More photos » by Steven Senne - AP

That's right Billy, you've been called up.

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Dan Duggan of the Globe brought up a good point on twitter today.  (Granted, many of you made the same point, but somehow seeing it on twitter brought clarity to it)

Now would seem like a decent time for Doc to give some real minutes to youngsters Giddens and Walker. If not now, when?

Either find out if they will be able to help you or showcase them for a trade. You're gaining nothing by keeping them bolted to bench.

I have to agree.  I know Doc will want to win games and he'll trust his vets more.  But at this point, we've also got to keep people rested and see what we've got with these younger guys.  It is more of a gamble, but gambles sometimes pay off big.  And at the very least you'll know if you can count on them later in the year.

I'm all for letting a guy earn his minutes.  But based on how Walker and Lester dominated the D-League competition, you have to imagine that they can be players in this league.

So who do you think has the best shot at stepping up?

More photos » by Brian Babineau - NBAE/Getty Images

The truth is, we'll miss him a lot.

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Take the captain and leading scorer off of any team and they'll have trouble maintaining whatever momentum they had before that point.  Now we head into the much anticipated showdown with the Magic on Christmas without The Truth and things don't get much easier after that.  Celtics Hub points out:

Right now, the Celtics are easily entering their toughest stretch of schedule this year.

Let's take a look at how their next 8 games shake out over the next 2 and a half weeks.

@ Orlando
@ LA Clippers
@ Golden State
@ Phoenix
Toronto
@ Miami
@ Atlanta
@ Toronto

Granted, this team has been oddly effective on the road this year (12 - 1 as opposed to 10 - 4 at home). But to count on that continuing without Paul is perhaps asking too much.  Orlando, Phoenix, and Atlanta are some of the best teams in the league this year so far.  The other teams aren't as good, but the team will only be home once over that stretch.  It won't be an easy 2 weeks.

And that assumes that it will be two weeks.  This via Yahoo!

"You're always concerned when someone is hurt," Ainge said. "But hopefully, they took care of it and it's all done. ...We expect Paul to be fine.

"It anybody's guess when he will return. I don't know. Maybe sooner rather than later."

Danny was probably trying to be reassuring when he said that, but the vagueness does nothing to quiet that little voice that was talking to me this morning.

So how do we fill the gaping hole left by Pierce?  With scotch tape and paper clips it appears.

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More photos » by Brian Babineau - NBAE/Getty Images

Called up.

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The Celtics just released this statement:

BOSTON, MA - The Boston Celtics announced today that forward Bill Walker has been recalled from the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League.

Walker, a 6'6" forward, appeared in nine games for the Red Claws and was averaging a team-high 17.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game at the time of his recall. In his last game for the Red Claws against Fort Wayne, Walker netted a season-high 33 points on 14-of-17 shooting including 3-of-4 from three point distance.

Glad to have him back.  He could provide a little more athleticism and energy off the bench at the wing position.

More photos » by Charles Krupa - AP

Seeds of doubt.

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Once bitten, twice shy.  The Celtics flat out lied to us last year about the extent of Kevin Garnett's knee.  I understand why they did it.  I do think the team hoped to have him back at some point and believed they would.  But at some point along the way they let us believe that he was coming back when they knew he wasn't.  Right or wrong, that makes you wonder.

Now all indications are that Garnett was just pulled from last night's game for "strategic rest."  All indications are that the issue is a thigh bruise and not directly related to his knee.  Everything sounds on the up and up.  I'm 99.9% sure that is all there is to the story.

However, there's that thin cloud of doubt that creeps in and will always creep in from now on.  And the Celtics know it.  There's a reason why Danny Ainge addressed the CSN crew last night instead of just Doc.  They know they need to be very careful in how they handle situations like this from now on because they know we didn't appreciate them going "Belichickian" on us last year.  (If you are going to do that, at least do it consistently.  Not just when it is convenient to you.)

For his part, Garnett seems to be dealing with being injured a little better too.

Doc sheds light on KG injury

"He wasn't thrilled with it, but I think he's better this year than he was last year," said Rivers. "[Monday], he actually sat down in practice and [Celtics captain] Paul [Pierce] walked over to him and said, 'Wow, someone's growing up.' You know, instead of fighting it.

"He has such a warrior mentality, sometimes it's to his detriment. [Monday], he did a good job. You know he wanted to fight it [Tuesday], and then he just kind of said, 'You're right.'"

I'm not trying to stir the pot here.  I'm not a big fan of conspiracies.  I think KG will be back playing on Christmas day.  I'm just trying to point out that there's always going to be a shadow of doubt around injuries to Kevin Garnett because of what happened last year.

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More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP

Paul finally got it going.

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Well, everything that went wrong in the first half went right in the second half.  Amazing.

• Earl Watson: scoreless in the 2nd half. (after 18 in the first)
• Pierce put up 19 points in the 2nd half (after only 2 in the first)
• Perkins added 13 of his own in the 2nd to finish with 19.
• Ray gets the game ball though.  He was all over the court with great energy and some sweet 2nd half shooting.
• The energy level on defense went up 3 notches which keyed the turnaround.
• I like the way Paul kept on playing through his shooting slump.  Showed leadership.
• Scal provided some good energy off the bench tonight.
• Wow, 24 points and 18 rebounds for Murphy tonight.  Is it just me, or does he kill us every time?
• I don't know what Doc said at halftime, but it appears to have worked.

More photos » by Elise Amendola - AP

Get the ball!!!

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What was that?

Sure, the Celtics don't have KG but the Pacers don't have Granger.  So no excuses.  That was just a bad half of basketball.  Down 15 at the half to this team is embarrassing.

• Pierce is 0-6 with 2 points.  That's not like him.
• Ray is 0-3 from three point range.
• Eddie House was the only one who could buy a bucket.
• Rondo only has 2 turnovers but it feels like more.
• Speaking of Rondo, his man Earl Watson has 18 at the half.  That's not all luck.
• Pacers are shooting 46.7% from 3 point land.  We better hope they cool off.
• Perkins inexplicably can't seem to hold onto the ball.
• Troy Murphy has 10 rebounds already and the Pacers are ahead 24 to 21 in that dept.
• The only thing going for us is the odds - Pierce won't stay cold forever, the Pacers won't stay hot forever... I hope.

More photos » by Ann Heisenfelt - AP

Go get Gomes.

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I've got this college buddy of mine that I love like a brother.  A few years after college, he moved away for personal/logistical reasons. We keep in contact and he's doing wonderfully where he is so I'm happy for him, but obviously it isn't the same as having him around.  I've recently got word that there's a chance that he could be coming back into the area.  Needless to say, I'm excited.  Things will be different of course.  We both have families now and we've matured (a little).  But I just know that he'll fit right in and we'll have a blast hanging out again.

That was my long winded analogy for how I feel about Ryan Gomes.  I don't have any inside information or even a vague rumor to throw out there.  All I have is a few guys on another site that have reminded me that the TWolves have an option on Ryan's contract at the end of the year and there's a chance (however slim) that they could release him or trade him to a team that would release him for cap flexibility reasons.

If such a glorious event were to occur, you can bet that I'll be leading the charge to urge the Celtics to bring him back to Boston (where he belongs).  You see, I've always thought that Ryan was more valuable to the Celtics than he would be to any other team.  Sure he's got enough talent to make it work anywhere, but he's also a tweener that isn't capable of being the first, second, or perhaps even 3rd option on a team seeking alpha-males to lead them.  What he is, however, is a great glue guy that does all the little things you need to win basketball games.

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