Boston 86, Detroit 78

It's good to get a tough win like this one on the road after a string of blowout victories.

[recap] [box score] [highlights]

The win is going to cost Boston a game without Kendrick Perkins, however. Midway through the fourth with the Celtics up 70-65, Perk was sent to the locker room after committing a flagrant-two on Jason Maxiell. I don't think the big guy's intentions were bad, but as he challenged a shot, he ended up putting Maxiell in something of a headlock and throwing him to the ground. A clear flagrant two, which carries with it an automatic one-game suspension (though I imagine the league would have made Perk sit out a game even if the suspension wasn't automatic.

Maxiell had done his best to spark a Piston comeback to that point, although looking at the play-by-play after the fact, it doesn't appear that his performance had as big an impact as I thought at the time. He had five straight Detroit points and had grabbed three offensive rebounds in the quarter, but he couldn't convert those extra opportunities. Still, at the time, I was reminded of last year's lone regular-season visit to the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Celtics won that one in large part because of a breakout-type game for Glen Davis in his rookie year (I say "breakout-type" because Davis didn't really end up breaking out). Davis had 16 of his career-high 20 points in the fourth-quarter to bring Boston back from a three-point deficit.

Maxiell is more of a known quantity than Davis was at the time, but it sure looked to me like the same kind of thing was happening. But after Ray Allen missed a technical free throw (Maxiell got rung up for pushing Perkins after the play), Maxiell missed two at the line, and Rip Hamilton made a jumper to cut the lead to four, it was Davis who answered, scoring a tough finish over Maxiell on a nice pass from Allen, then grabbing an offensive rebound on the next possession which eventually led to an Eddie House three and a nine-point lead.

(A quick note about the fight: You can't see from the video highlights on ESPN.com (linked above), but it looked to me like Maxiell swung at Rajon Rondo and struck him with an open hand. The officials looked at the replay and determined that no punch was thrown, but I'm not so sure. After Maxiell pushed Perk, Kevin Garnett shoved Maxiell from Maxiell's right side, while Rondo tried to intervene a little more peacefully by reaching out to Maxiell on the left side. Rather than shove Rondo away with his left arm, Maxiell came across his body with his right arm and hit Rondo in the chest. I wouldn't be surprised to see the league dock him a game after reviewing the tape.

Also, the whole incident would have been avoided had the officials called an obvious push in the back by Maxiell on House on the rebound).

Anyway, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't a big deal. It does raise some concerns for our next game, though, when we host Minnesota on Sunday. The Wolves are a pretty miserable 16-29, but as recently as January 26, they were an NBA-best 10-2 in 2009 (they've since dropped two in a row to the Pistons and the Lakers).

What makes the loss of Perkins difficult for this particular game is that Minnesota's main weapon is none other than former Celtic Al Jefferson, who was, you'll recall, the main piece in the trade that brought Garnett to Boston last offseason. Jefferson is a monster, averaging 22.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game this year, and he's the main snub on this year's Western Conference All-Star team (I'll have more on the All-Star selections this weekend). At 6'10", he's too tall for either Davis or Leon Powe to guard, and he's stronger than Garnett. And, despite his mild manner, he's not afraid of Garnett, either; he's woofed right back whenever Garnett tried to intimidate him by getting in his face.

Garnett did a nice job on the much stronger Shaquille O'Neal when Perkins was out with the shoulder injury earlier this month, and we'll need the same effort from him against Big Al J Sunday. The other issue is that this leaves our frontcourt rotation very thin, as Brian Scalabrine is still out after suffering two concussions in three days earlier in the week.

It's always fun to play the Wolves, as Jefferson and the Boston fans seem to have a mutual love for each other. Because of the trade, Minnesota also has a couple other former Celtics, including RWH faves Ryan Gomes and Sebastian Telfair, and it's fun to track their progress. Finally, this also marks the return of Celtics legend Kevin McHale to the parquet, as he added interim coach to his GM title in taking over for Randy Wittman 19 games into this season. The Wolves are 12-14 since that time, and there's some basis to think that McHale has something to do with that; this is his second interim stint in Minnesota, and he went 19-12 at the end of the 2004-2005 season.

There's no national TV for this noon Eastern game, so I'll watch on League Pass broadband and try to post some quick thoughts before the Super Bowl that night.