News 12/7

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1137386&format=text
Kendrick Perkins stealing show from supporting role

By Mark Murphy / Celtics Notebook | Sunday, December 7, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics

Photo by AP
Dirty Harry once said a man has to know his limitations.

Kendrick Perkins [stats] might beg to differ and agree at the same time.

The Celtics [team stats] center, who knocked around Greg Oden on Friday night as if the Portland rookie were just getting off the bus from Ohio State, is currently enjoying the best of everything.cw0cw0

Few in the NBA know their role better. But according to coach Doc Rivers, Perkins has reached a kind of role player nirvana. By fulfilling it, Perkins has outperformed his job description.cw2cw2

Based on his recent play, including double-doubles in three of his last four games and four straight double-figure rebounding performances, the big guy has redefined his role as a paint plugger and intimidator.

But not so fast.

“It’s really rare when you have a role player who understands his role so well he plays better than a role player,” said Rivers.

Perkins, apprised of his coach’s comments, nodded vigorously.

“Doc plays a big part in that,” he said. “He’s always telling me, ‘Perk, just play your role.’ I give Doc credit for putting me in the right position to do all this.”

He also credits Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce [stats], Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo [stats] for commanding all of the defensive attention, thus freeing up Perkins for the dunks and trips to the free throw line that helped fatten his stat line.

Over the last four games, while averaging 12.7 points and 11.7 rebounds against an impressive dance card that included Portland, Indiana and Orlando, Perkins finished as well as he has since joining the NBA five years ago.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Garnett is one of the best passing big men in the history of the game.

But it also helps that Perkins knows when to look for the ball.

“I think Perk has understood totally, 100 percent, his role,” said Garnett. “We look for him now. He’s actually working on his offensive game and trying to be more of a threat. He takes a lot of pride when people are sagging off him. He doesn’t like that, and he’s doing something about it.

“He’s in the gym working on his post game, and when he has matchups he’s being patient. He’s going out and being more of a force in the offensive end. But he still hasn’t forgotten his role, which is getting Paul open, getting Ray open, getting Rondo open, being a defensive stopper and going in and clogging up the paint, things of that nature.

“He and Rondo are the MVPs right now for me. They’re playing real good basketball.”

Not coincidentally, both are also meeting Rivers’ standards - not always an easy thing, especially for a point guard.

But Perkins, like Rondo, seems to be playing the best basketball of his life.

His play enables Garnett to take lengthy breaks each night, which bodes well for the team long term.

And judging from the way Oden complained about the Celtics’ physical style and the officials’ willingness to let the rough stuff go, Perkins is in a physical groove.

“I’m not worried about points,” Perkins said. “They’ll come if I do everything else. I’m just worried about defending and helping Kevin on the boards.

“When you play your role - like setting picks - the guys end up finding me. There was one play (Friday) where Rondo hit me with a pass and then I hit Kevin for the dunk. That’s just the rhythm we play with.”


No. 1 starters

The Celtics, who can tie the best mark (20-2) through 22 games in franchise history with a win tonight in Indianapolis, are chasing two teams that currently hold that mark - last year’s Celtics, and the 1963-64 team.

Neither of those teams advanced to 21-2. . . .cw-3

Last Wednesday’s rout of the Pacers notwithstanding, the Celtics know what can happen against this surprising team, especially in Conseco Fieldhouse.cw-0

“We know we have to go in and get it,” said Perkins. “Indiana is one of the most underrated teams in the league.” . . .

Tony Allen, who missed the last two games with a sprained right ankle, has targeted tonight’s game for a return.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/other_nba/view.bg?articleid=1137364&format=text
Lakers mimick Celtics defensive approach
Have Kurt response

By Steve Bulpett | Sunday, December 7, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | NBA Coverage

Photo by AP
The Lakers may look a little more familiar to Celtics [team stats] fans when the teams get together on Christmas Day. At least their defense may.

That’s because Los Angelenos have begun playing the same type of sagging defense that has helped make the locals the gold standard for NBA resistance. The Lakers haven’t talked about it much, but when it was noticed and brought up to Phil Jackson, he had an interesting response.

“We didn’t want to announce it and make a big deal about it like Boston did with their guy,” Jackson said, referring to defensive guru Tom Thibodeau. “But Kurt (Rambis) is real good at this and he’s willing. Kurt’s been pestering me for a year or so about doing some things defensively that I was reluctant to do. I come from the old school where you play man, and you have that man and that’s your primary goal.”

Thus far, the Lakers have shown good improvement on that end of the floor. And while Jackson credits Rambis, the point (or lack of points) were certainly driven home during last season’s Finals. Now LA is trying to find some new scoring options to make defenses like the Celtics’ pay for their concentration on Kobe Bryant.

“We know that Boston literally said, ‘We’ve got to take Kobe out. We just have to throw our defense at them.’ We have to have more guys fit into our offense if we’re going to be a team that can compete with those clubs,” Jackson said.

