Perk says his injury made the difference in the Finals

[nba is the worst]

From Marc Spears at Yahoo last night:

"It’s been nearly seven months since Kendrick Perkins crumbled to the court and clutched his right knee in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Seven months that included reconstructive surgery, a lengthy rehabilitation process and a whole lot of sitting and watching. Seven months to wonder what could have been.

Through it all, Perkins has never wavered from his belief that had he not been injured in the opening minutes of Game 6 and missed Game 7, the Boston Celtics would have secured their one missing victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and celebrated their second title in three years."

“For sure,” Perkins said, “we would have won the championship.”

He also espoused the belief that the Celtics will eventually prevail this season:

“In seven games I don’t think we can be beat by any team,” he said. “Too deep. Too much experience. Too many hard-working guys. Too many guys that have a chip on their shoulder.”

Hard to argue with that part.

The link:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-perkinsceltics010311

[CelticsWhat35]

Do they give awards for that?

[Snakehead]

Do they give awards for that?

No they give you chips on your shoulder.  And motivation for this year.

He's right and I hope our guys are all really motivated for the playoffs and we stay healthy.

[slamtheking]

I think he's right.  everyone left over from last year is still tasting that bitter defeat and everyone who came here this year wants to win that title badly.

Kudos to Perk for stating the honest truth

[nba is the worst]

Do they give awards for that?

Maybe I'm dense, but who/what did you mean by "they", and "that"?

[Eja117]

My prediction - Stern fines him 25K for stating what the entire world thinks.

[CelticsWhat35]

Do they give awards for that?

Maybe I'm dense, but who/what did you mean by "they", and "that"?

To me, I'm kinda sick of hearing from Doc, and now Perk, that they would've won it if Perk didn't get injured.  That's a cop out and an excuse.  You play with who you've got.  They should just say "we didn't get it done", and leave it at that.

If we had won, and Phil Jackson came out and said the Lakers would've won if Bynum was 100%, we would've looked at him as being a poor loser and making excuses.  That's what I see this as being.

I have no problem with the coach and players feeling confident that they can beat anyone when they're healthy, but injuries are a part of the game, and you have to play with what you've got.  The Lakers weren't handed the title when Perk went down.  The Celtics had every chance to still win it, and they didn't.

[Assassin70]

Who cares...last year was last year.

Lakers won end of story no coulda/woulda/shoulda stuff that was over the summer.

All I care about now, is this season...and I want to win it all bad.  I don't care who or where we play.  I just want to see us smoking cigars and hoisting the trophy at the end of this season.

[Fafnir]

Do they give awards for that?

Maybe I'm dense, but who/what did you mean by "they", and "that"?

To me, I'm kinda sick of hearing from Doc, and now Perk, that they would've won it if Perk didn't get injured.  That's a cop out and an excuse.  You play with who you've got.  They should just say "we didn't get it done", and leave it at that.

If we had won, and Phil Jackson came out and said the Lakers would've won if Bynum was 100%, we would've looked at him as being a poor loser and making excuses.  That's what I see this as being.

I have no problem with the coach and players feeling confident that they can beat anyone when they're healthy, but injuries are a part of the game, and you have to play with what you've got.  The Lakers weren't handed the title when Perk went down.  The Celtics had every chance to still win it, and they didn't.

If this belief is what motivates Perkins/Doc/The Team why should we be critical of it?

[CelticsWhat35]

Do they give awards for that?

Maybe I'm dense, but who/what did you mean by "they", and "that"?

To me, I'm kinda sick of hearing from Doc, and now Perk, that they would've won it if Perk didn't get injured.  That's a cop out and an excuse.  You play with who you've got.  They should just say "we didn't get it done", and leave it at that.

If we had won, and Phil Jackson came out and said the Lakers would've won if Bynum was 100%, we would've looked at him as being a poor loser and making excuses.  That's what I see this as being.

