Herald - Battie's knee swollen again

[Eggcentric@xxxxxxx]

Colds dampen practice

Celtics Notebook/by Steve Bulpett
Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Celtics coach Jim O'Brien generally preaches fundamentals to his 
players. The advice from the coach often deals with hitting the boards, 
hitting open teammates and digging in on defense.

But yesterday as he bid the Celtics goodbye for the day following 
practice, O'Brien sounded like everyone's mom, telling his troops to 
get plenty of rest and eat properly.

The reason for the concern is that two players have been hit with the 
same type of cold that is most likely running a fast break through your 
workplace or school today, as well. The Celts had to make the best of 
things yesterday.

``It was a tough practice,'' O'Brien said. ``Tony Battie was out most 
of the practice with a swollen knee, and Antoine (Walker) and Walt 
(McCarty) are under the weather. So we really had not a lot of guys. 
But Antoine and Walt practiced. They just sucked it up despite being 
ill.

``We got some things accomplished, but (today) is going to have to be a 
real big practice for us.''

All three will play when the Chicago Bulls visit tomorrow night, and in 
the case of Battie, the right knee inflammation is something he's 
learned to live with.

``Tony just has a chronic problem with his knee,'' O'Brien said. 
``Sometimes it's swollen more than other times, and as a result of 
back-to-backs, it's just a little more cranky. So we didn't use him in 
contact drills to give him basically (Sunday) off and (yesterday) off 
and allow Vin (Baker) to work in with the starters, which the more he 
does that the quicker he'll come along for us.''

Family matters

The Celtics welcomed Tony Delk back after he missed Saturday's game in 
Atlanta to be with his daughter in Charlotte. She had been hospitalized 
with pneumonia made more serious by the fact she also has sickle cell 
anemia. In addition, his mother is recovering in Tennessee from surgery 
to clear a blockage near her heart.

``Everything is good,'' Delk said. ``Mom is out of the hospital and my 
daughter will be getting out (today), so I'm happy.''

Time on his hands

Bruno Sundov has played in just seven of the Celtics' 13 games and just 
37 minutes, but O'Brien cautioned against making long-term judgments 
based on those numbers.

``I think in a lot of areas in the NBA you can't just take 13 games and 
say, `Well, Bruno's not getting a lot of time now, so he's not going to 
get time,' '' the coach said. ``I don't think that's the case.

``You can also say, `Vin may not be getting the type of numbers that he 
would like, that we would like.' That doesn't mean that's going to stay 
that way. It means that as the season goes along and these guys get 
more and more acclimated - or somebody gets banged up - things can 
dramatically change.

``I don't believe because Bruno is not getting playing time that he 
won't be able to work his way into getting playing time.'' . . .

The Celtics will get their third look at the Bulls tomorrow (fourth if 
you count the preseason game). After avenging the opening-night home 
loss to them in Chicago a week later, the C's now get a chance to do it 
at the FleetCenter.

``They're a team that needs a win, and they're coming off a tough West 
Coast trip,'' O'Brien said of Chicago's four straight losses. ``All 
West Coast trips are tough. Certainly we understand they have the 
weapons to beat us, as they have shown already.''