Carmelo Anthony is the most heralded superstar to wear the New York Knicks uniform since Patrick Ewing. But the Knicks paid a heavy price to acquire him. (Jason Miller/ US Presswire)

The two biggest losers, without a doubt, during NBA “Tradefest” were the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics.

The Knicks got their man in Carmelo Anthony, but they practically gutted their team to get him. On the outside, the deal was a no-brainer and seemingly well worth a three-month headache. Melo is the most celebrated NBA superstar the Knicks have had since Patrick Ewing. Sorry, Amare. You are Robin to Carmelo’s Batman.

However, on the inside, the Knicks could have signed Anthony during the summer and kept all their pieces together. Anthony never intended to sign Denver’s offer sheet from the get-go. It was all posturing on his end, and to the Nuggets’ credit they never budged. It was a game of “who blinks first” and fortunately for Denver Knicks CEO James Dolan couldn’t stay patient and went all in too soon. He sent three quality players – Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler – to Denver, making the Knicks’ roster extremely thin.

The move falls totally on Dolan’s lap (with Isiah Thomas in his left ear) because if it were up to GM Donnie Walsh, the Knicks probably would have folded their cards last week and simply waited for Melo to walk through the front door of Madison Square Garden sometime in July with pen in hand itching to sign a contract with the team he so dearly wanted to play for. That would have given the Knicks are very potent lineup of Amare Stoudemire, Gallinari, Chandler, Felton and Anthony.

Dolan better hope Chris Paul lands in New York in 2012.

The other team that took a hit at the trade deadline was Boston. GM Danny Ainge may have caused a minor earthquake in Massachusetts by sending two very popular players in starting center Kendrick Perkins and backup point guard Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City in exchange for forward Jeff Green and center Nenad Krstic.

After losing in Denver on Thursday, just hours after the deal was done, an emotional Kevin Garnett – without question the heart and soul of the Celtics – had a difficult time coping with the loss of his teammates, telling reporters that it was an extremely “tough day” and he feels like he just “lost a family member.”

Perkins was not only the anchor of the Celtics interior defense but he was also a huge part of a Boston starting five, along with KG, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, that has never lost a playoff series when they are all healthy. That record will remain intact because Big Perk will no longer man the middle for Gang Green, grabbing loose balls, setting picks, battling Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol in the paint, intimidating refs and protecting the basket. All the intangibles that Perkins brings to the court will be missed.

Ainge was the toast of Beantown in 2007 when he acquired KG and Ray Allen and surrounded head coach Doc Rivers with a very capable roster. With this recent transaction, Ainge’s standing in the Celtics community is on thin ice. If the Celtics falter in the playoffs, Ainge could be roasted in Beantown.

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Kendrick Perkins is the anchor of the Boston Celtics and without him the Celtics sunk like the Titanic.

Seven minutes into Game 6 of the 2010 NBA Finals, the Celtics lost their starting center when he came down awkwardly on his right knee while trying to grab an offensive rebound away from Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. Perkins fell to the floor and immediately pointed his right knee and called for the Boston medical staff.

He was helped off the court and taken to the locker room, and did not return. The initial report is that he tore two ligaments on his knee and is out for Game 7. He was seen leaving the arena on his own power, but definitely was favoring the knee.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said not having the 6-10, 280-pound Perkins puts the Celtics are at a huge disadvantage against the bigger and taller Lakers. “He’s one of our guys that gives us great spirit. He gives us a lot of toughness and gives us size. I hope he can play. It’ll be tough if he can’t. Somebody else is going to have to step forward. He cleans the paint up. Not having him there made the Lakers awfully long.”

Kendrick Perkins lays on the floor after injuring his right knee in the first quarter of Game 6. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Without Perkins manning the middle and cleaning up Boston’s bricks, the Celtics were manhandled, 52-39, on the boards and the Lakers dominated the game, 89-67, Tuesday night.

