Kendrick Perkins returns vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

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BOSTON — Six months removed from ACL surgery, Celtics center Kendrick Perkins returned to action Tuesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers.Perkins did not start. After starter Semih Erden picked up two fouls in four minutes, wholesale NBA jerseysPerkins returned to the Garden floor with 8:02 to play in the first quarter. The Celtics faithful showered him with a prolonged standing ovation and he motioned to the crowd as he lined up on the baseline.Less than a minute later, Perkins took an inside feed from Ray Allen and completed a layup while getting fouled. He missed the free throw.Perkins, wearing a black brace over his right knee and showing some rust, checked out with 2:37 to play in the quarter, logging a little more than five minutes in his first shift of the night. He ended the night with seven points and six rebounds in 17 minutes as the Celtics beat the Cavs 112-95.Celtics coach Doc Rivers said before the game that Perkins would be limited to 12-16 minutes.Asked if he was concerned about his return before the game, Perkins said he’s only worried about his conditioning. The knee?”No, I’m not worried,” Perkins said with a smile. “It’s been tested in practice plenty of times.”
Rivers said after Monday’s practice that Perkins had asked to return for Tuesday’s game, but Rivers dismissed the idea because he thought there was no way Perkins could return that soon.But when team trainer Eddie Lacerte and team physician Brian McKeon walked into Rivers’ office after the session, Rivers said he knew he was about to get some good news.”The doctors walked in said they thought he should play,” said Rivers. cheap NBA jerseys “I don’t mind changing my mind.”Perkins, who tore the ACL in his right knee during Game 6 of the NBA Finals, had been projected after his surgery in July to return as late as the All-Star break, but recently pegged a Feb. 4 date against the Dallas Mavericks.That timetable got accelerated and,gucci jeans, while Rivers said he isn’t expecting much from Perkins in his first game back, he knows Perkins’ return will give the team, which is battling injuries, a boost.”It’s great,” said Rivers. “I don’t know how much he’ll help us yet. He will, just his presence on the floor, but we’re not activating him just because of that. We’re activating him more because they say he’s ready to play and the more days he plays, the better he’ll be by the time it’s the playoffs. That’s just it.”
Rivers planned to bring Perkins off the bench, then give him a second stint with the starters later in the game. Offseason acquisitions Shaquille O’Neal (hip) and Jermaine O’Neal (knee) were sidelined, leaving Erden in a spot-starting role that allowed Rivers to bring Glen Davis off the bench at both frontcourt positions.The good news spread quickly after the Celtics’ practice Monday.”He told me [Monday] after practice,” Allen said. “I was in a little bit later, so I guess he had the doctors looking at him, and so I was in there, he was in there, NBA jerseysand he just was excited. He was like, ‘I’m playing tomorrow!’ He didn’t know what to do with himself. I’m sure he slept with butterflies in his stomach.”Allen said he’s surprised by the quick return, but happy for a hard-working teammate.”I’m surprised, but he put the work in,” Allen said. “He totally put the work in and he devoted himself to his body, his mental preparation and being in the gym every day. If he had to go two times a day, he was in the gym.”You look at some situations where you push it too fast, but in his case, he gave himself the rest and he had the time during the summer to allow his body to heal and stay off of it. Even when we started the season, he was walking. That was always a great sign to see him walking and not feeling like he was limping at all.”Perkins resumed on-court, non-contact activity in late December, then said in early January that he hoped to be back on the court within three weeks. That optimism was tempered when his return to full-contact, full-team work was delayed initially.Perkins returned to full activity on Jan. 16, reuniting Boston’s starting five for the first time since Game 6 of the Finals.