Big problems with this

He could barely muster the strength to talk, which is what playing a season-high 39 minutes, mostly against Dwight Howard, will do. The Celtics were hurt in many areas by injuries in this Christmas Day matchup in the palatial Amway Center.

Nate Robinson couldn’t adequately fill in for Rajon Rondo (ankle), who worked out before the game but is still at least a few games from returning. Although Perkins said he is closer to coming back than he believed a few days ago, the Celtics couldn’t compensate for Shaquille O’Neal’s foul trouble and Jermaine O’Neal’s ineffectiveness.

Jermaine O’Neal gets a pass because he hadn’t played in six weeks, although it appeared his hands, which flubbed a few crisp passes, were still on the inactive list. Shaquille O’Neal once again allowed the officials and his stubbornness to dictate his impact on the game, fouling out in a mere 13 minutes.

What’s more, he is averaging 7.7 fouls per 48 minutes and is 12th in the league in fouls per game. While a nagging calf injury has limited his production, foul trouble has become a bigger issue. The Celtics needed the big man for more than 13 minutes yesterday and he let them down with a couple of useless fouls against Howard.

The sixth and final foul was the most absurd, as he pushed Howard, who was running down the floor three seconds after scoring his first basket of the game with 9:23 to play. The Celtics were outscored, 24-11, as he sat stewing on the bench.

O’Neal is savvy enough to know when the games are being called tightly and still unreasonable enough to alter his style when those occasions arise. Yesterday was one of those occasions, and O’Neal, as he did in Cleveland after an Oct. 27 loss, didn’t hide his disdain for official Bob Delaney, whom he referred to by his uniform number — 26.