Kevin Garnett is expected to be in the Celtics’ starting lineup Friday. (Getty Images)
Kevin Garnett will be ready to go for the Celtics’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal Game 3 showdown with the Knicks Friday at TD Garden despite having suffered a mild “hip-pointer” in Game 2.
“It was affecting him,” Celtics head coach Doc Rivers told ESPN. “I was concerned that he had done something else, because where he was grabbing his hip, but I thought it was his stomach, where you pull a stomach muscle or something. That’s why I think in a couple timeouts, I kept asking if he was OK. And he is. He’s good.”
Game 3 will be the Celtics’ first game at home since the Boston Marathon bombings (their Tuesday night game against the Pacers that week was canceled) last Monday and Rivers expects an emotional scene.
“Obviously it’s going to be emotional, and quite honestly it should be,” Rivers said Thursday on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan show. “I hope that we channel it in the right way, and I think we will. I really do. It will be emotional for the fans, it will be emotional for the players. It’s one of those things, that’s what it should be.”
