Dealing with the hurt and trying to move on

Bill Simmons hit the nail on the head with this article. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/110225/part2&sportCat=nba

It's a tough time right now. It seems just a moment ago we were welcoming Perk back at the Garden. That moment really showed how we in Celtics nation felt about this game. We felt a real connection to him. An actual bond.

We literally watched this guy grow up. He was drafted straight out of high school, just an 18 year old kid. Coming into the league and there were definite questions about how long he would last. He was pudgy and looked out of sorts out on the court.

I remember that playoff game against the Pacers years back where Perk got chosen by Indiana to shoot those clutch free throws. We all felt for him then. Such a young player being forced into such a nerve-wracking, important situation late in a game.

It was clear that this guy wanted to win. There was no denying his effort. Kendrick really started to come into his own with Al Jefferson. They became fast friends and tirelessly worked together on their games; Perk would give Big Al some defensive pointers and in return Al would show him some post moves. Perk started to show us his potential with the way he crashed the boards. An intimidating presence around the basket, he may as well have invented the phrase "no layups."

After the KG trade when defense became our staple Perk fully embraced it. His dark scowl became our teams symbol, a warning to other teams that we weren't to be messed with.

Teamed with KG down low our D was downright fearsome. Simmons used an excellent example from the last game Perk played in a C's uniform. After a hard foul from Perk, David Lee spun around and purposefully bumped chests into KG and Perk, who were standing tall next to each other.

These guys were brothers. Boston is a brotherhood. They won a title together. Kendricks knee injury in Game 6 sucked the life out of them. We all experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows together.

Right now its tough to focus on the future, which is the reason this trade was made for the most part. I don't want to hear about how solid Krstic is offensively. I don't want to listen to the ESPN experts tell me how athletic Jeff Green is.

In a few weeks, I'll have fully bought into these new deals. Of course, I'll always miss KP43 but Simmons is right. Fans "take the hits, shake them off, keep coming back."