Posts tagged KendrickPerkins at FanHouse

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. The Sporting Blog: Shoals' excellent response to Shaq and his, um, question of taste.

2. Part Mule: And photos of the posterior that Kobe is more likely to actually be, uh, linked to.

3. Dave D'Alessandro, The Star Ledger: Is drafting European players a thing of the past?

4. The Pyramid of Excess: Sure you've seen mock drafts. But of the third round?

5. Boston.com's Celtics Blog: Kendrick Perkins is hocking memorabilia on QVC. Already?

6. Chicago Sun-Times: Rose or Beasley? Vinny Del Negro's not talking.

In the long-form tradition of The Rotation, Tom Ziller considers the action the morning after each game of the NBA Finals.

Proper perspective for the absurdity of Game 6 does not exist. The NBA can call this one weird season on infinite counts, but the sum of all other nonsensical haps in the league really cannot compare to what the Celtics franchise provoked on its way to the championship.

Boston's series win isn't a surprise: as Brett Edwards wrote last night, everyone knew it was coming after that mystical Game 4 win in L.A. But this? A complete blowout from the start of the second quarter? Garbage time?! Eddie House alley-oops to a 180in' Tony Allen?!? GATORADE ON THE HARDWOOD!!!!

Simply and utterly absurd ... but just real enough to change the entire face of the league.

From the AP comes news that both Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo will go tonight in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Boston. What does this mean?

Well, Perkins is nursing a shoulder injury, which is not a best-case injury scenario when you're talking about a guy that's on the floor to provide a physical presence. Perkins' absence was noticeable in Game 5 as the Laker repeatedly, and finally, built an advantage on the offensive glass with Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. Perkins is playing to try and erase that deficit, but with Gasol's height advantage over, well, everyone, having a bum shoulder could cause issues.

Conversely, Rondo's suffering with a bum ankle, and that's equally as unfortunate for his skill set. His big advantage over Derek Fisher is his speed and athleticism, and if that's limited, he's just an awkward young point guard who has trouble shooting.

However, the gamble is definitely worth it if the two are really healthy enough to play, obviously. The real question comes if they aren't. Doc Rivers is notorious for his rotation issues, and will often leave guys in too long before making the necessary adjustment. Will he be able to pull the plug tonight if he needs to? Will he have to?

Before you start flaming me for the headline Celtics fans, just relax. Because I'm not the one who's making that claim (I would never), those are the words of Kevin Garnett himself. During his post-game presser, KG was deeply disappointed in his Game 5 play, so he wasted no time in ripping himself for the performance.

"It was trash. I played like garbage tonight. I can do better and I will. I could never really get into a rhythm. I was playing on my heels the whole night."

And the free throws?

"Those are free throws I know I can hit. But I'll take them again if you put me in that situation. I'll have the confidence to knock them down."

While Garnett did miss three of his four free throws down the stretch, he also hit a big jumper to tie the game at 90 just minutes before that, so it's not like he was completely ineffective, but it was definitely a sub-par game for him.

Doc Rivers lamented Garnett's play as well, mentioning that the team can't afford to have him picking up reach-in fouls, especially considering the fact that Kendrick Perkins is unavailable due to injury. But knowing the way KG plays at home, and with the championship on the line, I'm sure he'll bounce back in Game 6. Or not.

Starting center Kendrick Perkins spent Game 5 in (really big) street clothes for Boston, catapulting Leon Powe into the starting line-up and P.J. Brown into the heavy end of the rotation. Before Sunday night's contest, Doc Rivers noted Perk wouldn't likely be ready for Game 6 either.

"I would say that would probably be doubtful," coach Doc Rivers said before the game of Perkins returning to the floor for Game 6 at the Garden. "But I don't know."

Did Boston miss Perk in Game 5? To the naked eye, Pau Gasol looked more comfortable in the paint than he had in the first four. The Lakers rebounded slightly better than the Celtics. Powe saw only five minutes -- nice confidence boost, I'm sure -- and Brown only managed to record 4 points, 3 rebounds and 5 fouls in his 25 minutes.

