The Curious Case Of The Disappearing Perk

With trade rumors swirling around Ray Allen and the general disarray of an underachieving Celtics squad dominating the headlines in the Hub there is one question I would like answered.

What happened to Kendrick Perkins?

After coming out gang busters the first half of the season showing an arsenal of new low post moves and a willingness to shoot he has been slowly regressing, hitting near rock bottom since the start of February.  In the last five games Perkins has grabbed a total of 24 REBS.  Seriously.  24.  In five games.  Five.  He’s 6’11”, how does he not accidentally get at least 5 a game?  It confounds me.

Kendrick has one double digit scoring effort in the past 11 games when he scored 13 against Miami.  In that stretch he has only averaged 6.8 PPG and chipping in 7, 2 and 3 points in the last three games while getting outplayed by opposing centers.  I’m not saying he has to be a double double machine but his last one was January 18^th against Dallas when he had a 14 and 12 night.  He has twelve double doubles on the season including a three game stretch of them.

Honestly, what happened?

The steady decline started with the bad loss at Detroit on January 20^th when they fell to one of the basement dwellers in the East 92-86 in a game that wasn’t even that close.  I had mentioned on the Celtics Late Night Show that I wasn’t really concerned at the time with Perks offense as long as his D is strong but now both are lacking.

Before the start of this month, Perkins was averaging almost 34 minutes per game and since the start of the month he has been averaging 25.  Is his lack of minutes due to his play or lack of play due to minutes?  Is Doc jerking around the rotation with the addition of the guys that were injured affecting the flow of Perk’s game or is something bothering him. Don’t forget that Kendrick has been hampered by shoulder injuries in the past that has caused him to miss time and not be as effective when getting posted up.

If what Rondo said about how there is no sense of camaraderie in the locker room is true (though Doc quickly put the kibosh on that, having Rondo retract that) then we know what side Perk is on since Rajon is his boy.  Maybe he was catching flack from the veterans and it’s in his head.  Since I haven’t been seeing a real physical handicap to his game (although there still could be one) his head just doesn’t seem to be in the game.  He’s playing like he’s distracted and his stone hands have deflected more incoming passes than usual.

What it boils down to is that even though Kevin Garnett is the unquestioned heart of the defense, Kendrick Perkins is the muscle.  Without Perk being as physical as he can be and making a difference inside it has opened the door for these embarrassing losses like losing a 17 point lead in the third quarter.  Defense has been proven to win championships and the core of this team has already witnessed it to be true.  If the Celtics want to return to their contending ways they need to get back on board the D train and make sure Kendrick is along for the ride, physically and mentally.

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