Rivers added that not having Perkins in the lineup allowed the Lakers to rest Bynum, who is nursing a torn meniscus in his right knee. The Lakers were able to tread water when their starting 7-foot center was on the bench. The Celtics, on the other hand, absolutely drowned when their starting center was taken out of the game.

You could sense that as soon as Perkins left the game, the Celtics were not the same team. In fact, seeing Perkins getting helped off the court really killed Boston’s spirit.

“I think we were a little focused on when Perk was going to come back instead of continuing to play. As soon as halftime came we all ran to the training room to see if he was OK. Our energy went down for a little bit, but for the most part it’s not an excuse. We just didn’t have it,” said Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo, who suffered a gash on his chin after running into Ron Artest’s elbow in the second half.

“Perk is our enforcer. He’s the biggest body we have on Bynum. He cleans the paint up for us. He does a lot of the intangibles. He’s a great shot-blocker, rebounder and he’s the anchor of our defense.”

Former Celtic Kevin McHale, who was at Game 6 covering the game for NBATV, said Perkins is one of the toughest players in the league and for him to sit this one out shows the seriousness of the injury. “Kendrick’s got a fairly severe knee injury and when you do something like that the swelling would be hard for them to eliminate. Believe me, when you have an injury like that, you go to bed thinking ‘You know Coach, I don’t feel that bad.’ Then you wake up the next morning and you put that first step in and it’s like someone hit you with a sledge hammer.”

The Celtics say they are still confident they can win the series even without their best post defender, but realistically their NBA title hopes may have disappeared when Perkins’ knee gave out.

But one thing is for sure, they’re not going to use Perkins’ injury as an excuse.

“Perk brings rebounding and defense to the game, and his toughness so you lose that. But that’s not an excuse,” said Celtics captain Paul Pierce. “We’re a mentally tough team. We’ve had injuries all year, and we know how to win when guys go down.”

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Celtics center Kendrick Perkins is a hard-nosed defender who has earned a reputation for being tough on referees. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers says Kendrick Perkins is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. So, why does this mild-mannered guy off the court keep getting whistled for technical fouls?

“I’m not gonna answer that. I’ll let you guys [the reporters] answer that,” Rivers said after Game 5 of the 2010 Eastern Conference finals, a game in which the Celtics’ starting center was ejected in the first half after receiving two technical fouls, which at the time gave him a league-high seven for the playoffs – an automatic one-game suspension.

After reviewing the incident, the NBA league office released a statement on Thursday and decided to rescinded the second technical foul on Perkins, clearing him to play in Game 6. However, Perkins is not out of the woods yet because one more technical and he’s off to the penalty box.

“Perk plays hard, he looks mean,” Rivers added. “He’s a great guy. I’ll leave it at that.”

Perkins was called for technical early in the first half after he bumped Magic backup center Marcin Gortat with his elbow while trying to help up teammate Paul Pierce. Then, with under a minute left in the second quarter, Perkins was called for a second technical after he argued a foul call. Even though Perkins walked away from referee Eddie Rush, Rush still served him the technical and Perkins had to leave the game.

“Didn’t think he deserved either one, but he got them. It happens,” Rivers argued. “It’s amazing we talk about this before the game, the double technical thing. Perk was bending down picking the ball up and got a tech for being around. I don’t know how he got that tech. The other tech, you know, when you argue it was awful quick but they called it. I did think that Eddie Rush realized once he called it he couldn’t rescind the tech because he had forgotten he had given him the other one. I don’t think Perk wouldn’t have gotten that one. But that happens.”

For the past three seasons, the Celtics have developed a reputation for being very tough on referees, seemingly challenging every call, and the bad perception grew even stronger this season with the addition of Rasheed Wallace, who holds the NBA record for most technicals in one season (41).

In this year’s playoffs alone, Boston has been whistled for 20 technical fouls and Perkins is the clubhouse leader with six.

