The cause of his mild foot sprain may still be a mystery, but Rasheed Wallace says he should be ready for a return against the Mavericks tomorrow night at the Garden.
The big swingman, who missed the last three games, walked through sets with the first team during yesterday’s open practice for an American Express sponsorship group.
“I’m going to go (tomorrow), and I have one more day of practice to get under my belt,” he said. “It happened a while ago. I was playing on it for about two weeks, until the Toronto game last week sort of did it. So I had to sit down and give it a rest.
“Just a little sprain, but how I did it, I don’t have the slightest idea.”
The Celtics [team stats] have gone 1-3 in his absence, including losses at home to the Hawks and Bulls.
“It will help a lot,” said Kendrick Perkins [stats], who has shouldered most of the interior load during Wallace’s absence. “Sheed is another defensive-minded guy. He enjoys playing defense. Sometimes you need that veteran leadership from another big.
“With Rasheed there’s going to be a whole lot of talking going on for us, and it will just bring us back on track. It’s kind of hard getting on the same page when Kevin (Garnett) goes out, and then Sheed, and now you’re trying to get on the same page with (Brian Scalabrine). It takes time. You get to get reps with a lot of different guys, but if we get Sheed back now and then Kevin, it will be great.”
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Garnett took part in some of the conditioning drills.
He tossed a medicine ball with Wallace and even went through a knee flexing drill - an interesting development, considering he is recovering from a hyperextended right knee.
“We’ll see if he plays the Portland game (on Friday), and we don’t know that yet; it’s one game where we have a practice or so to get him ready for the next one, and that’s not a bad rhythm,” coach Doc Rivers said. “If Eddie (Lacerte, trainer) gives the clearance, then we’ll have four (other) guys come in and run dummy offense with Kevin.” . . .
Eddie House beat out Ray Allen, Paul Pierce [stats] and Wallace in a 3-point shooting contest. House, Allen and Pierce are interested in competing in the 3-point shooting contest during All-Star Weekend in Dallas next month.
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