The star who coach Doc Rivers calls "the king of the talk" was back at practice Tuesday.
"When it comes to intensity, I don't have to try," Kevin Garnett said. "That's just something that's instilled in me and that I do naturally."
He hopes to provide it Friday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. Garnett is expected to miss his 10th straight game with a hyperextended right knee Wednesday night on the road against the Detroit Pistons, but barring a setback, Rivers said Garnett will play the next game.
The Celtics sure could use him.
The NBA's defensive player of the year in 2007-08 said he's been "very" frustrated missing practices and watching the team go 4-5 without him, in large part because of sporadic defense. The Celtics miss his ability to fire up teammates and communicate with them about where to go on the court.
That was a glaring problem in Monday night's 99-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics led 53-41 early in the third quarter before the Mavericks hit 16 of their next 20 shots and led 75-68 entering the final period.
"Intensity was going to be up today anyway after the loss last night," Rivers said, "but then adding Kevin to the mix takes it another level and he gives everybody ownership of the defensive end.
"The constant talking, even when we get a stop, if we don't do it the right way, you hear his voice on the floor: 'We got away with that. We want to be good. We don't want to be lucky,"' Rivers said. "I bet I heard him say that three times today when we got stops but we cut corners. That's what he does. It's important for our defense."
Garnett, 33, has been on the NBA's defensive first team eight times. The Celtics won the championship in 2007-08, his first season with them, when they allowed the second fewest points in the league. Last season, they gave up the third fewest even though Garnett played only four games in the last two months then missed the playoffs with a knee injury that required surgery.
His current injury is unrelated to that, he said. But last season's knee problems taught him a lesson: Don't rush back and risk further damage.
"When you're younger, you think that you can go all day and that you can run through a wall," Garnett said, "and I'm sure all of us can say that we learned the hard way and I'm no different. ... These days I'm just trying to be a lot smarter and not be injured."
In his 12 seasons with Minnesota, he played at least 76 of the 82 regular-season games 11 times. In his first two seasons with Boston, he was limited to 71 and 57 games. He's already missed 10 games this season.
"I come here and [with] the championship air here you just get weird injuries," Garnett joked, "but I'll continue to breathe this championship air and get these weird injuries and fight through them."
The Celtics latest championship was based on defense.
"We're a defensive team first," Paul Pierce said, "one of the best defensive teams when we focus and put our minds to it. ... There's [been] a lot of miscommunication. Sometimes we lose trust among each other defensively when one guy isn't helping the other guy, so we've just got to get that back."
The Celtics have held opponents to 44.5 percent shooting this season, sixth-best in the NBA. But in seven of Boston's last 10 games, opponents have hit at least 50 percent of their shots.
The absence of forward Rasheed Wallace with a foot injury for four games contributed to that. He returned against Dallas, but his minutes were limited by foul trouble.
Rivers isn't expecting Garnett to solve all the problems instantly. Marquis Daniels, the primary backup guard and a solid defender, is sidelined through the All-Star break after surgery for a torn ligament in his left thumb. Backup forward Glen Davis is still getting into shape after playing 11 games since returning from a broken right thumb.
"I've told our team that when Kevin gets back we still have to grow as a team," Rivers said.
But Garnett's return would be a very important step forward, especially for the defense.
"It's accountability. Our defense was built off of grit and effort," Garnett said. "At this stage, we've got to grind all these [games] out, but it's a good time for everybody to be coming back, and coming back healthy and strong."
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