Suspended? Damn it.

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald - “If Garnett’s suspension provided one unintended positive, it was a vastly improved second unit in yesterday’s practice. ‘I knew the second-team defense was a mother today,’ Rivers said. ‘To the point I told (Garnett) to sit down in some parts of practice. I needed him to go away so we could get some offensive confidence. We were laughing how good the defense on the second unit was today until we realized Kevin was on the second unit. That’s how good he is.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Losing Garnett, though, presents problems on both ends. In the 11 regular-season games Garnett missed, the Celtics allowed an average of 99.7 points. ‘The last time Kevin was out, scoring went up for the other team drastically,’ Rivers said. ‘We can’t have that happen. They’re too good of an offensive team, Miami. If you allow them to score points with the way they play defense, then we’re in trouble. We have to somehow be as good defensively for one game, just without Kevin.’ Much of what the Celtics do offensively goes through Garnett. Once he’s off the floor, the Heat don’t have to stress as much about monitoring him. ‘That’s my biggest concern,’ Rivers said. ‘It was not a high-scoring, offensive game to start with. You lose [Garnett’s] 15 points. But more importantly you lose all the picks, all the post-ups where they had to trap, all the attention that he got where they had to overload. That’s taken out and that’s big, so we’re going to have to try to find points somewhere.’”

Frank Dell’Apa, Boston Globe – “But the Heat plan to concentrate more on direct attacks to the basket, even when Garnett returns. ‘I think we need to be that way whether he’s playing or not,’ Richardson said. ‘They’ve still got some big guys: Rasheed [Wallace], [Kendrick] Perkins, and [Glen] Davis. Whether [Garnett’s] going to be there or not — obviously, he’s their difference-maker and things like that — we need to play the way we need to play [tonight], even after [tonight]. He’ll be back and we’ll need to be aggressive.’ Miami’s Dwyane Wade was not surprised by Garnett’s suspension. Asked if the Heat would have an easier time against the Celtics in Garnett’s absence, Wade said: ‘I’m not going to say easier. This is a good defensive team no matter who’s in the game. KG didn’t play all 48 minutes the other night, so with KG being out it brings a different game, a different style — it doesn’t make it easier. It’s unfortunate it happened. But we’re moving on with the game plan, the same way we do no matter who’s playing. It’s going to be a tough game for both teams. We understand this is a tough team. I know last year he didn’t play every game and we only beat them once. It’s not about one guy on this team — that’s why they’re a good team and they’ve won a championship. It’s because it’s more guys who always step up.’”

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “‘In the first game a lot of our open shots came off Kevin being involved in the play,’ Rivers said. ‘That’s my biggest concern. It’s not a high-scoring offensive game to start with, it loses us 18 points, but more importantly it loses all the picks, all the post-ups, all the attention that he got where they had to overload and we lose that. That’s big.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “But there is the question of who will take the place of the suspended forward. The options are Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis, though Celtics coach Doc Rivers wasn’t tipping his hand after yesterday’s practice. ‘They’re completely different players,’ Rivers said. ‘Sheed gives us more size, he gives us a better post player and he spreads the floor. Baby gives you energy, Baby moves his feet a little bit better on the (Michael) Beasley matchup. They’re just so completely different, that’s what makes the decision so difficult. It would be easy if they were similar. But they’re not, so it’s tougher.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Rajon Rondo said, ‘I think Baby’s starting, but we’ve just got to get the job done. Baby’s ready to play, Rasheed’s ready to play, so is Shelden [Williams].’ Wallace had one of his best night’s this season, a 16-point nine-rebound fill-in job for Garnett who sat out the Celtics 112-106 win over the Heat Jan. 6 with a hyperextended right knee. ‘We’re all interchangeable,’ Davis said. ‘I’ve been lucky to have experience in the playoffs at a starting position. Sheed’s been blessed enough to be in this league successful at the power forward position. So any one of us can really start. It all depends on how the coach wants it.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “‘It don’t matter,’ Wallace said. ‘As long as I’m in there in that fourth quarter. I don’t care if I start. I don’t care if Doc brings me off the bench.’ Whoever gets the start will have their hands full with Beasley. While the second-year forward was a non-factor (six points, eight rebounds) in Boston’s 85-76 Game One win, the C’s anticipate Miami will try to get him more involved in Game Two. ‘I’m sure they’ll go to Michael Beasley more,’ Rivers said. ‘That’ll be an obvious adjustment without Kevin. You take Kevin off the floor, usually the guy he was guarding is the guy who gets the ball more. And Michael Beasley is a terrific offensive player.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “The player who stands, at least on paper, to benefit most from Garnett’s suspension is second-year power forward Michael Beasley. As the team’s second leading scorer, Beasley is counted on as Wade’s right hand man. But he’s had a maddeningly inconsistent season; a trend that continued in Game One, where Beasley only scored six points in 32 minutes. ‘I’m gonna be more aggressive, point blank,’ Beasley said. ‘I thought that if I had been more aggressive, we’d have had a better chance of winning the game. I’m not gonna force anything, or try to overdo myself, but I’m gonna be a more aggressive and try to put some pressure on the rim.’ Even more so without Garnett chasing him around? ‘Honestly, I had my mind made up before KG was out,’ Beasley said. ‘With or without KG — Game Three, Game Four — I’m gonna be aggressive. My game’s not gonna change at all.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Though he clearly seemed ready to react again in such circumstances, KG said the right things when asked what lesson he would take away from the incident. ‘To always keep a cool head and always understand that a cool head always prevails,’ he said. ‘Period, point-blank. You know, you try to pull something out of it and then apply it. I’m sure I will do just that.’ And he believes the Celts will succeed in his absence tonight. ‘I’m sure everybody has to look at themselves and say what they’re going to bring to this game,’ he said. ‘It was a lot of fire today, a lot of energy in the building. I guess everybody’s pretty much ready for Game 2. I have a lot of faith in how we prepare, how we practice. When you see our practices, you see how hard we go. Especially with the energy we had today, it gives me like a foresight or whatever to Game 2. I’m looking forward to see how we play.’”

Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo! Sports – “K.G. needs help, now. He’s still a borderline All-Star, per-minute. He’s still the biggest reason why Boston was ranked in the top three in defensive efficiency for most of the season. He can still hit the jumper, he can still crash the boards and he can still cover big stretches of the court in a way that would make a 23-year-old colt shake his head in wonder. But he’s nowhere near the K.G. we saw dominate this league in 2003-04 or dominate defensively in 2007-08. And he’s the first person to see this because he’s got a first-hand glance at just how far away that rim is compared to where it used to be when he tried to jump real high. Whether he wants to talk about it or not, yeah, K.G. knows. Cornered by his own increasing frailties, Garnett lashes out. He didn’t need to throw that elbow. He didn’t need to have Paul Pierce’s(notes) back. He doesn’t need any of this, but he presses on. And he loses more and more fans — hell, more and more admirers in the process.”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Collectively these are the things that win basketball games. They also were the things that weren’t in evidence consistently this season when the Celtics repeatedly were hitting the snooze button on the green alarm clock. ‘Those are always big plays,’ Doc Rivers said. ‘It’s not just the scoring plays or the ones everyone can see. To me, all that comes down to effort and playing hard and having great focus. If you’re focused in a game, you’re always cutting and running hard. You see an open area, and you cut. That’s focus and effort. ‘We were on that every day during the season,’ added the Celtics coach, who left out the “to no avail” part. ‘Every day. We did that a lot in Game 1, and if we can continue to do that, we’re going to be tough. And if we don’t do that, we’re beatable.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Miami point guard Carlos Arroyo said Allen is right near the top of concerns for the Heat in this playoff series. ‘He’s a big key to what they do,’ Arroyo said. ‘Him coming off screens, it’s very tough. He makes it difficult for any defense. He’s a player that you have to respect his shooting and his ability to put it on the floor and make things happen.’ Richardson agreed. ‘That’s somebody that you look up to in this league,’ Richardson said. ‘And see as an example of what you need to do to keep going strong. Because he’s definitely not slowed down running off all those screens and people trying to chase him, and still gets up and dunks the ball.’ And as far as the talk about Allen being too old, Richardson chuckled, ‘I don’t know if any of that applies to him, as far as the aging and stuff like that. He’s pretty ageless right now, to me.’”

Israel Gutierrez, Miami Herald – “Richardson, who turned 30 last week, isn’t sure if those experiences made him any tougher. Maybe more insightful. ‘It just puts everything in perspective,’ he said. You would think a player with this much grit, who’s held in such high esteem by teammates, was made for the playoffs. He might be, but in his 10 years in the league, this is just his second trip. His only previous one was a lengthy, 15-game postseason stay with the 2004-05 Phoenix Suns. Maybe that’s why Richardson didn’t take to Pierce’s dramatics or Kevin Garnett’s antics very well in Game 1. All that pent-up competitiveness had to be released. The truth is, Richardson has all the characteristics of a winning teammate. He won a starting job that wasn’t necessarily his to win. He helped make this Heat team one of the franchise’s best in terms of internal chemistry. He’s the team’s most consistent perimeter defender, and he happens to contribute actual numbers. ‘My whole thing is I know that I’m a winner,’ Richardson said. ‘And I know in the NBA it’s a league where there could only be one champion, but I never lost that about myself, that I’m a winner and I play with a winning attitude.’”

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