The Celtics came into Detroit as the heavy underdogs. They have just 9 players available. Their starting unit averages 22 years of age and includes 4 players straight out of high school. They were playing a much more experienced team that is expected to challenge for the title this season. Most expected the Celtics to be blown out, but they played hard and kept the game much closer than the final score indicates. The final score was Pistons 81 and Celtics 73, but the Celtics kept it close throughout the game. The score was 72-70 with just under 3 minutes to play in the 4th. Flip Murray hit 2 3's from the top of the arc and that was pretty much the difference in the game.

The Boston Celtics announced today that guard Tony Allen had successful anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery along with cartilage repair to his left knee. The surgery was performed this morning at New England Baptist Hospital by Celtics Team Physician, Dr. Brian McKeon and assisted by Dr. Paul Weitzel.
Allen is out indefinitely with no timetable set for his return.

The Celtics never gave up tonight and played with heart even though they were playing very short handed. I can see the young players growing game by game. Tonight's bright spots were Rajon Rondo and Leon Powe. I find it very hard to believe that Doc keeps these two kids on the bench until he has no choice but to play them.

Not much news today. Seems like the injury to Tony has just sucked the wind out of the entire Celtics Nation. At this point, the team can either pull together or they can fall apart. I expect each of the kids to step up their games and for this team to compete. Perk, Green, Al, Rondo, Powe, Gomes, all of them are capable of stepping up their games. They will be getting the minutes now and Doc needs to let them play. Most of the articles center on the loss of Tony for the rest of the year.

Mark Murphy reports that the Celtics are weighing their options now that their injured list is growing. They have to try to weather the storm until some of the players can return. The next time Tony takes the court will be next season and that seems to have deflated this team more than the loss of Pierce, Wally, or any of the other players has done.

The Globe offers some Raptors thumbnails for tonight's game. It is going to be a challenge. All we can hope for is that they will all play hard and play together.

Shira's Notebook gives the official word that Tony will be out for the rest of the year and will undergo surgery as soon as the swelling goes down. Scal will be evaluated in another week. I love this quote from Tony when his mom was asking for an ambulance.

His mom was concerned about my driving," said Scalabrine. "She was asking for the ambulance. Tony was like, 'No, man, this is better than the ambulance.' It's Scal."

Derrenmatts over on Celtics Green came up with a good piece on what we should do as a game plan now that we have been decimated with injuries. Here is Derren's Plan:

First of all, maybe its time to scour the D-League to find suitable bodies to fill in while guys like Wally, Pierce and Delonte are out. We can't have Doc filling in at SF for us in practices because he may get the idea of becoming a player-coach

Now that we've lost our main offensive weapon (and that's what Tony has emerged into), we'll need to rely a lot more on smart ball movement and players moving without the ball. This was actually our game plan to start the season, but we always had the option of giving it to Pierce or Wally(and recently Tony) and have them put up points when we needed it. This is not an option now.

Game Plan #1: Use pick and rolls
We started using the pick and roll more in the last game (vs. the Pacers), but not nearly as much as we'll need to now. Telfair and Rajon were given a fighting chance to run the team against the Pacers, and running picks for them gave them the opportunity to make plays happen. Even if it didn't lead directly to a bucket, it help open up the floor for other passes that led to scores. We have 4 big bodies who can set solid picks for Telfair and Rajon (Perkins, Jefferson, Gomes and Powe), and we need to use them for this purpose.

Game Plan #2: Establish Jefferson in the post early
Its important to get Jefferson going early. Even if teams double and triple team him, he still needs to get touches in the post early. He'll have to kick it out and re-post, but that's alright (as long as he isn't throwing passes away). If we don't go to Jefferson early, he struggles to find his rhythm and the flow of the game. That just means he'll have to find his rhythm later in the game, and by that time, the game may be well out of hand and he's most likely going to force shots to quickly find his rhythm. And its important that Jefferson gets good positioning in the post--not so far away from the basket. He's much more effective when he's within 10 feet.

Game Plan #3: PG's must be aggressive
Both Telfair and Rajon must aggressively look for their own shots. Right now, finding consistent offense from our team is not going to be easy. By playing aggressively, they'll help keep defenses honest and also create scoring opportunities for the team. If they are always passing up the ball, it'll put pressure on the other guys who don't have court vision to keep the ball moving, and that slows down the offense and forces us to take bad shots to beat the shot clock. Telfair is most likely going to be the starter and I want him to take those jumpers that the defenses give him. Once he starts knocking them down, defenses will play him tighter, and that will make the pick and roll more effective. When Rajon comes in, he needs to use his slashing and penetrating ability to carve apart defenses. He's one of the best at getting to the basket and positive things happen when he attacks. We need this spark from him off the bench.

