Perkins has stated that he expects to be back just before the All Star game. An official timeline has not been set and we would expect the Celtics to be over cautious with him. The C’s are managing at the moment and could better use his services down the stretch and into the playoffs.

“I’m thinking right before the All-Star Break I will get a few games in, but maybe a little sooner than that. Things are going well. I haven’t had any setbacks or anything like that.” Said Perkins.

The Celtics are 28th overall in the NBA with 38.9 rebounds per game and could use another reliable inside presence. Perkins may not be as flashy in the paint as other centers in the NBA, but his ability to clog the lane and disrupt shots is what makes him a key contributor and grossly undervalued.

Perkins is entering the last year of his contract and has a lot to prove heading into the offseason both on and off the court.

Kendrick Perkins was the starter on a championship team. He is regularly mentioned as one of the building blocks, alongside Rajon Rondo, of the post-Big Three future for the Celtics. His devastating new injury in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in June was used as an excuse by many Celtics fans as to why the C’s lost in Game 7. So you would like to think he is an important player for the C’s.

If that’s the case, why does he sound like someone who is a little uptight about whether he even has a role on this team.

In an article in the Herald, Perk was downright defensive about his status. Which should not be surprising, considering that he was talking about defense (see what I did there?).

“OK, listen,” Perkins said, “I’m going to put it like this here: I can’t do what Shaq is doing, and Shaq can’t do what I do. I can’t do what Jermaine does, and Jermaine can’t do what I do. So the things that they bring to the table are different than what I bring to the table. See what I’m saying?

“At the end of the day you can say what you want, but I’m really the captain of the defense,” he said. “And that won’t change.”

Of course, we don’t know how healthy Perk will be when (if?) he does come back this season, likely after the All-Star break in February. From all accounts he is ahead of schedule, but that doesn’t mean he is the next Wes Welker. There is a chance that Perk will be a shell of himself when he plays this season. In fact, we’ve seen numerous instances in the NBA of just how long it takes to recover from a new injury. Most guys are not the same until two seasons after the injury occurred (Amar’e Stoudemire comes to mind. Or former Celtic Big Al Jefferson; watch him have a huge year this year).

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The Boston Celtics went into Washington D.C tonight with one thing, and one thing only on their mind, victory. The team we are starting to refer to as “The Road Warriors” struggled to find their consistency tonight. There were periods of highs and lows for this team tonight, but ultimately the Celtics grabbed the win by a score of 104-102. The win is the Celtics 9th in a row, it moves the Celtics to 18-4, and 9-1 on the road.

I saw a lot of positives throughout tonight’s game from the Celtics. The ball movement was once again spectacular. I don’t know how many times I heard Mike Gorman raise his voice to say “Rondo to KG” or something of that sort. There is no doubt in my mind the Celtics have figured things out offensively as of late. They have found the holes in every defense they have played recently, and have taken full advantage of those holes.

The one problem that did exist tonight was the inconsistent play we have come to see from this team at times. To start the game the Celtics seemed to be giving up points a little to easy. In the second the Celtics played the basketball we all want to see them play. They then came out in the third and looked like the team that lost to the Indiana Pacers. Doc has said before that they are not a 48-minute team yet, and tonight they proved that they still aren’t.

Rajon Rondo played great for the second straight night and recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 assists. Rondo completely took over the game in the fourth quarter and surprisingly was the go-to-guy down the stretch. The Wizards dared Rondo to take his shots tonight and he made them pay time after time. If we can see an effort like this from Rondo night in and night out there is no doubt in my mind he should be an all-star.

The rest of the scoring was spread out equally tonight as a result of terrific ball movement the entire night. Allen, Perkins, and Garnett scored 18,17, and 17 respectively. Ray seemed to have fire in his eyes right from the start of the game tonight, and with 4:44 remaining in the fourth Ray scored his 20,000th career point. Perkins also had a very solid game tonight as he was on the receiving end of some great passing by his teammates. As far as KG goes, tonight he did not have it going like he had the past few games but he was still very impressive. His jumper was going down for the most part and he was in sync with Rondo all night, as the two worked together for easy baskets on multiple occasions.

For the first time in over a year I also have to say I was impressed with the effort by Tony Allen tonight. It seemed like Tony was really playing with a lot of energy tonight. He was up and down the floor, and was showing no signs on injury. TA scored 8 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, and had 2 steals, while registering a team high +14 +/- rating. If we can get this sub-par performance from Tony every night it will be a lot easier to make up for the loss of Marquis Daniels.

So the best news tonight is the Celtics came out with the W. They may not have played to their potential, but as we all know Washington has always given this team trouble. Let’s keep the streak going as we head into Chicago against a young Bulls team that is currently struggling. 18-4, keep the train rolling!!!

Photos via Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images and Photobucket