On Wednesday morning, Celtics forward Kevin Garnett was predictably short with the media when asked to comment on a potential return to game action. He didn't have any news to report.
Later that day, Garnett's coach was similarly tight-lipped.
"I honestly haven't even checked on Kevin," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said before Wednesday night's game against the Spurs. "I know he's shooting now, so that's good."
Garnett has been working out this week with team strength and conditioning coach Bryan Doo, hoping to get his strained calf back into game shape. Rivers said Garnett has been running, but he hasn't been able to do much else. On Wednesday morning, though, the Celtics' All-Star forward was seen working on elbow jump shots at the team's practice facility in Waltham.
Progress is clearly being made, but there's still no real outlook on when Garnett could return. Rivers isn't even thinking about it.
"The time frame we gave you was two weeks, but I don't even know when that is," the coach said. "Hopefully he's back within the two weeks. But that's all I know. We have so many games right now that that's really the last thing I'm thinking about."
Garnett went down in the first quarter of the Celtics' Dec. 29 loss to the Detroit Pistons. Two weeks after that date is next Wednesday, Jan. 12, when the Celtics play host to the Sacramento Kings at the TD Garden.
You can pencil Garnett in for a return on the 12th, but make sure you've got a good eraser. The Celtics have been notoriously cryptic about Garnett's health status over the last two-plus seasons, and it's hard to take their initial prognosis at face value.
The Celtics will be smart about this — they're not going to rush Garnett back unless he's 100 percent. Their ultimate goal is to have KG and the rest of the C's leaders healthy for another postseason run.
