Defense helping out injury-prone Celtics squad

As the new year quickly approaches, the Boston Celtics find themselves looking forward to 2010, yet still keeping a keen eye on 2009 as a reminder of how quickly glory and championship aspirations can be stripped from one’s grasp.Already dealing with the ongoing Kevin Garnett injury situation, the Celtics have once again been forced to adjust to life without one of the “Big Three.” This time, to everyone’s surprise, team captain Paul Pierce had to be sidelined due to an infection growing in his knee. While all accounts consider the Pierce injury minor, it goes to show just how delicate a championship-caliber team truly can be. Ironically, it has been the oldest of the Big Three, Ray Allen, and his surgically repaired ankles that has managed to stay away from the injured list.Despite a few recent hiccups, the one constant for the Celtics this season has been their effort on the defensive end of the floor, highlighted by holding the Orlando Magic to just 27 points in the first half of their Christmas Day matchup with their Eastern Conference rival. Currently, the Green are holding their opponents to a league-best 91 points per game, while the Celtics’ average margin of victory is approaching double digits. Both numbers represent very good news for a team that may not be able to rely on its aging stars for their offense game in and game out. The Celtics’ captain gives a lot of the defensive credit to the often underappreciated Kendrick Perkins.”He’s always accepting the challenge of guarding some of the best post players in the league,” Pierce said. “Perk really doesn’t get a lot of credit for things he does because of me and Kevin and Ray, but I really think Perk is one of the more underrated big men in all the league. I mean, he brings it every night. Defensively what we’re asking him to do, we’re asking him to guard the best guys down low night in and night out, and he’s playing on a high level.”Unlike the championship season of 2008, this edition of the Celtics will lean heavily on its reserves, and while nobody would argue that Garnett and Pierce are superior players to Tony Allen, Marquis Daniels, and Rasheed Wallace, it could be the defensive contributions of the latter three that could truly make this a Happy New Year for the Boston Celtics.