CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Perk Is a Beast as Celtics Beat Lakers 107-94

by FLCeltsFan 10:41 PM

The Lakers were in town tonight and after the crowd cheered for Kobe the last time he was here, you had to wonder what kind of reaction the crowd would give him this year. Pierce said he felt that the crowd cheering for Kobe in the Garden was disrespectful. Tonight they asked Perk about it and he said "I'm sure they really didn't mean it." What a great kid!!

It didn't take long to find out how Kobe would be received tonight. The crowd atoned for past cheers by booing Kobe every time he touched the ball from the beginning of the game until the end. Kobe finished with 28 points but was 9-21 from the field and only 2-7 from beyond the arc. The Celtics defense did a good job of keeping him out of the game.

The player of the game was Kendrick Perkins. He had one of the best games of his career tonight, being aggressive on defense and making a lot of easy baskets inside as the defense seemed to forget about him. He finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 34 minutes. At one point in the game he came up limping but shook it off and was fine the rest of the game. I was happy to see Doc leave Perk in at the end of the game. He was playing great and he deserved the minutes.

KG had another double double with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks in 36 minutes. Pierce had 20 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals in 44 minutes. With a game tomorrow night, it would have been better to keep Pierce's minutes down. Ray Allen still is having problems with his shot, scoring 18 points on 5-15 shooting and only 2-7 from beyond the arc. He also had 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 35 minutes.

Rondo once again impressed with his passing and decision making in the game. He did a good job of pushing the tempo and quickly getting the Celtics into their offense. He finished with 6 points, 3 rebounds and 10 assists in 35 minutes. He also had only 1 turnover. One of the best plays of the game was when Rondo drove down the lane and moved the ball behind his back to fake a pass and then pulled it back out and drove to the hoop for a layup. It was a pretty impressive move.

Off the bench, Posey had a very good game with 10 points and 6 rebounds in 18 minutes. He hit a couple of big 3's down the stretch when LA started to make a run. House had 5 points in 13 minutes. He wasn't able to push the tempo of the game as well as Rondo when he was running the point. Scal played 11 minutes and finished with 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. He didn't seem to be forcing things and played pretty well. Tony played 11 minutes and his first basket was a move along the baseline for a dunk that was reminiscent of last year's form. He finished with 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal. Pollard played only 1:28 and finished with 2 points. Powe and Big Baby did not play.

The Celtics did a good job of limiting turnovers. They finished with only 12 for the game. They are passing the ball very well. They had an incredible 31 assists on 39 field goals. They out rebounded the Lakers 42-37 and shot 50.6% while allowing the Lakers to shoot 42.2%. Along with the boos every time Kobe touched the ball, the crowd broke into chants of Beat LA, that took me back to the good old days in the 80's. Things are coming together for this team and the scary part is that they still have room to get much better.

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