National Basketball Association

Two centers of medical attention

Published Jun. 16, 2010 6:31 a.m. ET

foxsports

Big men. Big problems.

As if Game 7 wasn’t big enough, the Lakers and Celtics have some big injury issues for Thursday night, involving their respective centers.

The Celtics’ Kendrick Perkins went down with a sprained knee in the first quarter Tuesday night and will miss Game 7, while the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum had to leave the game with more trouble for the right knee that has been hampered throughout the Finals because of torn cartilage.

Perkins was the Celtics’ top rebounder before Game 6 and is their enforcer in the paint.

“He’s a guy who cleans the paint up and not having him in there made the Lakers awful long,’’ Rivers said Tuesday night before confirming Wednesday that Perkins is out. “He gives us great spirit, a lot of toughness and size. It’d be tough if he can’t play.’’

Bynum’s setback was the just the latest, as he’s played the entire playoff run on a bum knee. Last night he gave Phil Jackson only 15:53.

“He had some tightness in the back of his leg,’’ Jackson said. “He just said, “You’ve got to take me out, I can’t run.’ And it was obvious that he couldn’t. He had some swelling in the back of the leg.’’

Bynum had fluid drained from his knee last Friday, two days before Game 5. As for Game 7, Jackson was worried, as he should be. Without Bynum, or if he’s limited, the Lakers lose their muscle inside and a defensive presence in the paint.

“Of course it concerns us,’’ Jackson said. “Both teams are playing without players at this time. You just have to gut it through at this time of the season.’’

Turning the tables

Kobe Bryant knows how the Lakers crushed the Celtics in Game 6.

By doing what they did not do in Game 5.

The Lakers beat the Celtics at their own game, blanketing Boston with some of the best defense they’ve played in the postseason. The 67 points the Celtics scored tied a Finals low, and was 25 off their postseason average, and 25 off their total in Game 5.

Boston’s 33-percent shooting was a far cry from the 56 percent figure they made in Game 5 Sunday when the Celtics took a 3-2 series lead.

“We didn’t execute well defensively,’’ Bryant said, remembering Game 5, when the Lakers allowed Boston to score on 12 of its first 13 possessions of the third quarter, negating Bryant’s great run of 19 straight points. “We just missed a lot of coverages. But we made the adjustments. We kept them out of the middle. We kept them out of the paint. We did a good job on the boards.’’

The Lakers dominated the glass, 52-39. They limited Boston to six second-chance points. And they allowed only nine fast-break points.

"Our defense was good, our rebounding was better,’’ Phil Jackson said.

L.A. bench comes alive

There’s an old adage that your benches play better at home, and that’s what Laker fans saw out of their reserves in the Game 6 blowout of Boston.

Between Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujajic, Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown, the Lakers’ starters finally got the boost they were missing when the bench pulled a no-show in Boston.

"They gave us a great effort, understood their assignments, and picked (Derek) Fisher up when he got into foul trouble,'' Kobe Bryant said.

Vujajcic led the way with nine points after scoring 10 in the first five games combined. Farmar and Brown each contributed four points. But perhaps the biggest boost came from the erratic Odom, who had eight points, 10 boards and two blocks in 28:26.

“I was concerned about Lamar, because he looked a little tired out there most of the game,’’ Jackson said. “He made some plays and made some baskets that were important.’’

So what happened to Boston’s Baby Brigade? “Big Baby’’ Glen Davis, “Little Baby’’ Nate Robinson and “Cry Baby’’ Rasheed Wallace didn’t exactly come to the rescue of the Big Three. They accounted for no points by halftime. With Tony Allen, the Celtics’ reserves, heroes of Boston’s Game 4 win, combined to score only eight points on 3-for-22 shooting.

Big Baby’s failure to score — his second straight scoreless night after going for 18 in Game 4 — didn’t please Rivers in the least.

“We’ve got to get a lot better play out of Baby and I told him that after the game,’ he said. “We do. He needs to come in with the same spirit he came in in the famous Shrek and Donkey game.’’

That was the nickname Davis and Robinson gave themselves after Game 4.

Artest snaps out of slump

The Lakers aren’t going to count on Ron Artest to score for them in Game 7. He’s just too much of an inconsistent player.

But they’re elated he finally stepped up at the offensive end, hitting six of 11 shots in Game 6, including three of six 3s. Artest had made only six of 19 3s in the first five games.

“He was patient offensivelyand took the opportunities that were given to him,’’ Bryant said after Artest outscored Paul Pierce, 15-13, for the first time in the Finals. In the previous five games, Artest had been outscored by Pierce by 56 points total.

The Celtics left Artest open all night, even after he started out hot with two 3s in the first quarter. They’ll probably do that in Game 7, since Artest has not shown that he can make them pay on a consistent basis.

If anything, the Lakers were just as happy that Artest was effective against Pierce after getting blitzed by Pierce in Game 5. For the first time in the series, Pierce did not earn a trip to the foul line.

“Defensively, Ron felt more comfortable with what we were trying to do out there,’’ Jackson said. “He continued his game. It wasn’t just a burst for a quarter or a half. He continued playing the right way.’’

Read more of Mitch Lawrence's columns at the New York Daily News.