Random Celtics Thoughts on Perk's Birthday

In case you didn't already know, I love Perk.  I have been on the Perk bandwagon since his rookie season when everyone was telling me I was crazy when I posted that he was going to be a top center in the league.  He is a top 2 defensive center right now, and I truly  believe that he will be a top center overall by the end of his career.   Since he has been around so long we sometimes forget that he is still young.  He turns 26 today and with his work ethic, he is just going to continue to get better. The picture at the left is one of my very favorites, by the way.  LeBron James... You've been Perkulated. 


Jessica Camerato has a great article today on CSSNE about his rehab that shows what kind of work ethic this kid has.  Here is what Perk had to say about his rehab:
"I'm at the gym twice a day," he said. "Three hours for practice, three hours when I come back at night. For practice, I get there at 11 [a.m.]. At night I get there about 10, leave at 1 in the morning, something like that. We've got 24-hour access, so we've got to get it in."

"I do extra conditioning," he explained. "I don't think I can ever get too much conditioning, so I try to stay in the best shape possible. I work out with one of our strength coaches and we do different things every day -- exercise bike, elliptical, treadmill, stuff like that."
 Add this information to the facts that he has been making 300 free throws a day and working on his shooting and that he has lost 10 lbs and looks to be in the best shape of his career when he comes back,  Perk is going to be better than ever and may just surprise a lot of people who doubt him.  What can you say about Perk other than the fact that is just AWESOME!!!   Happy Birthday Perk and hurry back soon.  We miss you!!


Last night in the NBA there were some strange goings on.  The Pacers had a pretty incredible game against the Nuggets.  They scored 144 points.  That's not a typo.  144 points on 64% shooting for the game and 53% shooting from beyond the arc.  Pretty impressive.   Elsewhere, the Heat lost to the Jazz after being up by 22 points.  From what I have read, much of the Heat home crowd had already left by the time the Jazz pulled out their 2 point win.  That's what happens when your tickets cost so much very few real fans can make the games.

Checking in on a couple of ex-Celtics in this game.  Eddie House is doing his best to erase any love Celtics fans once had for him.  Here is his take on the loss:
“For whatever reason, I don’t think we had that sense of urgency,” said Heat guard Eddie House, who missed a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds that would have won the game in overtime. “I think we got up 20 (points) and might have just gotten bored with that process of how we got up 20.”
Nice to know that the Heat are getting bored with winning.  Hopefully they are still bored tomorrow night.   Now on to a player Celtics fans still love and that is Al Jefferson.   Not sure if Big Al was injured but he played only 28 minutes and was just 1-7 from the floor for 2 points, but he did have 9 rebounds.  I'll always cheer for Big Al to do well.

I saw 2 different articles today talking about the Heat wanting to trade Chris Bosh already.  I know he has always played pretty timidly against KG but apparently he hasn't played much better against anyone else.  There's this stat that Rajon Rondo is averaging almost as many rebounds as Bosh is.  Rondo 5.5 RPG and Bosh 5.9 RPG.   So far, the Heat have 3 losses and every one has come to a team with an elite point guard: Rondo, Chris Paul and Derron Williams.  The Heat have weak spots at the PG and C positions and those figure to continue to haunt them until they can do something to shore them up.  Let's hope that pattern continues tomorrow night.

There are rumors that Shaq is planning to play against the Heat.  I sure hope so.  The Celtics apparent depth at center has taken a hit with both JO and Shaq hurting at the same time.  With at least one of them healthy, Big Baby and Semih can fill in behind them giving the Celtics a nice rotation.  But, with both of them out, the Celtics are very thin at the center spot.   It would be awesome if both can play after the Celtics 2 day rest.

Here is my vote for tweet of the week.  After JO fouled out against the Bucks, he posted this tweet.   And finally,  there are only 2 more games until Delonte West can make his debut this season.  It seems to be a strange coincidence that it will be against Gilbert Arenas, another player suspended for gun play last season.  I may be expecting too much, but I do expect Delonte's presence on the second team to make a big difference.  Nate and Delonte played very well together in the preseason.  Delonte's return will also take some of the pressure off Rondo to play big minutes.   Once Delonte can play and if we can keep at least one O'Neal healthy until Perk can come back, this team is going to be tough to beat.