WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) -Kevin Garnett will miss at least the next four games with a sore right knee and may return for the final three games of the Boston Celtics’ regular season.
The emotional leader and defensive star of the defending NBA champions has missed 15 of the last 19 games, including the last two.
Coach Doc Rivers said after practice Tuesday that the team would be “shutting down” Garnett for most of the remaining seven regular season games because of continued soreness in the knee, first injured on Feb. 19 at Utah.
“After watching him move today, we’re just going to shut him down,” Rivers said. “It probably won’t be for the year. He’ll probably play by the end, last couple of games, or last three games. It’s just not progressing the way we anticipated it would progress.”
The Celtics began the day in third place in the Eastern Conference, five games behind Cleveland and percentage points behind Orlando. They resume play Wednesday night at home against Charlotte.
d 13 games, played the next four, then sat out the last two Friday night at Atlanta and Sunday against Oklahoma City.
“We assumed we were going to practice him, and right now, we’re not even going to do that,” Rivers said. “We’re going to shut him down until the soreness goes away and the swelling goes away and then we bring him back up.”
Without Garnett, the Celtics (56-19) were 7-6 in their first 13 games. They were 3-1 when he returned and 2-0 in their last two when he was sidelined.
“We’re just going to shut him down until we feel like he’s ready,” Rivers said. “It’s nothing structural. It’s the same thing that it’s been. It’s just not reacting the same way we thought it would react. He didn’t react to the games we thought he would and he’s clearly not reacting to practice the way we thought he would.”
Boston’s next four games are all at home against Charlotte, Atlanta, New Jersey and Miami. The last three are at Cleveland and Philadelphia and at home against Washington.
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