Celtics Still Missing Kendrick Perkins?
(Kendrick) Perkins is doing just fine, thank you, as is his team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who defeated the New York Knicks on Saturday night to improve to 11-2. Perk is putting up pretty much the same kind of numbers he did when he was starting for the Celtics. In 13 games, all starts, he’s averaging 5.7 points and 6 rebounds. One change: He’s averaging 2.6 fouls per game, the fewest since he became a de facto starter in 2005.
His former team? Not doing so well, so we’ll cut to the chase. After getting rolled by the Pacers on Saturday night, the second loss to Indy in eight days, the Celtics are 4-7 and have matched the longest losing streak in the new Big Three era by dropping four in a row. (They also lost four straight in 2008-09.) And with the athletic, dynamic Thunder on tap for Monday night, no one will be shocked if the streak reaches five.
Pretty much nothing has gone right for the Celtics since Danny Ainge pulled the trigger and made the controversial Perkins trade last February. At the time, it didn’t look to be nearly as bad as it has turned out to be. The Celtics got the best player in the deal in Jeff Green. The Celtics got a first-round draft pick that belonged to perennially underachieving Los Angeles Clippers. And they had played well over the first two months of the season without Perkins, who was recovering from knee surgery.
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