Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett has been in the news lately for something he probably wishes he hadn't done -- trash-talking the Pistons' Charlie Villanueva and allegedly calling him a "cancer patient." SB Nation Chicago covered the story earlier this week; first, regarding whether Garnett crossed a line (it appears he did), and then Garnett's non-apology apology, which only made things worse.
So from the Bulls' point of view, maybe this will distract Garnett from play tonight. You can be sure the mainstream media will make this a focus of tonight's match; will Garnett try to trash-talk Joakim Noah? Noah's not the kind of guy to take that and just brush it off, either. Meanwhile, Noah and Derrick Rose both sat out the last part of the fourth quarter of yesterday's game at coach Tom Thibodeau's decision. Rose had a career-high 14 assists.
"The second unit I thought fought hard to close it, and I wanted to see what they could get out of it," Thibodeau said.
Someone remind coach Thibodeau that the regular season has started, please. Tonight is also homecoming for Thibodeau, who spent the last three seasons as the associate head coach of the Celtics.
The Celtics are also shorthanded tonight; Shaquille O'Neal is out with a bruised knee and Kendrick Perkins, who also has a knee injury, isn't expected back until January.
Tonight's game begins at 7 p.m. CDT, an hour later than games in Boston would usually start; this is so it can be the first game of ESPN's national Friday night doubleheader. It will also be televised on CSN Chicago.