“But we put ourselves in that position,” Rivers said. “Like I told our guys, you can’t make any excuses. If they don’t stand, then somebody else has to step forward and that’s just the way it is.”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy had nothing to say about Perkins’ technicals, but he did manage to bring up the two questionable flagrant foul calls on two of his players.

“I don’t call technical fouls. I don’t have any thoughts. I didn’t think Dwight deserved the flagrant foul from the last game and I didn’t think Matt Barnes deserved the flagrant four that they gave to him on Kevin Garnett.”

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Kendrick Perkins got the initial assignment on Dwight Howard and established a physical tone. Then, when Perkins needed a break, Rasheed Wallace came in and applied an even tighter grip on Howard.

Perkins and Wallace, along with forward Glenn Davis, took turns in harassing Howard into a 3-for-10 night shooting from the field and held the Magic All-NBA center to 13 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Defense was the key to Boston’s 92-88 victory and for Orlando to unlock the Celtics’ game plan, Howard needs to stop acting like Blankman and start playing like Superman

“Rasheed was phenomenal defensively tonight, and he’s been good in the playoffs for us and that’s what we wanted from him when we signed him,” Rivers said of Wallace, who also scored 13 points off the bench.

Orlando's Dwight Howard struggled against Boston's defense in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Wallace knows Howard very well, and he seems to get in Howard’s head whenever they go head to head, going to back to Wallace’s days in Detroit when the Pistons knocked out Howard and the Magic twice in the postseason.

“He’s a knowledgeable big who has a lot of game,” Rivers said of Wallace, who was acquired during the offseason to bolster Boston’s frontcourt. “I thought, defensively, he did some old tricks that were just terrific.”

On one play in the first half, Wallace forced Howard into a traveling violation after pulling the chair on him. Howard became visibly upset when Wallace pinned his arm as both men locked up on the wing trying to gain post position.

“They’re going to make it tough for him. They’re going to foul him and get physical with him,” Vince Carter said of the Celtics’ defensive approach in stopping Howard. “I mean, he’s a physical presence himself but that’s what they are going to do. We have to do a better job, first of all when he’s open, getting him the ball. And we have to make plays to make it easier for him. Once we’re making shots and making plays, then we let them kinda worry about what we’re doing and I think it opens things up for him. Some nights when he gets rolling, it opens things up for us. So we have to return the favor.”

Carter’s advice to his teammate?

“Just keep playing. It’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be a war. We know that,” Carter said. “They’ve been there before, we’ve been through some battles throughout this season and we still feel good about ourselves. We’re going to continue to support him and stay on him to make sure he’s not frustrated, and just play basketball and have fun.

“He puts pressure on himself because he wants to win. He wants to be perfect or as perfect as possible and do what he has to do to lead this team. But at the same time we always tell him he’s not out there by himself. We’re going to support him. And I think when he realizes that, he settles down.”

Carter is confident the Magic will bounce back. He said it starts with better execution on offense, avoid turnovers and match Boston’s intensity on both ends of the court.

“I don’t think we were prepared for the level that they were ready to play. They were ready to go from the jump and we weren’t on their level in the beginning more than anything,” Carter said of the Celtics, who took a 22-14 lead in the first quarter and led by 16 after the third quarter.

“They’re relentless, they’re aggressive. They work on a string and play well together. So, we’ll just have to be smart, continue to move the ball to the open man to get good shots. They do a great job of contesting when they took away the paint. Took us a while to figure it out, but when we did we played a lot better. When you have a team like that that plays smothering defense and very physical at the same time, you just have to be patient. They tend to rush you, and that’s how they play.”

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Guard Delonte West and forward Anderson Varejao play key roles in the Cavaliers' highly effective defensive scheme. (GETTY IMAGES)

Defense wins championships. At least that’s the prevailing thought among athletes in any sport. In basketball, stopping the opposition from scoring is ultimately the difference between winning and losing in April, May and June.

