Re: Tony Allen's Comeback WALTHAM - On the dark, damp and miserable morning of May 31, Tony Allen almost didn't make it in to the office. Throbbing in his surgically repaired left knee woke him at 8:30 a.m., something Allen blamed on the morning rain, but by the time he made it to the Sports Authority Training Center at HealthPoint, the pain had subsided and Allen was ready to go to work. It's just after 11 a.m. on one of those days where nobody wanted to go to work. Interstate 95 is soaked and moving a shade faster than a standstill. Most of the Celtics' basketball operations office is at the NBA's pre-draft camp in Orlando, Florida, so, Allen is one of only three people in the facility, joined by Physical Therapist Todd Campbell and an intrepid Celtics.com reporter. "I did not want to come in today," Allen said. "But I knew I had to run on the treadmill today with more weight." It's the tail end of his workout. A Paul Pierce mix CD is thumping some near-deafening rap music, and Campbell is strapping "T.A." (his handle in Waltham) into a body harness, a contraption that looks like something into which a mountain climber might hook himself. And given the long rehabilitation process he's embarked on, mountain climbing is probably a decent analogy. Allen's five months deep into his rehab as he attempts to reconstruct his left knee from a vicious injury he sustained on January 10 against the Indiana Pacers at the Garden after a post-whistle dunk attempt gone bad, but there's still plenty mountain between him and the summit. At this moment, he's facing 15 minutes on the treadmill. His harness is connected to a suspension system that regulates how much body weight he's actually running on. Allen currently weighs in at 225 pounds, and Campbell's set the system to shave off roughly 15% of his weight for the start of the run. He'll gradually adjust the settings throughout so that by the end of the run, Allen's carrying about 90% of his body weight and has a healthy lather going; sweat is soaking through his gray practice shirt. Within next week or so, Allen should be running without mechanical assistance.Allen vividly remembers January 10. That's not surprising. Allen has told several people in the organization that he watches video of the game and the injury every day. He confirmed that again today. "Yeah...I watch it every day. Every day. Like when I go back home, I'll watch it all the way up until that point. I had 19 points," Allen said. "I watch the game up to that point, and I look at how aggressive I was the whole game, I think about what I was thinking before that game." He watches the video up until that point every day. I look at the game everyday, I watch it, and then I look at the injury - BOOM! - and I'm like...[Allen pauses, and his voice drops]...alright, turn it off. Let's do some leg squats! I've got 40-pound dumbbells I took from the weight room, and I do some lunges." Masochistic? Perhaps. Motivational? Apparently. Allen's grandmother, joined by his mother and cousin, had come to Boston that night for the first time to see him play in an actual game, and he was planning to put on a show, just a day before his 25th birthday. Two hours before the game, T.A. was pinballing around the Celtics locker room asking anyone who would listen, reporters included, if they had an iPod charger. He says he told his cousin in a pre-game trash-talking phone call that he was going to "get the win and drop 40 points." He was playing the best basketball of his career and while his iPod may have lacked energy, Allen was clearly juiced. With Pierce already on the shelf with his stress reaction and Wally Szczerbiak sitting out thanks to recurring ankle injuries, Allen was not only in the starting lineup, but he was about to discover that he was the Celtics' first option. After reeling off six straight 20-point performances, averaging 21.3 points and three steals per game and shooting 55% from the field along the way, Allen had proven he could carry the scoring load over the last two weeks, and frankly, Coach Doc Rivers had nowhere else to turn. "Seeing how easy it was when I was getting those points, and as I look at the game, Doc was actually coming to me," Allen said of the Indiana game. "I realized that during the game, they were coming to me through the first half." Allen had really just found his groove since returning from an offseason surgery and rehab on his right knee (a much less severe injury than the one he would suffer on this night) and was no longer fumbling away fast breaks by dribbling the ball of his foot or mishandling balls passed a hair too low. His timing was back, syncing up with the strength and explosiveness upon which his game is predicated. His first step was lethal again. He was finishing loud. Screaming after big plays. And he was no longer pounding his head with his fist - an unseemly, habitual display after a boneheaded play or careless turnover earlier in the season. Allen was shooting 51% from the field for the year, ranking him fourth among all NBA guards at the time, and he was compensating for poor three-point shooting by making a concerted effort to head for the basket, draw contact, absorb the hit and release a quality attempt at the basket. Rivers had asked Allen to make four drives to the hoop for every one outside shot he took, and the message obviously got through. After practice on January 9, Allen was echoing Rivers' sentiments and told Celtics.com that he felt "good as an all-around player right now." On January 10, he was in the midst of his best game. Until that point. That point, of course, is 3:01 remaining in the third quarter. Up until that point, Allen had played all but one second of the game. He'd racked up 19 points, two rebounds, three assists, five steals, several deflections and a well-deserved Tommy Point, and he was flying around the court like a moth at a porch light in August. Allen was darting into passing lanes, coming up with loose balls and creating havoc on the defensive end -- the same thing he'd been doing for the last few weeks, imploring TV analyst and Hall-of-Famer Tommy Heinsohn to call him a "first-class pest on defense" who was "playing like an All-Star" during the broadcast. Easily the most active player on the court, Allen looked like he might just deliver on his bombastic "40 and the win" boast, and it was shaping up to be a special night for T.A. Until that point.http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/allen-reha...7.html?rss=true
Re: Tony Allen's Comeback TA is self-motivated, but it's good to see that he uses other things to help push himself. I hope he's ready for camp, he's such a big part of this team. He's our best defender and our emotional leader when he has his swagger going for him, which he did when he hurt himself. Get well soon, TA!
Re: Tony Allen's Comeback I've loved TA's game and attitude ever since his days at OSU, really hope he is full health when it comes time for camp.
Re: Tony Allen's Comeback <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Camby23Land @ Jun 7 2007, 01:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I've loved TA's game and attitude ever since his days at OSU</div> And ever since he murders the Nuggets every time we play.
