Perkins Comes Up Huge in Game 7 Rout
The Celtics were playing Game 7 because they hadn't been themselves -- one of the best defensive teams in the league -- in Atlanta. Just leave it to their sleepless center to provide the show-don't-tell reminder.
Among all the things that went right in the Boston Celtics' 99-65 Game 7 victory over the Hawks, which was pretty much everything, it was hard for anything to stand out. But in submitting one of the best, if not the best, showings of his career, Kendrick Perkins did just that.
Perkins, like many of his teammates and coach Doc Rivers (who needed an Ambien), couldn't sleep the night before the win-or-go home contest. It wasn't until 2:30 Sunday morning that the center was able catch any Z's for the 1 p.m. game, but whatever amount he caught was like the baby bear's porridge: just right.
"I felt like the last two days have been tough. I haven't been able to get enough sleep, so I just came out and set the tone, leave it all out on the court," Perkins said. "I wasn't trying to go home."
Maybe it had something to do with the two cans of Red Bull in his locker, but while he lost the opening tipoff, that was the only blotch on Perkins' tone-setting night.
On the Celtics first offensive possession, Perkins was there to tip in a Ray Allen miss. With the crowd on its feet chanting "DE-FENSE", Perkins was there for the rebound and a fallaway jumper on the other end. When Joe Johnson drove the paint for a layup, Perkins was there to send it back, kickstarting a Rondo-to-Ray fastbreak.
And when the Hawks' wannabe intimidator, Zaza Pachulia, tried a layup, Perkins put the weak attempt to shame, swatting the ball to press row.
This was all in the first quarter, one that Perkins closed out by locking down Johnson on the final possession, forcing a fadeaway 3-pointer. When that shot missed and the first buzzer sounded, Perkins raised his right fist emphatically in the air.
"Kendrick was phenomenal," Rivers said. "I thought he set the tone defensively as much as anyone. I thought Kendrick and P.J. Brown, in the stretch he played in the second quarter, was as good as you're going to get."
After that first quarter, you aren't getting more complete than Perkins' eight points, six rebounds and two blocks. He finished by rounding off his totals with 10 points, 10 boards and five blocks, but with the position he was holding in the paint, he probably would have tallied more had he played more than a few scattered minutes in the second and fourth quarters.
"I thought Perk did a great job holding the post down, holding the middle down. He blocked a lot of shots today and was active," Kevin Garnett said.
It was Garnett, Perkins' front line mate and the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year, who played the role of Perk's inspiration in helping hold Hawks forwards Al Horford and Josh Smith to 15 combined points.
"I always feed off of KG," Perkins said. "Every time I look at him, [he's] so business-like. The focus he brings, the intensity he brings, it just rubs off."
But for the night's unequivocal highlight, it was Garnett feeding off Perkins -- at least in hockey numbers. With the ball on the left block in the third quarter, Perkins made the pass that made amazing happen, hitting a cutting Paul Pierce in stride, who wrapped the rock around his back to an unguarded Garnett for the and-1 jam.
While Perkins' services were not required by the Celtics when they were up 30 points in the fourth, they'll definitely need his defensive presence against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the next round. It's just as well, because even after the best of games, he's anything but one to rest on his laurels.
"We just have to let this go. We can celebrate for maybe an hour, but then let it go, and back to the scouting report," Perkins said. "Whoever is guarding LeBron, we are going to be there to help him."