Elsewhere in Lakerland, there is the usual selection of fun and games to keep the papers fed.

On Monday in Indiana, Bryant became the second-youngest player in NBA history to reach 22,000 points. The game before that, when he still had a chance to beat Wilt Chamberlain’s standard by a day, the chase (he was 38 away at the time) was mentioned in the club’s game notes.

Jackson wasn’t entirely amused.

“That was like (putting) a carrot in front of a donkey, whoever did that,” Jackson said when the note was brought to his attention. “It was stupid. That could really mess up the game for tonight.

“Kobe does have agendas at times that will come out. A couple years ago, when things didn’t go well, he went on that tear. He could get into that (again). You hope that he stays focused on what the overall plan is.”

After scoring 23 against the Raptors, Bryant said, “I had no idea. I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t follow anything of that sort. I just go out and play.”

Bryant went on to insist he doesn’t get into all that individual stuff - though reporters pulled back from his nose when he said it.

“Phil likes to give you guys quotes to mess with you because you write that stuff,” he said. “At some point, you’ve got to figure out he does that stuff just to mess with you.

“You guys have me all wrong. I only just play. I play hard. I play the same way all the time. I never concerned myself with milestones or anything like that. Honestly, if I cared about that, I would have just gone to college, came into the league and averaged 30, got my scoring up.”

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/other_nba/view.bg?articleid=1137366&format=text

Time for Celtics to take out trash

By Steve Bulpett / NBA Notes | Sunday, December 7, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | NBA Coverage

Photo by Stuart Cahill
The Celtics [team stats] are cementing their position atop the NBA food chain with their brilliant record to start the season.

They are also, however, furthering their image around the league as the chattiest team on the circuit. And word is the NBA office does, indeed, have the C’s in their sightline.

According to one source, the steady stream of trash talk is getting a bit unseemly to some.

“There have been teams that have talked a lot of (expletive), but usually those are the bad teams,” he said. “And this is different from the stuff Larry (Bird) used to do. This is overt trash talking, and really I think they can take that stuff too far sometimes. Forget about the fact it doesn’t look good from the defending champions, I think it takes away from them.”

Coach Doc Rivers said last week that he doesn’t want to in any way douse his team’s competitive fire, and he has a very good point there. But he also noted that he’d like his players to pick their spots a little better.

In the latter case, he was referring mainly to chatter with referees, and this is the issue that most could impact the Celtics in a critical situation. The bottom line is that the officials are getting their fill of the Bostonian complaints.

Said one ref last week, “Someone needs to explain to those guys that not every call we make is wrong.”

The contentiousness is written all over the stat sheet. Coming into the weekend, the Celtics had 25 technical fouls for conduct. Phoenix was second with 13. And be wary of the inflated technical stats you may have read that include defensive three-second calls.

Does anyone honestly believe the Celts are getting twice as many bad whistles as another team? (Put your hand down, Tommy.)

Some techs are unavoidable when players squeezing out every ounce of effort believe they have been wronged, but the Celtics are hoping to avoid a situation where their reputation helps net them one at a key moment in a meaningful game.

Wham-bam thanks, Sam

Sam Mitchell couldn’t have been totally caught off guard by his firing - and not just because the Raptors lost by a hideous 39 points in Denver on Tuesday to fall under .500.

Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo told Mitchell that night he was considering a change, but he said he wanted to sleep on it. When Colangelo woke up, the newspapers confirmed the 39-point loss and his gut told him to make the move he had been thinking about for some time. The fact he inherited Mitchell may have been a factor, as well, but he gave him his shot.

Colangelo had actually pondered firing Mitchell after the quick five-game playoff loss to Orlando last spring. He also noted the loss to the Celtics in Boston (where the Raptors blew a big lead) and an OT fall against New Jersey.

“We weren’t getting the maximum from our roster,” Colangelo said. “It was time to change. This wasn’t all about Sam’s failings as a coach. We are not a team without flaws. I’m wearing (8-9 record at the time) like Sam’s wearing it.

“We haven’t lost confidence in the roster, but our players have been down the past couple of weeks. They’ve lost that swagger. Now there are no more excuses with regards to Sam Mitchell as coach.”

While some believe unhappiness among the players may have helped push Mitchell out the door, Chris Bosh said, “We don’t make the calls. No matter what we do or what we say, it’s all on the people in the front office to change that.”

Bosh also took umbrage when asked about changes for the underachieving club.

“What is underachieving?” he replied. “The season isn’t over. We’re one game under .500 and it’s early on. It could be a lot worse. I don’t know if you underachieve in a couple of games (two losses on this road trip). That’s a couple of games you can’t do anything about. Underachieving is on a long-term basis.”

The most visible change should be the Raptors’ pace. Colangelo and new coach Jay Triano favor a running game.

