Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Welp, I really didn’t want to start this day off with doom and gloom for C’s fans, but obviously, the Barbosa injury is the big story, and only real “news”. He’ll undergo an MRI this morning in Boston:
Celtics faced with more adversity-CSNNE:
Regardless of whether Leandro Barbosa’s left knee injury ends his season, the Boston Celtics find themselves once again having to deal with adversity.
A slow start led to cat calls for Danny Ainge to “blow” the team up, whatever that means.
A six-game winning streak quieted things momentarily, only to be followed by a six game losing skid.
Rajon Rondo went down for the season with a torn right ACL injury that was diagnosed on Jan. 27. Just three days later, Jared Sullinger had back surgery and he too was lost for the season.
Boston ran off seven straight wins, so all was good … until Monday’s 94-91 loss to Charlotte which saw the end of their streak and yet another Celtic player go down.
So now, once again, the 2012-13 Boston Celtics are faced with adversity. How will this squad respond? Avery Bradley, who’s nickname for Leandro is “Instant Buckets”, was one of the upbeat ones after last night’s loss:
“We always go through stuff,” said Celtics guard Avery Bradley. “We’re able to overcome it because we’re so close as a team. We just stick together. We’ll be fine.”
That’s a fantastic attitude to have, but unfortunately, Barbosa will not be that easy to replace. Since Rondo went down, Leandro had averaged 8 points, 2 assists and 2 boards in the 21 minutes per game he played since we lost Rajon.
All we really can do is watch and wait. Word out of the C’s locker room last night was that Barbosa was done for the year. The way he writhed in pain and needed to be carried off the floor obviously says a lot. So this means that once again, the “AingeWatch” will be on. Will he make a trade to get another ball-handler or aggressive scorer? Or will he dip into the D-League pool or grab a free-agent? Either way, this has been one hell of a roller coaster ride for devoted Celtics fans this year.
The rest of the links:
ESPN Boston: Why Barbosa’s loss hurts | Globe: Barbosa Could Be Done For Season | Herald: Barbosa Might Be Done | CSNNE: Barbosa Injury Looks Season Ending |
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