Rivers thinks Garnett can tough it out

Some time off not the prescription

By Frank Dell'Apa, Globe Staff  |  January 8, 2009

Kevin Garnett's right leg was heavily wrapped after the Celtics' 89-85 loss to the Rockets last night. But Garnett played 34-plus minutes and was the game's most aggressive shooter, scoring 18 points on 19 field goal attempts, many of them from outside the lane.

"He has soreness all over his body right now," coach Doc Rivers said of Garnett, who sustained a calf injury in the 100-88 loss in New York last Sunday. "It's been a tough stretch for us. We're going to get a break later, we just have to get through this. I'm taking him out earlier than usual. We just have to make do with what we have."

Asked if Garnett needed time off to recover, Rivers said, "If I thought it was something where it could cost us later, but it's not anywhere near that at all."

The Celtics closed the third quarter with a Gabe Pruitt-Rajon Rondo backcourt, and Rivers said Pruitt will continue to receive more playing time. Pruitt was the only Celtic to score in the opening 7:43 of the final quarter. The Celtics were outscored, 18-11, in the fourth.

"He played well," Rivers said of Pruitt. "He made one mistake. To me, he was trying to play safe when he drove and turned it over - that's a layup or a dunk. To me, where Gabe has improved is defensively. He's decided that he wants to play and he wants to be defensive and he knows that's his way onto the floor."

Guard Tony Allen underwent an MRI on his right ankle, missed his second successive game, and is expected to miss the Celtics' visits to Cleveland tomorrow and Toronto Sunday. "At this point in the year, if he's not 100 percent or close to it, I just don't see throwing him out there," said Rivers. "I'd rather for him to get healthy, and by Monday [a home game against Toronto], he'll have fresh legs, which we'll need." . . . The Celtics' loss to the Charlotte Bobcats Tuesday vaulted Cleveland into first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time since March 21, 1989. "Boston is NBA champs," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "It doesn't really matter what our record is, what their record is. They are the ones that everyone is chasing. I don't really look at it as us having a better record than them because that can change at any time."

Dikembe Mutombo confirmed last night he was "this close" to joining the Celtics before signing with the Rockets in December.

Mutombo said the Celtics were at the top of his list - ahead of Atlanta, Cleveland, Memphis, Miami, and the Rockets - but failed to commit to him.

"All I was reading, what they were saying in the press, I feel at the last minute, especially on [Dec. 24 and 25], I feel like I wasn't the only one in the picture and that kind of discouraged me," Mutombo said before last night's game. "I felt that I had an organization here that wanted me. Should I be on a waiting list or should I take the option that was there on the table?"

Mutombo said he conversed with Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca, plus Rivers and assistant Tom Thibodeau, formerly a Houston assistant.

"I talked to [Thibodeau], I talked to all of them," Mutombo said. "I was a little bit excited. I was this close - there was no room. And I already told my kids I was coming here."

Mutombo said the Celtics seemed interested in players such as P.J. Brown, Alonzo Mourning, and Joe Smith. Brown has since announced his retirement and Smith is a candidate for an Oklahoma City buyout. Austin Croshere (Milwaukee) and Darius Miles (Memphis) have since been waived, but an NBA source said neither interests the Celtics.

"I can walk away from this league without winning a championship," Mutombo said. "But my feedback to the young is the most important thing - my impact on the generation to come. I left a lot of money on the table, but I realized that the money is not anything that brings happiness to us. Because I've given a lot of money away."

Marc J. Spears of the Globe staff contributed to this report.