The generally combative Mitchell seemed to take his firing well, perhaps because he’s still got almost three years left on his contract.

“At our coaches’ meeting this morning, Sam said something like this might happen,” Triano said Wednesday. “He said, ‘I hope one of you in this room gets the job.’ He was at ease with that and thanked all of us.”

Triano did get the job. Alex English and Mike Evans didn’t.

Fiddlin’ and diddlin’

There doesn’t appear to be much sense in the whole Stephon Marbury mess. But if it’s going to get solved, there will have to be a lot of dollars.

A meeting last week to discuss a buyout didn’t go particularly well, and Marbury is now said to be digging in his heels even more.

Word is the Knicks are trying to save around $3 million of the $18 million Marbury has left for this season. He was willing to chop a bit off the $18 mill, but now he wants what the contract states. . . .

Yet another reason to be thankful for Rajon Rondo [stats]: Minnesota was hoping Randy Foye would take over as point guard mainstay, but he’s been taken out of the starting lineup twice this season - first for Sebastian Telfair [stats] and most recently for Kevin Ollie, who will turn 36 before this year is over. . . .

Charles Barkley had another good one last week when discussing Miami’s Shawn Marion: “What all these players are learning is that they have all been a figment of (former Suns coach) Mike D’Antoni’s system,” he said. “You know Shawn Marion, I tried to tell him, ‘You’re a terrific player but you’re not a great player. Stay here in Phoenix and relax instead of going and saying you want to be the man.’ Now you can’t even find him with a GPS.” . . .

[FLCeltsFan]

www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/12/07/celtics_perkins_goes_on_the_offensive?mode=PF
Celtics' Perkins goes on the offensive
By Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff | December 7, 2008

In a matter of months, Celtics center Kendrick Perkins has gone from being worried about his shoulder to shouldering more of the load offensively.

Offseason left shoulder surgery caused Perkins to miss three preseason games, but he made up for lost time by working hard on his offense during individual workouts. The usual fifth option in the Celtics' offense, Perkins has showed of late that those workouts paid off, as he has averaged 11.4 points over the last seven games.

"I've just been doing my role and they have done a good job of finding me," said Perkins, who was off yesterday with the rest of the Celtics before playing at Indiana tonight.

Despite starting, Perkins was actually ninth on the team in scoring last season, averaging 6.9 points in 24.5 minutes per contest. Plays were rarely run for him, and his offensive game seemed limited to a short jumper, an occasional hook, dunks, and putbacks.

But Perkins worked on his game and showed late improvement at a key time, scoring 18 points against Detroit in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

An already short offseason became even shorter for the sixth-year Celtic when he underwent arthroscopic surgery July 2 to repair the injury that hampered him during the NBA Finals.

"I couldn't work on different parts of my game like I wanted to," said Perkins. "I had to bunch it all up and fit it in where I could fit it in. I couldn't really work on my body like I wanted to.

"It was just a little setback, but it wasn't that bad."

Once Perkins was cleared to take part in noncontact drills, he spent a lot of time working on his offensive game with assistant coach Clifford Ray and veteran teammate Sam Cassell.

Perkins improved his footwork, learned how to get off his hook shot quicker, and added an up-and-under move.

Perkins said he also picked up some post tips by watching Kevin Garnett work out.

"Perk has understood totally, 100 percent, his role," Garnett said. "We look for him now. He's actually working on his offensive game and trying to be more of a threat. He takes a lot of pride when people are sagging off and he doesn't like that and he's doing something about it.

"He's in the gym working on his post game, and when he has matchups, he's being patient.

"He's going out and being more of a force on the offensive end. But he still hasn't forgotten his role, which is getting Paul [Pierce] open, getting Ray [Allen] open, getting [Rajon] Rondo open."

Perkins has had double-doubles in three of his last four games, including a 12-point, 12-rebound performance against Greg Oden in Friday's 93-78 win over Portland. He is averaging a team- and career-best 2.8 offensive rebounds per game, and a career-high 8.1 rebounds overall.

Coach Doc Rivers said Perkins has improved his offense by picking better spots in the post and taking advantage when his teammates are double-teamed.

"He understands playing next to Kevin, Kevin's going to get a lot of attention," Rivers said. "He knows Paul's going to get a lot of attention. He's ducking at perfect times now, so you have to guard him under the basket. And he's finishing better."

The statistic that matters most to Perkins is wins. "The points are going to come," he said. "With this team, it's so hard [to score] because you never know who's going to have that night. Whoever has that night, we're going to get him going."

Rivers downplayed an incident in Friday's game in which Garnett scolded several teammates, notably Glen Davis, after they squandered most of a 25-point advantage in the final quarter. After the scolding, Davis sat on the bench with a towel over his head and appeared teary-eyed. Davis was not available for comment, but in a text message, Rivers described the incident as "not a big deal here at all."