The real impact: Boston had to play small ball, which had some success but also allowed L.A. to push the tempo. The Celtics, with that insurmountable halfcourt defense, have been successful when they've kept the Lakers' transition game in check; playing quicker on offense themselves leads to L.A. getting into an up-and-down flow, which could hurt.

But more important than Perk's shoulder is Paul Pierce's knee. The Truth went hard for a full 48 minutes last night. There haven't been any solid reports on Pierce's health, but considering the pain Pierce was in a week ago, you'd be surprised if he weren't sore as Hades this morning.

So far, this series has been as exciting and drama-filled as we could ask for. Game 2 is tonight in Boston, let's get a little roundtable action going again. Your panelists are Matt Moore, Brett Edwards, and Tom Ziller.

Team NBA FanHouse got together to discuss the series ahead. Be sure to join Brett Edwards' Game 1 live blog tonight shortly before the 9 p.m. Eastern tip.

Matt Moore: Thank you, Basketball Jesus, the day has finally arrived. What's crazy is that with all the hype, this isn't just a single game, nay, we've got possibly seven of these things. Let's start off with some nuts and bolts. What's the one matchup on either side you see as the biggest mismatch?

NBA Endgame will preview Celtics-Lakers from all angles. Right now: the obligatory position-by-position breakdown.

In looking at the way the Celtics and Lakers will match up with each other by position, I'm going with the traditional breakdown -- as opposed to who may be actually matched up against each other -- because that's likely to change as the series goes on. We'll be taking a deeper look at some of those individual matchups over the next couple of days, but in the meantime, here's an overview of the starters for both teams.

PG: Derek Fisher (LA) vs Rajon Rondo (BOS): Rondo's quickness and playmaking ability are a big plus, but his unwillingness to shoot the ball when he's open has hurt the Celtics at times. Fisher's playoff heroics are well-documented, and the veteran definitely won't be rattled playing in his fourth NBA Finals. Advantage: Lakers

SG: Kobe Bryant (LA) vs Ray Allen (BOS): This matchup might be closer than you think, at least in terms of how it may affect their respective teams. Kobe's going to get his, but If Ray Allen can find some consistency in this series and at least force Kobe to expend some energy on the defensive end of the floor, he could even this one out a bit. But if Allen isn't hitting his shots, Kobe will be able to cheat off of him and provide some help defense, which will obviously make things tougher for people like Paul Pierce. Advantage: Lakers

Every now and again there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the L. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Kendrick Perkins set the tone early for the Celtics last night: he had 14 boards by halftime, or four more than the entire Detroit roster! He came back to earth over the final two quarters but remained a defensive presence and overall pest, eventually finishing with playoff career-high marks of 18 points and 16 boards. It's not often one of Boston's role players is the difference, but without Perkins, the Celtics don't win this game.

Of course, Perk going off on Detroit is nothing new: he set a regular season career-high back in March by grabbing 20 boards in a game against the Pistons. Sooner or later the Pistons will remember to keep a body on him -- if not in Game 6 on Friday, then perhaps next season.

Also Receiving Votes:
He's baaack! Ray Allen silenced his doubters on Wednesday by scoring 29 points, with over half of them coming off his 5-for-6 performance behind the three-point line.

Chauncey Billups put concerns about his health to rest, as well, by leading the Pistons with 26 points. His shot has been off as he's struggled with both his timing and his nagging hamstring injury, but he turned in a solid 7-for-17 night from the field, going 3-for-7 from long distance and 9-for-9 at the stripe.

I love this picture. Years from now, young NBA fans will look at it for the first time and think, "Wow, Kevin Garnett, what a stud." But those of us who watched the game will know better, and that's when we'll see those young bucks down and tell the story of The Big Denial and how Jason Maxiell is a bad, bad man.

After tying up the series with an impressive Game 4 win on Monday, the Pistons will now try to take control of the series in Boston. Of course, the Celtics have different plans: Paul Pierce called tonight's game a "must-win," and Kendrick Perkins has essentially guaranteed a win. Believe it: both teams want this win, especially when you consider that the winner of Game 5 goes on to win the series 83% of the time when teams are tied at 2-2 apiece. The ball tips at 8:30pm -- join me here for the live-blog.