The Celtics' rotation was thrown a curveball when Marquis Daniels' sore left thumb turned out to be worse than expected. Daniels has been bothered by the thumb for a few weeks, but after taking a hard pass off it in Sunday's practice, he finally went for an MRI that revealed a torn ligament. He had surgery Wednesday and will be out 6-to-8 weeks. "It's a little setback," said Celtics president Danny Ainge, noting that Tony Allen will now be needed to step in more quickly as he comes back from off-season ankle surgery.
The Celtics debated what to do with Daniels and decided on the surgery in hopes the problem will be totally solved.
"There's different ways to treat it, and we chose surgery," Ainge said. "There is probably a quicker way to get him back, but this will take care of it once and for all."
Coach Doc Rivers was a bit surprised by the severity of Daniels' injury (torn left thumb ligament). He had an MRI and was operated on Wednesday morning.
"I knew his hand was hurting, but we didn't know (it was this bad)," Rivers said. "It's amazing. You get a result read, and 12 hours later you're on the surgery table."
CELTICS 104, WIZARDS 102: Rajon Rondo had a team-high 21 points as the Celtics held on to beat the Wizards in Washington. The Celtics held their hosts without a single individual rebound in the second quarter and led by 14 at the half, but they relaxed as the Wizards opened the third period with a 22-6 run.
Rondo spurred the Celtics late, dunking over Andray Blatche after Washington had tied the game.
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