Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo make amends

Statistics rarely tell the whole story, but two numbers jumped off the scoresheet when the Celtics [team stats] met the Clippers back on Dec. 27 in Los Angeles. Twenty-seven and 24.

The respective point totals of center Chris Kaman and point guard Baron Davis were impossible to ignore, particularly for the men entrusted with defending them, Kendrick Perkins [stats] and Rajon Rondo [stats].

The two Clippers had fairly well controlled the game, shooting a combined 19-for-32. And Davis hit a 22-footer over Rondo at the buzzer for a two-point LA win.

“Perk and I were laughing and joking before (last night’s game) about it,” Rondo said. “For some reason, our two guys got off last game, and we knew that we had to step up and take the challenge. At the end of the day, we had to man up and try to get stops. Me and Perk were talking and we pride ourselves on defense.”

Rondo and Perkins probably weren’t really laughing before this rematch, but they had room to smile after the 95-89 win. Kaman made 5-of-19 shots on the way to 10 points. Davis hit a late meaningless trey and two free throws to get to 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting.

According to coach Mike Dunleavy, Kaman missed some open looks and Davis still ran the show well (seven assists to Rondo’s 12). But the Clippers shot 50.7 percent in LA and just 38.8 percent at the Garden.

“I thought last game just watching on film they were going at us a little bit,” Perkins said. “I came into the game thinking I’ve just got to make it tough on Kaman. I know he’s been playing good, so I just came into the game thinking defense more than anything. I thought I let him set up shop wherever he wanted to go last game. This game I was trying to keep a body on him, play him physical.”

The team chose not to adjust.

“We don’t change our defense very often,” coach Doc Rivers said. “We are who we are. We just did our defense better. I thought we had a better sense of urgency. Rondo’s whole job was to stay square, make (Davis) make shots over you instead of the reach. And I thought Rondo did a terrific job just making him make shots over him and allowing our bigs to help and get back.

“And then I thought our bigs did a good job. When they did help, they got back and our guards got back out to their guards. We worked on it, but it’s what we should have done the first time. It wasn’t adjustments. It was just doing it right.”

Rondo acknowledged the assistance.

“The bigs helped out a lot,” he said. “I was just trying to keep him in front of me as much as possible. We mixed it up. The first play they posted, we threw a trap at him and I think it kept him off guard all night. I don’t think he knew whether we were going to come or not. My job was to maintain the ball, try not to reach so much, keep the ball in front of me.”