Kevin Garnett Out Until Playoffs

Kevin Garnett missed 13 games with a knee injury, and all the while we were being told that the team was just being cautious in not rushing him back to soon. This was understandable, as the defending champions' goal is to get back to the Finals, not to win a bunch of regular season games at the expense of their superstar.

But KG returned for just four games before he was "shut down" again, and after promises that the team would bring him back for one or two games in the regular season, now comes word that he still isn't ready to come back.

Kevin Garnett will miss the Celtics' final two regular-season games, at Philadelphia Tuesday and versus Washington in Boston Wednesday. Garnett is scheduled to return when the Celtics open the playoffs, Game 1 tentatively scheduled for Saturday.

"We just being careful right now," coach Doc Rivers said. "I don't see the benefit of playing Kevin right now, with the practice we're going to have."

The Celtics have "been careful" with Garnett for the better part of two months now -- what exactly is the situation with KG's injury?

We may never know, but one thing is certain, and that's the fact that if the Celtics are targeting Game 1 of the playoffs for Garnett's return -- without bothering to get him back for a couple of regular season games to get his conditioning and game reflexes back to where they need to be -- then things are obviously worse than expected.

Boston may very well be able to win a first round playoff series without Garnett at 100 percent. But we all know that their chances of repeating as champions rest squarely on the shoulders of a healthy KG. With as many games as he's missed and the way the organization keeps postponing his return, it's hard to be confident that we'll see Garnett back at full strength for another run at a title.