Game Plan #4: Gerald and Ray need to shoot the ball off of curls:
Gerald is going to get 30+ minutes per game now that Tony, Pierce and Wally are out. Doc has no one else to hide him behind. And I'm hoping Allan Ray will be given a fair amount of playing time too. I see a solid role player in Ray, possibly slipping into a backup SG/PG role in the future. I even think he can slide past Delonte in a little while (of course, Doc loves Delonte, so it may never happen). Doc needs to use both Gerald and Allan Ray off of curls to free them up for clean looks at the bucket. Gerald is a talented scorer and in the near future, he's going to be able to create his own shots. But for now, he's still learning the flow of the game and he doesn't quite understand when to attack, when to shoot, and when to pass. So to help him out (since he'll be the prime perimeter target), Doc needs to run plays for him off of curls. Same for Ray; he's got a sweet stroke and when he's got a split second to square up his shoulders, he'll knock down shots. But Doc has got to run plays for them and not just send them out there to figure things out for themselves. They are not experienced enough for that.

Game Plan #5: Run, run, run!!!
We can't go toe to toe with teams with our halfcourt attack. We are too young and too inexperienced to execute our halfcourt offense to perfection most times down court. In order to remain competitive during these trying times, we need to get out and run as much as possible. Push the tempo and always look to advance the ball with passes. This is even more reason to play Allan Ray more because he gives us another quick ball handler who can make passes up the floor, or push the tempo himself.

Also to be included in the list is to give Leon Powe more playing time, and give him a more important role. Doc should not use Powe just as a player to give Jefferson a breather, but instead a valuable role player.
Powe gives us a physical rebounding presence as well as a solid shot blocker (when he's not playing 7 footers). Its truly amazing to see how a 6'7" guy can get up there and gather rebounds and block shots against taller competition--his freakishly long arms and jumping ability give him that advantage. But not only this, but he's also a scoring weapon that Doc has failed to capitalize on yet.
I'll say this right now; we'll have more success playing Jefferson and Powe together, as opposed to Jefferson and Gomes or Jefferson and Perkins.
Powe takes Perkins' and Gomes' strengths and erases their weaknesses.
Perkins is a rebounder and shot blocker, but is unreliable on offense.
Gomes is a solid offensive producer, but is a liability on defense.
Powe gives us that rebounding and shot blocking presence, plus the offensive abilities. He's more of a complete player than either of them.
Powe is still more about potential at this point, but we're all hoping that he can reach his ceiling. And to do this, he'll need playing time to develop his game and confidence. And what better time to give him this than now? Now is the time to go into a full blown developmental stage.

I am not expecting our team to win many games right now, but I hope they remain competitive, and at the end of the game, if we are close, I will be more than content. But our team must be playing with hustle and energy. I can stomach losing as long as they are giving 100% effort.

With the image of Tony Allen's season ending crash to the ground still in my mind, there is a solemn tone to today's news articles. First is a morning update on Tony and Scal from the Herald Insider. Early news is that as expected, Tony tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. The news on Scal is that he may just have a bruise or a sprain rather than a tear. Hopefully it will keep him out long enough for Powe to get some quality minutes.

Moving right along, you will find reports on the game in the Herald, Globe, Projo, and Worcester Telegram. Although, most of the game reports center on who is not playing rather than who was. With the latest injuries, there are just 9 players available for duty. In every report, the loss of Tony Allen overshadows the loss of the game. Even after Tony went down, the young Celtics didn't give up, though. In the 4th quarter, a unit of Sebastian Telfair, Kendrick Perkins, Gerald Green, Leon Powe and Ryan Gomes went on a 14-0 run, cutting the Indiana margin to 84-80 with 4:27 left. But Indiana was just too strong and took the game over from there on. But this run and the play of these young guys does give hope for the future.

The Herald Notebook centers on all the injury news from yesterday. West sat out practice and couldn't go last night. Wally reports just before game time unable to go. Over compensating for the two unhealed sprained ankles have caused his surgically repaird knee to swell and he needs to sit 1-2 weeks. Perk and Al started together last night and were successful in their time together but whether Perk or Gomes starts will depend on matchups in future games.

Matt Kalman has a piece in the Herald that reports that the Celtics 3 leading scorers are out of action right now with Pierce, Wally and Tony all injured. The Celtics will be looking to some very young players to carry the scoring load now, especially Green and Jefferson and hopefully they will respond.

