Re: LaFrentz to have surgery on knee

[lapdoggy <lapdoggy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ouch! Nothing like throwing cold water on a nice win. Hopefully it's 
all for the best. Does this mean Perkins will get a sniff?




On Friday, December 12, 2003, at 10:51  PM, Tammo29@xxxxxxx wrote:

> LaFrentz to have surgery on knee
> By Mark Murphy/Celtics Notebook
> Saturday, December 13, 2003
> As much as he may have vowed not to give in over the last month, Raef
> LaFrentz agreed after last night's game to undergo arthroscopic 
> surgery on his right
> knee Monday.
>
>      Though LaFrentz said the procedure to repair a tendon separated 
> from the
> bone is considered minor surgery, it will effectively end his season.
> Recovery and rehabilitation is expected to last four months.
>
>      ``I'm on the road to getting better, I guess,'' he said glumly 
> after
> finishing last night's 114-111 win over Toronto with nine points, four 
> assists
> and three rebounds in 18 minutes. ``It's not an ideal situation for 
> me. Everyone
> felt I had to do something, because it's not working.
>
>      ``It's just frustrating. It's not major surgery, but it's going 
> to take
> a long time to heal.''
>
>      Director of basketball operations Danny Ainge has talked about the
> possibility of surgery for the better part of the last week, just as 
> LaFrentz had
> expressed a desire to play through the pain that has added an obvious 
> grimace
> to his game. LaFrentz won't play tonight in Cleveland.
>
>      ``We've been talking, and he wanted to play,'' Ainge said. 
> ``Though he's
> limited right now, he could still help us a bit, but he's in a great 
> deal of
> pain. You can see him grimace each time he goes to the basket.
>
>      ``We'll miss him big time, and it's not easy for him. But he's 
> trusting
> our medical staff, and we think we're doing what's best.''
>
>      Ainge acknowledged that the timing couldn't be worse on a number 
> of
> fronts, including the fact that the Celtics offense has just started 
> to click with
> LaFrentz supplying valuable minutes off the bench.
>
>      ``It would be easy to let him play and not take the hits, but 
> this is a
> medical decision,'' said Ainge, who added that he is, as usual, 
> trolling for a
> trade. ``I'm always hunting. If I can find someone that can help us, I
> will.''
>
>      He is also taking considerable heat for the trade that sent 
> Antoine
> Walker [news] to Dallas in a deal that, in part, brought LaFrentz to 
> the Celtics.
>
>      But even before last night's game, Ainge wasn't about to back 
> down.
> Heat? What heat?
>
>      ``I've been asked that question a lot lately, but I don't even 
> think
> it's hot,'' he said. ``I don't even feel an ounce of heat right now. 
> To tell you
> the truth, I feel like I'm freezing right now.
>
>      ``Did I expect people to question what I do when I came here?
> Absolutely. I was here for eight years as a player, so I know how 
> things work,'' said
> Ainge. ``When you make the tough decisions, you expect people to be 
> passionate
> and have opinions.''
>
>      Turning over new leaf
>
>       The Celtics didn't commit their first turnover until 2:02 into 
> the
> third quarter last night, and only forked the ball over nine times 
> overall. No
> player had more than two turnovers.
>
>      ``Yeah, that's good coaching,'' Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said. 
> ``But
> when you're shooting the type of percentage that we're shooting, our 
> guys
> understand even more the value of that ball. When you're playing this 
> well, it just
> seems ridiculous to turn the ball over.''
>
>      Raptors dig deep
>
>      The additions of Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall and Lonny Baxter to 
> the
> Toronto rotation has helped in more ways than one might imagine.
>
>      ``To me, what we got were three guys who were playing fewer 
> minutes
> according to their abilities, now playing more minutes according to 
> their
> abilities,'' Raptors coach Kevin O'Neil said.
>
>
> TAM