To win an NBA championship, you need that lockdown defender that can take away the opposition’s best option. It is equivalent to a shutdown cornerback in the NFL. A lot of times, great defenders are left to cover a prolific scorer all by himself, and a double team was not an option. Bruce Bowen played this role perfectly. Bowen, a member of championship teams in San Antonio, did not completely stop a great scorer, but he was able to at least make it difficult and uncomfortable to score the basketball.

Shane Battier of the Houston Rockets is cut from the same cloth. Like Bowen, Battier is not asked to score a lot of points for the Rockets because his job is mainly to shadow the opponent’s top gun.

Guys like Battier and Bowen, as well as Ron Artest, Tayshaun Prince and Devin Harris, initially made their marks on the defensive end of the court and have carved up a solid reputation around the league. But what about those players who don’t get the same notoriety but are just as good on defense – or even better.

OneManFastbreak.net uncovers the most underrated defenders in the NBA. Unlike the more celebrated first-team All-NBA defenders such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard, who claim the majority of the votes because of their reputation and inflated statistics, these following players go unnoticed because they don’t usually make the spectacular steal or block. They’re always assigned to the other team’s primary threat on offense and play straight-up defense the entire time they’re on the court.

DELONTE WEST, Cleveland Cavaliers – One word to describe this undersized guard: Tough. His celebrated teammate, LeBron James, gets a lot of the credit for Cleveland’s defense but, with all due respect to King James and his much-improved defense, West is the guy Coach Mike Brown calls on to defend the scorers.

KIRK HINRICH, Chicago Bulls – Hinrich makes up for his lack of foot speed and athleticism with grit and a lot of grabbing. He is the master of clinging to someone’s jersey (sometimes pulling it) and getting under a player’s skin. Just ask Dwyane Wade. We like to call it the Hinrich Manuever.

KENYON MARTIN, Denver Nuggets – Despite all the knee surgeries, K-Mart still creates matchup problems for low-post scorers. He put a blanket on David West in the first round and, even though Dirk Nowitzki posted great numbers in the second round, K-Mart made Dirk work for every point.

ANDERSON VAREJAO, Cleveland Cavaliers – He may not be the best on-ball defender, but his value to the Cavaliers cannot be measured with rebounds, blocks and steals. The man they call “Andy” takes a lot of charges, and irritates a lot of opponents with his boundless energy and his Sideshow Bob haircut.

KENDRICK PERKINS, Boston Celtics – Kevin Garnett gets most of the ink and the pub, but this burly 280-pound force in the low block is tough to uproot and plays with great force. He rebounds, blocks shots and defends the pick-and-roll better than most than half the centers in the league.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK, Oklahoma City Thunder  – The former Pac-10 defensive player of the year made an easy transition from college to pro. He has extremely long arms for a guard and his quick feet allows him to beat an offensive player to a spot. Give him another year and he should make the All-Defense team.

PAUL PIERCE, Boston Celtics – Pierce is mostly known for his offense. The truth is, at this stage of his career, his defense might be better than his offense. During the Celtics’ great playoff in 2008, Pierce guarded Joe Johnson, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. And more often than not, Pierce won his one-one-one battles.

TREVOR ARIZA, L.A. Lakers – The former UCLA Bruin is the real reason for the Lakers’ upgrade on defense. Kobe Bryant only plays defense against the elite guys. When you are a nobody, Kobe will leave you open. Ariza, on the other hand, plays defense 24/7. His length allows him to get a lot of deflections and steals.

UDONIS HASLEM, Miami Heat – Despite being undersized and overmatched more often than not, Haslem – who is generously listed at 6-8 – wins a lot of his one-on-one battles mostly with heart and determination. The Heat co-caption embodies everything Pat Riley likes in a player.

CHUCK HAYES, Houston Rockets – Another undersized frontcourt player who plays with great leverage. Former Houston Coach Jeff Van Gundy calls Hayes a great low-post defender despite his lack of size (he is listed at 6-6). He has a very strong lower body, which keeps bigger centers from backing him down.

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