Fortunes change so quickly during the NBA playoffs. After a dominating Game 5 performance in Boston, it looked like the Celtics were set to upend the Lakers in the finals for the second time in three years.
But midway through the first quarter of Tuesday’s Game 6 blowout loss, Boston’s luck changed instantly when center Kendrick Perkins went down with an apparent knee injury. Multiple reports say he has MCL and PCL damage. That is a devastating blow heading into Thursday’s Game 7. At 6-foot-10, 280 pounds, Perkins has the size and strength to bother Los Angeles power forward Pau Gasol inside on the defensive end and match up with Lakers center Andrew Bynum. He’s a good shot blocker at 1.7 a game in the regular season. He’s an excellent rebounder at 7.6 a game. He clears space for Boston’s offensive players. And now he’s likely gone.
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Instead, the Celtics will need another huge game from Glen Davis. He was effective in Game 4 by coming off the bench and generally avoiding the 7-foot Bynum, whose size gives Davis fits at the offensive end. A starting role is not ideal. But neither is turning to Rasheed Wallace, whose quickness has faded with age.
Of course, Bynum has his own issues. He requested to come out of the game in the third quarter Tuesday because of his chronic right knee injury and admitted at one point during a postgame news conference that he could hardly lift his leg off the floor at times. Bynum, who has a torn meniscus, played just 16 minutes. That could leave both teams down a big man heading into the series’ decisive game.
