Perkins becoming C's best defender with old-school aproach

If graceful forays to the basket and feathery outside jumpers are what you like in your NBA center, avert your eyes from Kendrick Perkins. The Celtics' big man is a case study in old school, rock 'em-sock'em low-post play.

Though he was the starting center on Boston's 2008 championship team, Perkins was one of three Celtics big men (along with P.J. Brown and Leon Powe) who saw plenty of playing time in the '08 playoffs. With Brown retired and Powe (and Kevin Garnett) injured during the 2009 playoffs, Perkins made his mark against the Magic's Dwight Howard in the '09 East semifinals.

His defense of Howard garnered praise then and he's only improved from there. Perkins is among the league leaders in total blocks (39) and blocks per game (1.39) and is leading the league in field goal percentage (.651). He's averaging a career high in points (11.9) and is a consistent target of point guard Rajon Rondo on his drives to the basket.

Perkins has carved his niche as an in-the-paint intimidator (along with Garnett) and is more than happy to go up strong over a defender than be bothered with jump shots or footwork around the bucket.

"I'm just doing my job," Perkins told The Boston Globe. "Guys are just finding me. A lot of teams help off of me and I feel like I have to do a better job of diving to the rim. I just feel like guys are finding me and I got to make sure to try to be consistent and do something when I get the ball."

Perhaps most impressive is how Perkins has rounded himself into a legitimate center in the league. When Doc Rivers first took over in Boston in 2004-05, Perkins was out of shape and had little skill on offense. He was one of the least-used players on the team that season. Since then, Perkins has shed the extra pounds and has worked to be more aggressive around the basket (something evidenced by his 160 free-throw attempts this season, 23 away from his career high).

"He's doing all the little things, a lot of the dirty work that you don't get the credit for," Rivers told the Globe. "One of the things we've talked about for years is if he can get it in the paint, they are going to have to foul. If he goes through bodies, he's going to get to the foul line."

1. Jason Williams, Magic

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
21	25.2	7.8	2.0	4.9	0.9	0.0	.450	.424	.714

Last Week's Rank - 1
As much as we wanted to put someone else in this guard spot this week, Williams is making it impossible to do so. Orlando is now 10-1 with Williams running the show since Jameer Nelson's injury and has nearly doubled Nelson's assist totals this season (Williams has 103 to Nelson's 61). Still, as good as the Magic have remained with Nelson out of the lineup, don't expect Williams to remain the starter once Nelson returns in 2-3 weeks. "It doesn’t change a whole lot, to be honest," coach Stan Van Gundy told OrlandoMagic.com "(Nelson) is the starter and J-Will will go back to being the back-up and I don’t think that affects the other guys very much. You never know about the first game back, but as soon as he’s practiced and ready to go, Jameer will start." Envy the Magic, though, once Nelson does return: Orlando will have a guard averaging a miniscule 1.0 turnovers per game coming in to lead the second unit.

2. Larry Hughes, Knicks

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
20	32.3	12.8	4.3	4.5	107	0.5	.398	.329	.829

Last Week's Rank - N/A
Hughes has gone from bench-warmer extrordinaire to key cog in the Knicks' December turnaround. When he was acquired from the Bulls in a trade-deadline day deal last season, Hughes was mostly a garbage time player who saw spot duty as a defensive stopper for coach Mike D'Antoni. This season, after New York's abysmal 1-9 start, D'Antoni plugged Hughes in as an occassional starter and now has him as the team's top backup point guard (a job dunker extroardinare Nate Robinson once had). Hughes came up with a solid night in an easy home win over the Blazers, posting 21 points. He was clutch in a win over the Hawks in Atlanta, posting 16 points, seven assists and knocked down big shots in the fourth quarter to keep Atlanta at bay. Hughes is showing his all-around talent that was a hallmark of his solid play in Washington years ago. But perhaps the most telling stat of why D'Antoni went from Robinson to Hughes as his backup point guard is this: New York is 0-9 when Robinson plays at least 19 minutes and 7-6 when he less than 12 minutes.

3. Kendrick Perkins, Celtics

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
21	27.4	11.9	7.5	1.1	0.2	1.9	.651	.000	.614

Last Week's Rank - N/A
We've mentioned above how Perkins is establishing himself more offensively, but he's not doing so at the expense of his defense. In a recent interview with SI.com, Rivers called Perkins the team's "best defender" and lauded the big man for his relationship with Kevin Garnett in anchoring Boston's low post defense. Perhaps most intriguing from the SI.com story were Perkins' comments on how using a forearm actually hinders his low post defense on fade aways and spin moves from opposing players. Watch Perkins on defense and you'll see that he puts his outside hand on the opponents' tailbone to gauge his direction and uses his opposing hand to jab for steals. As far as his offensive approach to the game, Perkins keeps it simple. "I'm a guy who never settles for a face-up jump shot. I'm going to get as deep in the post as possible," he told SI.com "Some guys, even big guys, tend to settle. They spend the whole off season working on their outside game, trying to prove they can make that shot. I'm not one of those guys. Get to the rim: That should make sense to anybody."

