Fighting Injuries, Pierce and Perk Chip In

Couper Moorhead
Celtics.com Correspondent
June 9, 2008

Question marks swirled around the Garden since Game 1 regarding the health of Paul Pierce and Kendrick Perkins. Pierce injured his right knee on defense in the third quarter of Game 1 and had to be carried to the locker room, only to return minutes later. Perkins had Derek Fisher fall on his leg, and was probably lucky to escape with just a high ankle sprain.

By Saturday, Pierce was a go but Perkins remained questionable until just before tipoff of Game 2. Both played -- through how much pain is anyone's guess -- and showed those in attendance what they came close to missing.

For Pierce, you'd have never guessed he couldn't bend his knee all the way just two days prior to the Celtics' 108-102 win. The good vibes from Game 1 kept flowing as he shot 9-of-16 and 4-of-4 from downtown on his way to a team leading 28 points. Since many of Pierce's outside shots were catch-and-shoots, the verdict is still out on his ability to physically elevate off the knee.

But at home, it didn't matter, and if rest continues to nurse Pierce with the same efficiency he has, it won't on the road either.

"I didn't really think about the injury because once I step on the court, it pretty much goes out the window," Pierce said. "You hear the crowd, the adrenaline is going. Probably feel a little bit better now after the game now that I'm kind of winding down. But during the game it felt good."

Yet in terms of bringing his team to a higher level, he was the same old Truth, scoring seven points with two assists during the Celtics' 29-19 third quarter.

"He was Paul. That's what we've come to expect," Ray Allen said.

Perkins was a little less than himself. Saturday he said he was operating around 70 percent, and while he gave it a nice go with seven points and three rebounds in 14 minutes, the high ankle sprain was visibly keeping Perkins more grounded than usual -- disallowing the completion of a Kevin Garnett lob.

With Perk on a minutes watch, the Celtics were fortunate enough to have a highly-flammable Plan B: Leon Powe exploding for 21 points in 15 minutes and the steady presence of P.J. Brown (6 points, 3 boards) holding down the fort against Pau Gasol.

"It was so so. I just said I was gonna go out there and do what I could do," Perkins said. "Had limits to minutes tonight but in my minutes I felt like I did a nice job contributing. But Leon and P.J. did a great job tonight. We got the [win]."