similarly incapacitated.
Garnett has missed three games with what the Celtics are calling an abdominal strain. O'Neal missed 21 games during the 1997-98 season with what the Lakers called an abdominal strain. All Harris remembered from that stretch - Shaq missed most of the first six weeks of the season - is that abdominal strains are not to be taken lightly.
"With Shaq, we were really concerned about it because he is so big and he has to carry all that weight," Harris said yesterday. "And because it was the Lakers, we were extra concerned about it because that's the injury that ended Jerry West's career. Now, Jerry was 36. But you can see why we were so concerned about it because of Shaq.
"You need to be very careful with those kinds of injuries," Harris went on, "because it will get to where it's feeling all right and it still isn't all right. And you strain it again. Or worse. It can get ugly if you don't take proper care of it."
O'Neal was in just his second season with the Lakers and was still two years away from winning his first NBA title. The Lakers eventually discovered a physical therapist in Vancouver, British Columbia, named Alex McKechnie, whose specialty was abdominal injuries and who dealt with many hockey players in the area. He soon proved to one and all that he could take proper care of the Big Diesel.
The Lakers sent Shaq up to Canada. The Lakers brought McKechnie down to California. And Harris is convinced the work McKechnie did with O'Neal not only saved the Lakers' season, it also saved something much more important.
"He totally rehabbed Shaq and, in doing so, I think he saved Shaq's career," Harris said. "Alex is like a magician. Whatever needs to be done, he can do it. If I were the Celtics, I'd give him a call."
That might be an interesting conversation, in that the Lakers were so impressed by McKechnie and his work with Shaq that they hired him. He is now in his fifth season with the Lakers and is listed in the media guide as the team's athletic performance coordinator. He could not be reached for comment yesterday, but in the past has elected not to comment about players on other teams.
"All I know is that we won 61 games that year and I don't think it would have happened without Alex," Harris said. "And I know the Lakers felt that way because they went out and hired him."
With no game until Tuesday, coach Doc Rivers gave the Celtics yesterday and today off. When they gather in Waltham tomorrow, it will be their first practice since Jan. 24. Whatever happens this season, no one is going to say the Celtics were overworked from too many practices. Rivers is keeping a close eye on that . . . Rivers on the play of Rajon Rondo in the three games Garnett has missed: "I think this is the best stretch of his career. It still starts on the other end. I got upset at him late [in Thursday's 96-90 win over Dallas] because we were just going [isolation] for him. The last two times he decided to throw it to Paul [Pierce], and I said, 'You have the matchup we want [on Jason Terry]. And I know you have Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the floor,' and that's tough for him because he's thinking, 'I have Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on the floor, I should give it to them.' And I said, 'No, we want you. We like the matchup that you have.' And you know, so that's a learning process for him as well." Rondo said he is learning to be more aggressive offensively and added, "It's because I'm maturing more as a player. The game is slowing down for me and I'm starting to see the court a lot better." . . . TNT's Kenny Smith thought Allen deserved to be among the reserves on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. "If you're going to reward winning in this league, I think it also sends a message to everyone else. For a team that is 36-8, [Allen] is just as valuable as Paul Pierce is to the Boston Celtics," Smith said. "If one of those guys goes down, they have the same situation. For him not to make the All-Star Game is a disservice to a guy who is winning." Fear not totally for Allen. He was not chosen by the Western Conference coaches last season, but made the game as a commissioner's add-on . . . Leon Powe in November and December: 13 games, 59 minutes, 37 points, 19 rebounds. Powe in January: 8 games, 135 minutes, 67 points, 35 rebounds.
Peter May can be reached at p_may@globe.com.
