What Danny Ainge told Kendrick Perkins about Celtics' recent inconsistency
What Danny Ainge told Kendrick Perkins about C's recent inconsistency originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It's been a rocky stretch for the Boston Celtics, who are coming off a blowout loss to the lowly Washington Wizards and own a mediocre 10-7 record since the All-Star break.
While that isn't ideal, ex-C's president Danny Ainge -- now CEO of the Utah Jazz -- doesn't believe it's necessarily a cause for concern heading into the playoffs. Former big man Kendrick Perkins, who spent 2003-11 in Boston, got Ainge's take on the Celtics' inconsistencies during a recent phone call.
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"We got to talking about a lot of things around the league, and then we got to talking about the Celtics," Perkins recalled Thursday on Celtics Pregame Live. "I said, 'I'm a little concerned about the inconsistency.' He said, 'Well, I was concerned about you guys in 2010. Y'all finished the season off horrible. Then all of a sudden, y'all turned it on in the postseason, which made me realize and learn that y'all was just bored the second part of the season and was ready to get to action.'
"So he feels, and he kind of persuaded me into feeling his way a little bit that he believed that they're waiting for the big moment. That they're trying to just get through this season so that they can get back to the moment that really matters. Especially Jayson Tatum, that he's ready to show up and show out because we all heard him from the offseason all the way through the season harp on about how he couldn't get sleep and how it was miserable for him because of his Finals performance."
Ainge has a valid point. The 2009-10 Celtics went 11-6 in March and finished fourth in the Eastern Conference standings. But they went on to reach the NBA Finals, where they fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.
The C's enter Thursday night's showdown vs. the Bucks two games behind Milwaukee in the East standings. Six games remain in the regular season, then they'll be on a mission to bring Banner 18 to TD Garden.