I have no problem with the coach and players feeling confident that they can beat anyone when they're healthy, but injuries are a part of the game, and you have to play with what you've got.  The Lakers weren't handed the title when Perk went down.  The Celtics had every chance to still win it, and they didn't.

If this belief is what motivates Perkins/Doc/The Team why should we be critical of it?

Shouldn't the motivating factor be just to win, period?  Why do they need anything else to drive them?  As I said, I don't have a problem with their belief, but if they're not qualifying it with a statement that all that matters at the end of the day is who wins, it just comes off as excuses, and it reflects poorly on them, in my opinion.

[Snakehead]

Do they give awards for that?

Maybe I'm dense, but who/what did you mean by "they", and "that"?

To me, I'm kinda sick of hearing from Doc, and now Perk, that they would've won it if Perk didn't get injured.  That's a cop out and an excuse.  You play with who you've got.  They should just say "we didn't get it done", and leave it at that.

If we had won, and Phil Jackson came out and said the Lakers would've won if Bynum was 100%, we would've looked at him as being a poor loser and making excuses.  That's what I see this as being.

I have no problem with the coach and players feeling confident that they can beat anyone when they're healthy, but injuries are a part of the game, and you have to play with what you've got.  The Lakers weren't handed the title when Perk went down.  The Celtics had every chance to still win it, and they didn't.

If this belief is what motivates Perkins/Doc/The Team why should we be critical of it?

Shouldn't the motivating factor be just to win, period?  Why do they need anything else to drive them?  As I said, I don't have a problem with their belief, but if they're not qualifying it with a statement that all that matters at the end of the day is who wins, it just comes off as excuses, and it reflects poorly on them, in my opinion.

I literally can't understand your saying at all here or why you are crtical.

Everyone wants to win.  There are other motivations when you care that much and this is one such motivation.  They aren't robots, they care and they take things personally.

[Mike-Dub]

Do they give awards for that?

No but people should acknowledge it.  Basketball more than just about any other team sport can be affected by a player getting injured.

[Fafnir]

Do they give awards for that?

Maybe I'm dense, but who/what did you mean by "they", and "that"?

To me, I'm kinda sick of hearing from Doc, and now Perk, that they would've won it if Perk didn't get injured.  That's a cop out and an excuse.  You play with who you've got.  They should just say "we didn't get it done", and leave it at that.

If we had won, and Phil Jackson came out and said the Lakers would've won if Bynum was 100%, we would've looked at him as being a poor loser and making excuses.  That's what I see this as being.

I have no problem with the coach and players feeling confident that they can beat anyone when they're healthy, but injuries are a part of the game, and you have to play with what you've got.  The Lakers weren't handed the title when Perk went down.  The Celtics had every chance to still win it, and they didn't.

If this belief is what motivates Perkins/Doc/The Team why should we be critical of it?

Shouldn't the motivating factor be just to win, period?  Why do they need anything else to drive them?  As I said, I don't have a problem with their belief, but if they're not qualifying it with a statement that all that matters at the end of the day is who wins, it just comes off as excuses, and it reflects poorly on them, in my opinion.

Everyone needs different things to motivate them, this team was crushed by losing that game 7. They clearly had a chance to take control of that game and cruise in the third quarter and they didn't do it, it slipped away.

That's whats motiviating them, that's what Perkins is talking about. Why shouldn't a confident team player, a winner think he would have made a difference for his team? I want Perkins thinking that way, who cares what other fans percieve it to be. I think it just reflects how confident and determined the C's are.

[wahz]

If the Celtics can win it this year,and the more convincing the better, they can rightfully feel that injuries cost them two titles. And we still get only two banners for those 2 real world titles. And no one else but Celtics and their fans will give it much thought and thats ok. The win this year won't make up for last year or the year before but in the overall body of work as a fan, yeah it really, really helps.

I want the Celtics to back up their talk. If they don't win it this year then they do need to stop talking about past failings.