4. Stephen Jackson, Bobcats

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
20	37.0	17.4	4.3	4.2	1.5	0.6	.408	.276	.706

Last Week's Rank - N/A
After an 0-3 start to his time in Charlotte, Jackson and the Bobcats have been getting along just great of late. He did it all in a big home win over the Nuggets (25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals) and even frustrated MVP favorite Carmelo Anthony down the stretch, too. He is giving the Bobcats a go-to threat down the stretch of games that has been lacking for the club since its inception. Since acquiring Jackson on Nov. 16, the Bobcats are a respectable 6-5 (compared to an awful 3-7 in the pre-SJax era) and have put themselves in the running for the No. 8 spot out East. Jackson has emerged as the team's scoring leader to no one's surprise, but perhaps somewhat shocking is how Jackson has made life easier on former No. 1 overall pick Raymond Felton. "He always puts pressure on himself because he wants so badly to please everybody. ... Now we've got Stephen, and he takes pressure off of you." coach Larry Brown told the Charlotte Observer.

5. Andrea Bargnani, Raptors

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
23	33.2	16.7	6.5	1.1	0.4	1.1	.463	.381	.861

Last Week's Rank - N/A
Bargnani has shown all season that he's taken the next step on offense. Consider that his nine points in a Dec. 5 win over the Bulls (the second of back-to-back games for Toronto) marked the first time this season Bargnani failed to hit double-figure scoring in back-to-back games. In seasons past, Bargnani's disappearance on the second game of a back-to-back was a common sight. We've thought of putting Bargnani in the Five on the Rise all season, but the Raptors' losing ways kept him outside our list altogether. While his offensive consistency has been nice, he's making more of an effort to box out and crash the boards than in seasons past, too. Just last week, Bargnani had a key offensive rebound in an overtime win over Washington and played solid defense on Jonny Flynn in last week's win over the Wolves. We won't be confusing him with Dwight Howard anytime soon, but it's that all-around play (plus the Raptors' win streak) that lands him in our list this week.

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G: Rodney Stuckey, Pistons -- Detroit seems to be breaking out of the funk that it was in most of November and Stuckey's play has been a big reason why. Stuckey struggled with his shot in November, shooting 39.9 percent. But since the Pistons have put veteran Chucky Atkins in the starting lineup as part of a three-guard unit, Stuckey has gotten back on track. He's shooting 44.4 percent and has put in solid defensive games, too. He held Brandon Jennings to 15 points on 6-for-20 shooting and on Wednesday helped hold Allen Iverson (the man he replaced in Detroit's lineup last season) to a 3-for-10 shooting night and 11 points. Pistons coach John Kuester told the Detroit Free Press he thinks Stuckey can be a great defender in the NBA, but he's still waiting for Stuckey to figure out how to run a team and look for his own offense. "What we want out of a guy like Stuckey, who we think is going to be a premier guard in this league, is a combination of putting him in a situation where he knows how to run a team and understand times where he has to take the basketball to the hole," Kuester said. "I think the biggest thing people don't realize is he has a chance to be one of the best defensive guards I've coached, and I've been blessed to have coached some good ones."

G: Danillo Gallinari, Knicks -- Aside from Hughes' defense and all-around play mentioned above, the Knicks would definitely be nowhere near as improved as they've been of late without Gallinari's 3-point marksmanship. He's 18-for-33 from deep in his last five games and has shown improvement on defense, getting about two steals a game in the same span. While he's second in the league in 3-point attempts (138), Gallinari showed off plenty of skills beyond shooting in a win over Portland with four rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks to go along with his 14 points.

F: Matt Bonner, Spurs -- The Spurs may be mired in a whole host of problems, but give it up for the Red Rocket. He almost single-handedly lifted the Spurs to a win over the Jazz with a 28-point night that included four 3-pointers, eight rebounds and three assists. His last-second baseline floater rimmed around and out as Utah escaped with the win. ""I thought it was in," Bonner told the San Antonio Express-News "When it left my hand, it felt good. It looked like it was in, and down, and then it popped out. I don't know. It was just a tough miss." Depite the tough finish, it's hard to deny a player a place in the Five on the Rise when he nearly goes from bench to hero in one game.

F: Trevor Ariza, Rockets -- Houston's leading scorer came through with a big game against the Cavs, scoring 26 points and nailing four 3-pointers in a good bounceback effort after a quiet five-point showing in a loss to Portland. Ariza did a nice job of getting to the basket against Cleveland and helped hold LeBron James to 27 points on an 8-for-21 shooting night. Aside from being Houston's top scorer, Ariza is welcoming the challenge of filling Ron Artest's role as one of the team's top stoppers. It hasn't been a complete success for Ariza. He gave up the game-winning layup to Brandon Roy last week. But we like the fact he's trying to maintain his role as a solid perimeter defender while putting up big scoring nights when Houston needs it.

C: Nazr Mohammed, Bobcats -- In his last 10 games, Mohammed is averaging 10.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and shooting 64.5 percent from the floor ... all while playing roughly 16 minutes per game. Mohammed had a solid line in the win over Denver (15 points, five rebounds), and while he's older and less athletic than starter Tyson Chandler, has delivered more on offense of late. Mohammed is averaging 11.8 ppg (in just 17 mpg) in the last 10 and has emerged as one of the more efficent players on the Bobcats.

NBA.com's Five on the Rise is just one man's opinion and is released every Thursday during the season. If you've got an issue with the names on this list, or have a question or comment for Jeff Case, send him an e-mail.