Boston Celtics NBA center Kendrick Perkins says he tore two ligaments in his right knee during NBA Finals Game 6 loss against the Los Angeles Lakers-video shows Perkins' MCL/PCL knee injury which has determined the star will be out and sidelined for Game 7, possibly the start of the 2011 NBA season.
Perkins arrived courtside podium on crutches with bandages around his knee, revealing he's torn two major ligaments in his knee injury: the medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments. Perkins had X-rays on the knee after Celtics-Lakers Game 6, informed of the severity of his knee injury by team trainer Ed Lacerte the next morning.
The Celtics' Kendrick Perkins will undergo an MRI on return to Boston--to further assess the knee damage caused by the injury. "Physically, I'm in pain," Celtics player Perkins said. "I hurt my knee pretty badly. I'm out for tomorrow [the final championship game]. There's nothing I could do about it. It's a torn MCL and torn PCL, so I gotta watch [NBA Finals Game 7] from the sideline."
Perkins didn't take a bad fall--simply landed awkwardly in Game 6 while trying to haul in an offensive rebound against the Lakers team, bumped by Kobe Bryant--the injury occurring only minutes into the first quarter of Game 6.
At the time, the Perkins injury was originally deemed a knee sprain but the Celtics player could barely stand to get off court. "I knew something was wrong [with the knee]," Boston's Perkins said. "I didn't know exactly what it [the injury] was, but I couldn't get up on my own. I couldn't walk. My whole leg was hurting, and the back of my knee was in pain. I heard something pop [in the knee], but I didn't know what it was. It was just painful."
"It's the Finals, it's the last practice of the season, the last game of the [NBA] season," Perkins said. "My [Boston] teammates, my coaches, I wanted to be around these guys [teammates], especially after a tough loss like last night [against the Lakers in Game 6, Los Angeles]. ... You don't want to be home all day by yourself. When we lose, we [Boston Celtics team] always say, 'Get to the locker room,' we feel a lot better when we're around each other."
Celtics coach Doc Rivers has revealed that Perkins was out but downplaying the severity of his knee ligament injury. "It's [Perkins' knee injury] a multiple ligament sprain," Celtics Coach Rivers said. "We're not going to do an MRI [on Perkins] until we get back [to Boston] because once they did the tests that they did -- I don't know what tests they did, honestly. Once they did the tests that they did do and they realized he [Perkins] couldn't play tomorrow, there was no reason to send him to an MRI[in Los Angeles], too. That'll [the MRI and full diagnosis of the knee injury] come, and then we'll [Boston Celtics] make a determination what we have to do."
Doc Rivers said he'd wait until game day to announce whether Rasheed Wallace or Glen Davis would start in Perkins' place for Game 7 against the Lakers in Los Angeles. Rivers did suggest that Brian Scalabrine will be activated in Perkins' place. "Listen, we're [the Boston Celtics] going to do whatever it takes to win," Coach Rivers said. "Scalabrine can spread the floor for us. He can do things for us. There's a lot of options for us [the Celtics team in Game 7]. They may not look like there's a lot, but there's more than you'd think in some of the rotations or lineups that we can create, that we may have to create. We're going to work on some of those today."
Celtics team Captain and Boston basketball star Paul Pierce admitted that the Boston Celtics team knew on Tuesday night, the night of Game 6, that Perkins likely would be out for Thursday's Game 7 against the Lakers--the final and determining game of the NBA Basketball Playoffs.
"We knew that [Perkins' inability to play in Game 7] last night, but hey, it's unfortunate that we lose one of our guys who have been so big for us in the [NBA] playoffs and in this series, especially with his strength and his lift," Paul Pierce said. "But that means other guys [Boston Celtics players] got to be ready to step up. We've got Big Baby [Davis], we've got Rasheed [Wallace], and if possible we've got Shelden Williams. We've got guys capable of coming in there [to win Game 7 for the Celtics]. All we ask is one game as hard as you can go for tomorrow. We have guys that can fill in and get the job done."
Perkins admits he's hurt more mentally than physically by being on the sidelines for Game 7 against the Lakers--the determining game for the championship].
The Boston Celtics star was told that if the injury occurred in December, Perkins would likely have missed the rest of the season, suggesting Perkins is likely set to miss the start of the 2010-11 season as he rehabs from the knee injury. "If that's what I gotta do to get better, that's what I'm going to have to do," says Perkins. "Hopefully it don't have to be that way. If it do, there isn't anything else I can do about it."
Perkins stressed that he didn't want [his knee injury in Game 6] to be the focus of attention, especially because his Boston Celtics teammates have a title to win Thursday night in Game 7 against the Lakers. "It's hard because, last night, my teammates, the whole [Boston] Celtics organization was great in supporting me," Perkins said. "But it's hard because you got a lot of people asking me, 'How you feeling?' and saying, 'Get better,' things like that. At the same time, it's not about me. We're [Boston Celtics] trying to win a championship [against the Lakers]. It's not about me. And I don't want the focus to be on me--for my [Boston Celtics] teammates.
"I don't want nobody feeling sorry for anything like that [a knee injury]. We [the Boston Celtics] got a game to win. I want them [Perkins' team] to stay focused. I'm going to be all right [from the knee injury]. It's [Game 7 of the NBA Finals] an important game. I appreciate my teammates and coaches that they're concerned. But it's not about me. It's about winning a [NBA championship] title."