Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “‘It can be real,’ Perk said of playing sometime late next month, ‘but I think if I play it smart I’ll wait to come back until after All-Star break. That’ll give me more time. I think, what’s one more month, right?’ That would put him back in uniform for a western swing in the last full week of February. Perkins looked to be almost in full swing as he made his way around the court with Rogers. None of his movements looked forced, leading one to wonder what he cannot do. ‘(Expletive),’ said Perk, the Texas dripping off his voice like the sweat from his workout gear. ‘I don’t know. I can pretty much do everything. It’s picking up. I’m running on the treadmill now. The only thing they haven’t let me do yet is move side to side. I think that’ll come when I put my brace on. They’re telling me that’ll happen towards the end of this month.’”

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “Contrary to popular opinion, Doc Rivers is not a particularly easy man to play for. He’s not one to let things slide and he can be brutally honest with his players. ‘It can be annoying sometimes,’ Glen Davis, a frequent target of Rivers’ sometimes biting comments, said the other day. ‘But Doc is Doc. He does what he wants to do, but it’s for the best of the team and for myself.’ But by that same token, Rivers is an exceptionally easy man to play for and the reasons are exactly the same. ‘The thing about Doc is, you know where he’s coming from,’ Kevin Garnett said. ‘There is no gray area. It is what is. He’s going to tell you straight up. At the same time he’s not here to beat you down. Very, very confident coach. Builds a lot of confidence in his players, at the same time he can be difficult. He can be hard and if you don’t have the personality to take it… But I love him. I love him.’”

Michael Vega, Boston Globe – “‘We got versatile guys,’ Pierce said. ‘Shaq doesn’t come out of the paint too much; he gets real high-percentage shots in the paint. Guys are doing a great job of mixing it up. Even though these guys have great shots — [Davis] and Kevin — from 15 feet, those guys are doing a great job inside with the higher-percentage shots. The more higher-percentage shots you get, I think it betters our chance of winning.’ It was enhanced, though, by Davis’s ability to step out of the paint, where the Celtics had scored an average of 62 points in the two games leading up to the Portland game. ‘If I can help spread the floor, I can help Kevin, you know, because teams won’t double-team him,’ said Davis, who bolstered his season scoring average to 11.1 points through 18 games. ‘If they got to guard me, then I can help out a lot.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “Due in part to injuries, Allen is averaging 37.1 minutes per game this year, the most since his final season in Seattle, where he averaged a whopping 40.3 minutes per game over 55 appearances during the 2006-07 season. In fact, that 37.1 minutes per game matches Allen’s 15-year career average, and speaks volumes about the on-court role he’s playing for the Green this season (by comparison, Shaquille O’Neal, at age 38, is playing 23 minutes per game, some 12.1 minutes less than his career average of 35.1).”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “‘He was a point guard, so I had to go up against him everyday dribbling the basketball,’ Daniels said. “Him stealing it from me, I got tired of that. I had no choice but to get my handle to where it was good enough to get by him. He was so fast, man. I had size, but he had quickness. So to play with him, I had to step my game up or keep getting embarrassed.’ Daniels’ ball-handling improved to where he became the starting point guard at Edgewater High School in Orlando, Fla., and later took his talents to Mt. Zion Christian Academy (the same school that produced Tracy McGrady) in Durham, N.C. But Daniels never lost the low-post skills he developed as a youth, which came in handy when he was asked to play every position except center at Auburn. ‘All the different positions I played, it was all a blessing in disguise,’ Daniels said. ‘It really helped me develop into the player that I am today.’”

Ben Rohrbach, WEEI – “So, what does being in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year conversation mean to Davis? ‘Nothing, until you win it,’ he said. ‘You can talk all you out. You can say, ‘He’s top two, he’s top whatever.’ It doesn’t really count until you’re No. 1 at the end of the season, when you’re having a press conference, congratulating your team and thanking all the people who helped you get that award. I’d be excited to get it. Just to be considered is not enough for me.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “The return was triumphant for LeBron James on the floor. He was magnificent in scoring 38 points with 5 rebounds and 8 assists in the Heat’s 118-90 victory over the Cavaliers in his first game back in Cleveland with his new team. James might have said he carried positive feelings for the Cleveland fans, but there was something very unsympathetic — or pathetic — about his behavior last night in front of a crowd of 20,562 — 99 percent of them screaming insults throughout the game. He danced, smiled, talked trash with his former teammates, and stood and stared at the crowd after made baskets. If there was an ounce of compassion in the chiseled 260-pound body of James, a nationally televised audience certainly didn’t see it last night.”

Jerry Spar, WEEI - “The man who was charged with stabbing Paul Pierce a decade ago was convicted Thursday in federal court for stabbing a Drug Enforcement Administration informant, according to a report in The Boston Globe. Trevor A. Watson, 44, stabbed the informant 10 times outside a South End barbershop on Feb. 27, U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement. The victim, who underwent emergency surgery to repair his colon and intestine, had provided information against Watson in a federal cocaine trafficking investigation.”

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