2011 NBA Playoffs: The Celtics Can’t Shake The Ghost Of Kendrick Perkins

Throughout the NBA Playoffs, we’ll be picking out some of the best coverage from around the web. Today, a closer look at the Boston Celtics.

1. Doc Rivers Thinks Perk’s A Good Investment. Courtesy of The Basketball Jones, we have this quote from Doc Rivers, talking about Kendrick Perkins’ rising value:

Rivers had a good laugh over the criticism the Celtics have received for trading Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City. “Like I jokingly told Perk, he should renegotiate again,” Rivers said. “His value keeps increasing by each loss. It’s amazing.”

And maybe Doc has a point, but if you agree... HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE SAWX?

2. Why Did The Celtics Rest Their Stars Last Night? The Celtics fell to the Wizards in D.C. Monday night, but they did it playing the B-team, resting Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo, and all but conceding the second seed to Miami. Why?

Yahoo! Sports’ Kelly Dwyer explains:

Sure, home court against Miami would have helped their cause, but if the Celtics are going to hit an extra gear and run the table starting this weekend, they’ll need to be as fresh as possible. If they don’t hit that extra gear, they’ll be dead in the water at home or away.

So if you’re Doc Rivers, wouldn’t you do everything you can to try and recapture whatever it is that helped the C’s turn it on last year? Home court isn’t going to save the Celtics. Rest might, though.

(Okay, fine. It probably won’t.)

3. Speaking Of Celtics Struggles! This tweet tells you everything you need to know about the Celtics and Knicks series. Boston should win, but the way they’ve played lately, it’ll be closer than you think.

4. Boston Columnists Are Exactly As Rational About All This As You’d Expect. Here, the Boston Herald’s Gerry Callahan weighs in with some weapons-grade trolling. In a nutshell: It’s not Danny Ainge’s fault for breaking up a championship nucleus, it was the players’ fault for crying about it. Like, “WAH WAH WAH WE WAWST PERK WHY DID DADDY DO IT?”

God. Earn your salaries, you overpaid whiny crybabies! MAN UP, AMIRITE BOSTON?

Oh, sorry, the column:

Ainge assumed his veterans could put their personal feelings for Perkins aside and play like professionals. What can you say now? He (expletive) up. He trusted them.

The Celtics are paying their four All-Stars more than $9 million a year each, so Ainge assumed they already knew it was a business. Guys get traded. ... It was a bold move by Ainge, but was it really that bold? We knew Perkins and Rondo were good friends, but did anyone suspect that Rondo was this fragile, that “Seasons in the Sun” would be playing in his head every time he took the court without his old pal KP?

It has been a stunning turn of events. About 10 minutes ago, Rondo vs. Derrick Rose was considered a fairly even matchup. Now it’s as one-sided as Charlie Sheen against a New York heckler.

I have no idea what that last reference means, but, yeah. BLAME RONDO.

5. Meanwhile, Checking In With The Celtics’ Rivals... From ESPN:

“We had a bad week,” said Lakers head coach Phil Jackson. “We had a really bad week. Sunday to Sunday was kind of bad. It’s the product of having played a ton of games and being at a championship level for two years and knowing really what the goal is that second season and there’s some subliminal part of them that’s just still giving in to, ‘We have to save it for the best, which is later on, and go from there,’” Jackson said. “At their age, it’s understandable.”

So basically, “We had a bad week. We’re old. We’ll get it together and go from there.”

It’s too bad that excuse could never apply to Boston...