The Globe Notebook also centers on the injury news. The news on Pierce wasn't good after re-evaluation, either. He will need to keep the protective boot on for at least another week or two instead of getting it off this week as originally hoped. West is talking about trying to play against the Raptors but he is really hurting and so Doc is taking that with a grain of salt. Delonte is a warrior, but needs to heal so that he doesn't do permanent damage while trying to play in pain. Green went for a career high in minutes and once again Powe was a force in limited minutes.

Eric Weiss has a good article on CelticsBlog that takes a look at the emotional toll that losing Tony Allen took on the team. Tony was the emotional leader and was playing the best basketball of his career. He was the defensive captain and when he went down, the collective air went out of the team.

Celtics.com tells us that even though the Celtics were down after Tony's injury, they played with heart and have vowed to stick together and are stressing the need for unity, especially now. Al sees this as a test from the "basketball gods" and is determined to stick together and get through it as a team.

The Projo Notebook reports that all of the injuries have put the Celtics in M*A*S*H mode. It wasn't flu symptoms as originally reported that sidelined Gomes in the Orlando game. It was food poisoning from some seafood he ate. Gomes feels that the Celtics are stronger from playing without Pierce:

"We're not looking over our shoulder any more," said Gomes. "A lot of guys are being more aggressive. If we sharpen up our attack mentally when he comes back the (opposing) defense will have to play even more guys honestly."

The Celtics lost to the Indiana Pacers 97-84 but that wasn't the biggest loss. With 3:01 left in the third, Tony went in for a dunk after he was fouled and went down clutching his left knee. Dickerson said that it looks like he may be lost for the rest of the season. Earlier in the game, Scal went down and hurt his right knee. Both are undergoing MRI's to determine the damage. Tony had 19 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals already when he went down. He was playing the best ball of his career and it losing him is a huge loss. If this keeps up, we may run out of players.

2 things of note this afternoon. First, The Memphis Commercial Appeal has a little blurb today that says that Danny has made an offer for Stromile Swift, even if it was a feeble one.

Griz president Jerry West disparaged any notion that a healthy and happy Swift can be had in a trade as has been rumored since coach Mike Fratello was fired. But the Grizzlies' unwillingness to part with Swift hasn't prevented teams such as Boston, Minnesota and Sacramento from making offers, however feeble, over the past two weeks.

The NBA trading deadline is six weeks away, and the likelihood that Celtics director of operations Danny Ainge will make a pre-deadline (Feb. 22, 3 p.m.) deal is strong. In each of his three previous years with the Celtics that’s exactly what he did, and he wasn’t messing around with fringe players, either.

He’s got a player, Allen, performing at the upper levels of his ability, a team that is underachieving and going nowhere and a team that needs to get older, bringing in some talented veterans who can settle the situation.

Allen doesn’t want to go anywhere. There’s a feeling that his legal issues stemming from an incident outside a Chicago nightclub (assault charges are pending) may be cleared up when they resume in April, but other teams might be scared away by it.There’s also the matter of the right knee, which was operated on in September, 2005. Allen said it’s still sore, certainly giving potential suitors room for pause.

The Celtics came out flat yesterday and after a very uninspired first half played some decent basketball in the second half. It was certainly not a pretty game to watch by any stretch of the imagination. I still can't understand keeping Powe on the bench when we are being out rebounded by 20. Could he have done any worse than the players out there? Wally played terrible- couldn't shoot and didn't rebound and yet Doc keeps him out there because he gives veteran leadership. Unfortunately his leadership led us right down the tubes. You can find game reports in the Globe and the Herald.

In the Herald Notebook, Bulpett mentions that Doc is still planning on buying in Boston after this season when his daughter graduates from high school. In order to do that, he would have to be assured a contract extension because he only has 1 year on his contract and just about everyone in the Celtics Nation is hoping for less than that. Nestled in the middle of this article right after discussing Ryan Gomes' flu, is this quote:

“I’m worried about (Kendrick Perkins [stats]) a little bit with his foot. You could see clearly he just couldn’t move at times.”. . .

Had the Magic not been playing the woefully inept Celtics, their 87-79 victory before 16,868 fans at Amway Arena almost certainly wouldn't have been possible.

Tonight the Celtics were outplayed by the Magic and came away with an 87 -79 loss. The Magic at times seemed as though they were willing to let the Celtics take the game but we couldn't capitalize on their miscues. The Magic turned the ball over 23 times but the Celtics turned it over 17 times. The Magic shot 38% from the field but the Celtics shot 32%. The Magic had 15 assists for the game but the Celtics had only 9. It was a case of "anything you can do, we can do worse."