When Perk heard he would miss the end of practice, I imagine he scowled.

Kendrick Perkins missed the end of practice today, but Doc Rivers said he should be able to play tomorrow. (Chris Forsberg)

“His knee is bothering him. He tried to go early, but it started bothering him a lot. He wanted to go, but I told him, ‘Look, I don’t need you tonight, you’re not going to help me today in practice. I need you tomorrow.’ So I shut him down.”

I can’t stress how much the Celtics need Perkins to be operating at or very near 100% this series.  With Perk, the Celtics are one of the only teams in the league that doesn’t need to double-team Dwight Howard.  Without him, the C’s would rely on Rasheed Wallace to play 30+ minutes and shut down Howard.  I would make a joke about Sheed here, but let’s just hope Perk is okay instead.  I imagine Perk will play (he’s a tough mo’fo) but — against Howard — the C’s will need him full strength.

On an aside, Rasheed should help against Howard.  When Sheed actually tries — and he has been showing signs of effort — he does a good job against “Superman.”