Projo Sports Blog

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- The Celtics’ Ray Allen was at the Garden and shooting jumpers nearly four hours before Tuesday night’s game. The Celtics were happy to see him.

Allen was rushed away from Monday night’s game to be with his young son, Walker, at a Los Angeles-area hospital because of an undisclosed illness. Allen stayed with his son Monday while his teammates and their families struggled to get out of town on a chartered flight. He flew home on a red-eye flight Monday night and arrived into Boston at around 10 a.m.

"Ray is doing good. I mean, he's going to be fine," said Doc Rivers. "Obviously he's not had a lot of sleep over the last three days. We were thinking about it before this morning, just how much he's probably had. It can't be much. But he's ready. You can see it, he's ready to play."

Rivers said he had just a short conversation with Allen, who was set to play the most important game in his 12-year pro career.

"I said, 'How you doing?’ I didn't even ask him about basketball, honestly. I just asked him how he was doing. He said he's fine. That's all I needed to know," said Rivers.

Allen, who is second on the Celtics in scoring in the playoffs at 19.2 per game, has the support of his teammates. Gabe Pruitt said, “From what I hear, everything is fine. It’s tough but he seems ready to go. It’s tough. I couldn’t imagine going through that."

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