Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  64 responses

Kendrick Perkins: (Definitely) Out for Game 7

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

The ’09-10 NBA season comes down to one final battle in Los Angeles on Thursday night, and one of the key participants may not be able to play.

Kendrick Perkins injured his right knee midway through the first quarter last night (and did not return), and even though he claimed that he’d try to give it a shot in Game 7, all indications at the moment seem to point to the Celtics playing without their defensive anchor in the do-or-die game.

ESPN reports:

Perkins was hopeful, saying: “I’m going to try to give it a go [on Thursday].” But a team source told ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan: “He’s done.”

Perkins underwent X-rays during the Lakers’ 89-67 win that tied the series at 3. He suffered sprains to both his medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament, sources said. The team said that Perkins will be re-evaluated on Wednesday, which likely means an MRI to ascertain the extent of the damage.

Boston players also didn’t sound very optimistic, bracing for Game 7 without Perkins. But they refused to use his potential absence as an excuse for not closing out this series.”Perk brings rebounding and defense to the game, and toughness,” said Celtics captain Paul Pierce. “We lose that, but that’s not an excuse. We’re a mentally tough team. We’ve had injuries all year that we’ve dealt with. We know how to win when guys go down, so that’s no excuse for us.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers didn’t disclose the severity of the injury or what he had been told, but didn’t sound optimistic, either. “I don’t know,” said Rivers. “It doesn’t look great, but I don’t know.”

UPDATE: The Boston Globe reports that Perkins out with torn ACL, PCL. Nasty…

Without Perkins, the Celtics would obviously be at a serious disadvantage inside. They struggled mightily in Game 6 (losing the battle on the boards 52 – 39), and watched Pau Gasol and company dominate the paint all game long.

Winning a Game 7 on the road is an extremely difficult thing to do; doing it without such a key component makes the task that much harder for the Celtics.

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  • Ronald

    Yeah, there’s always a chance that the MCL heals by itself, but that’s at least 1 month healing + 2 month rehab. The PCL is more complicated and probably won’t be surgically repaired but it does require a 6 month healing/rehab. Guy is unlucky. Usually, non-contact like injuries like him would at most torn the ACL.

  • http://www.slamonline.com J

    i really hate injuries especially at this point. @seed: how did it became fair? cause you didn’t have Bynum in 08? wow idiot.

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  • Lantern2814.5

    Before the series started everybody kept bringing up how the Lakers didn’t have Bynum in ’08… or how Artest wasn’t part of the team yet. The Celtics are different this year in comparison too…older, more inconsistent (Rondo got better though), no House, no Leon Powe (remember what he did in ’08), some guy in a Wallace jersey shouting at the refs, and now no Perkins. Win or lose, the Celtics took the Lakers to 7 games, when at the begining people didn’t even expect them to get past Cleveland, then Orlando, much less get to the Finals altogether… now Phil, Kobe, Fisher, for all their titles, will have their first game 7.

  • Lantern2814.5

    Should the Celtics lose, its coz they old, they didn’t have Perkins… if the Lakers lose its coz Bynum has a bum knee, Lamar is a Kardashian, Artest disappeared… the common excuse fans of whichever team loses though is the officiating… and the only sure thing is not who wins but that Kobe is the MVP.

  • bashmo

    Wowww…so it looks like Perk is gone. This means that the Celtics will HAVE to start Rasheed, since he is a taller body than Baby, plus he has sum weight on him…but honestly, this isnt looking too good for C’s. Coming off a 22 point loss, having to play a game 7 in L.A, and without their starting center, who is their toughest, hard working on the glass player, this really looks one sided right about now, HOWEVER, i cant speak so soon, the Celtics can win still, players jus gotta step up, plain and simple.

  • http://twitter.com/pdxgaybball dma

    I hope Doc starts Sheldon Williams for shizz and giggles

  • LD

    Doc still can’t decide who to start at center by game time. So he just throws in the towel.

  • http://www.slamonline.com J

    ^ i think your wrong. rick kamla (as i remember) said it after the interview.. they want to keep L.A. guessing so they cannot prepare a plan for it. and would you really think Doc don’t know what to do up until now?

  • http://www.springbored.net letsmotor

    this really sucks, and i’m not just saying that because I’m a Celtics fan. it sucks because this one game is a culmination of these teams’ entire seasons, and a key guy who’s worked hard all year is going to be missing. and it sucks about Bynum too. would’ve been nice to see both of these teams at full strength throughout the series.

  • e

    after game 7 you might want to check out real basketball if your in nyc head down to west 4th st, pro city at hunter college, tri state classic on 145th new york basketball at its finest

  • badluck

    to badnewzballer
    oh. we should throw out everything that happens in the past?
    how do you think tradition grows??
    would this mean as much if this was the first time they were playing in the finals???

  • badluck

    and to all you laker fans
    this series is not over until its over.

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