http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/ce...y_need_a_break/ <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Doc Rivers considered Kendrick Perkins 50-50 for last night's game against the Bulls, figuring the young big man will have to miss some time to allow the plantar fasciitis in his left foot to heal. After Perkins played 15:45 in the Celtics' 100-82 loss, Rivers said a time for that decision was drawing close. Ideally, a respite for Perkins would coincide with the return of Theo Ratliff (lower back pain) or Michael Olowokandi (abdominal tear) or both, but since neither is expected back soon, the Celtics may be left short at center, with Al Jefferson a possible starter and Ryan Gomes or Leon Powe in a backup role. For better or worse, Perkins wants to stay on the floor as much as possible. "It's a little better, but it's still sore," said Perkins, who had 2 points and 3 rebounds. "I've just got to wait and see. I know in order for it to heal you have to have rest, but I ain't thought about sitting out any games. I barely want to sit out practice." The decision will rest with trainer Eddie Lacerte and team physician Brian McKeon. As it is, Perkins is often reluctant to complain about the injury. During games, Lacerte usually informs Rivers when Perkins need to take a seat. "Perk's is a concern because that's more than a nagging injury," said Rivers. "Right now, it's a nagging injury, but it usually turns into something worse. I've never had it. I don't think I've ever had a player who's had it. "I just don't know how to handle this one. At some point, if it doesn't improve at all, I'm pretty sure we're going to go down that road of just making a decision [to rest him]. He would have no choice. "I hope that doesn't happen. But if I was taking bets, I would say it probably will."</div> Apparently Perk might sit out a couple games to rest his nagging plantar fasciitis injury, which is clearly effecting his game in a negative way. We can never question the toughness of our man Perk, but it is probably best that he sits and allows this injury to heal a little faster. Good Things Coming Out of This 1. Perk rests his injury. 2. Al Jefferson starts and sees more floor time (ala his real chance to prove something). 3. More Powe! Bad Things Coming Out of This 1. Theo and Kandi-Man are out too, leaving us without even one center. 2. It forces us to play small-ball all 48 minutes of the game. 3. We have no low post defense, except for Big Al blocking 1 shot a night. 4. If Wally sits out again on Wednesday, we only have 11 players suiting up. Part 2 of the article: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Gerald Green hears voices. But it's no sixth sense. Just more of a defensive sense for the second-year swingman. Green hears the voice of Rivers when playing defense even when the coach is unusually silent on the sideline. "Coach is always telling me to get down, get low, be at this spot, be at that spot," said Green. "At game time, I'm just hearing those same imaginary voices. They're saying, 'G, get down. G, get over. G, slide over.' "I'm hearing them so much in practice that during the game I'm sliding over, I'm getting over the pick. It's translating to the game, so that's why I think I'm playing better on defense." While Green still has plenty of room for improvement on both ends of the floor, Rivers feels comfortable enough with the 20-year-old's defense to keep him in games. That is a big improvement from last year when the mere thought of a defensive rotation would send Green's head spinning. Still, when Rivers talked about certain players needing to step up, he excluded Green. "This is his second year," said Rivers. "The fact that we're asking him to give us stuff right now, you could make a case is unfair."</div> Gerald Green has 6 senses! His 6th is Doc's voice! That's good though, it's REAL good that stuff like this runs through his head on the floor. He has noticably been playing much better defense than last year (last year he probably couldn't guard pinoy). It's clear that Gerald Green is ahead of schedule based on expectations of the organization and coaches. They did not expect him to actually get in the rotation this year, but he did, and he has beaten out Tony Allen for minutes (although TA has been very well the last 3 games). Gerald needs to listen to what the coaches tell him, continue his great work ethic, and improve his ballhandling. If he does those 3 things, I could see him being our leading scorer off the bench in a year.
Hmm, too bad the coach he's listening to is a bad one... :/Sucks though, with Rat, Kandi and now Perk out.
I like what little I've seen of Gerald Green... Hopefully he continues to improve, and becomes a solid player for the C's....
I would love to see gerald play more, just as some instant offense. He's like second in the league in 3-pt %. If he could get into the game in the actually flow of the game instead of mostly garbage time, he could make even more of an impact.
