It's now been nearly seven months since Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Los Angeles, when Celtics center Kendrick Perkins went down with a knee injury. Now, it appears that Perk is nearing a return.
The big fella said Friday that he's within one week of returning to full-contact practice with his Celtic teammates, and in three weeks, he'll be back playing again.
While Perkins originally sounded more cautious about rushing back to action, he's recently changed his tune, as his knee has progressed beautifully in recent weeks.
"It feels good," he said. "I actually haven't had any setbacks or any swelling, which is weird. I just keep thanking God every day, and I'm going to keep putting pressure on it until it swells up."
Perkins has already been practicing with the team in a light, non-contact manner, but he'll soon be able to ramp it up from there.
"When we do our skeleton stuff, I've seen him do that, and he looks sensational," coach Doc Rivers said. "But I look good in skeleton, too, so I just don't know. I know he's been playing three-on-three with some of the guys, and [director of basketball development] Ty Lue has been doing a lot with him, and they say he looks great."
As for Perk practicing next week, Rivers feigned ignorance.
"Whatever he says," the coach insisted. "I don't ask. I don't know yet. We haven't talked about it, I can tell you that. When the time comes, [trainer Ed Lacerte] will come to me, and he'll give me what he thinks he should do in practice, whether it's a full practice or just some contact. But I wouldn't be surprised. He's going full bore in the three-on-three workouts, so I don't know why he couldn't do a full practice. But I just don't know yet."
