The Boston Celtics are one win from clinching the NBA Finals against the L.A. Lakers, but if you look at the injured list, it's Los Angeles that's the team in better shape.
Center Kendrick Perkins suffered a left shoulder strain during the third quarter of Game 4 and didn't return. Point guard Rajon Rondo is playing with a bone bruise on the inside of his left ankle, which occurred in Game 3. Captain Paul Pierce, who strained his right knee in Game 1, aggravated the knee in Game 4 and also tweaked an ankle.
"Well, we're not in great physical shape, there's no doubt about that," said coach Doc Rivers. "But that's what it is, and there's nothing you can do about that. I think our guys are mostly gamers."Perkins left the game on Thursday night, clutching his left shoulder after slamming into Lakers forward Lamar Odom early in the third quarter. Rivers says that Perkins has a 50-50 chance "at best" of playing in Game 5 on Sunday night. He had surgery on the shoulder two years ago.
"When I first saw it, I didn't like what I saw," Rivers said of Perkins, who had just 2 points and one rebound in 13 minutes of Game 4. "Obviously the injury he had last night could be significant, and we don't know the results yet. But that's clearly not looking great right now."
Look for James Posey, P.J. Brown and Leon Powe to split up Perkins' minutes if he doesn't play.
Rondo and Pierce will play Sunday, but Rondo was rather ineffective in Game 4, so Eddie House could again get key minutes for Game 5. House played 25 minutes on Thursday night -- his most in more than two months -- and his 11 points included a pair of 3-pointers and some key baskets as the Celtics staged the biggest NBA finals comeback since the league began keeping such records in 1971.
L.A. is a 7-point betting favorite on WagerWeb.com to extend the series to six games.
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