The Celtics’ Paul Pierce was a step ahead of Lamar Odom and the Lakers during Boston’s second-half surge of Game Four on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

AP / Mark J. Terrill

LOS ANGELES — The Celtics woke up with big smiles on their faces yesterday but their bodies are sore.

The glow from Thursday night’s 97-91 comeback win in Game Four of the NBA Finals will stay with the Celtics until tomorrow’s Game Five. The Celts plan to use today’s bonus day of rest to recuperate from several jarring plays over the last week.

Rajon Rondo played through a sprained ankle and wasn’t himself in Game Four. More importantly, center Kendrick Perkins may have injured his shoulder to the point where he can’t go tomorrow. Perkins was defending Lamar Odom when he seemed to dislocate the shoulder and walk off the floor in pain. The Celtics did not practice yesterday so an update on Perkins won’t come until today but Doc Rivers said that Perkins has a 50-50 chance “at best” of playing in the next game.

“Well we’re not in great physical shape, there’s no doubt about that, but that’s what it is and there’s nothing you can do about that,” said Rivers. “I think our guys are mostly gamers. The fact that Rajon tried to give it a go [Thursday] night was phenomenal. Perk, obviously the injury he had last night could be significant, and we don’t know the results yet. But that’s clearly not looking great right now.”

“It’s fine, it felt good. I will keep getting ice and (stimulation) on it, but there were no problems with the ankle,” Rondo wrote on his blog. “I have to give our trainer, Ed Lacerte, credit for helping me get the ankle ready to go. He had me getting stim and icing throughout the day (Wednesday). I grabbed some ice from his room and got more treatment (Thursday). It all helped. Then he gave me a great tape job tonight. For the first time ever, I got taped directly to my skin and it made a difference. The tape came off pretty good, too.”

If Perkins cannot go, the Celtics could start P.J. Brown at center or move Kevin Garnett to that spot and start James Posey.

A day of respite

Less than 12 hours after one of the toughest defeats in franchise history, the Lakers decided to rest instead of practice. Like the Celtics, the Lakers only watched film yesterday.

“You know, just in checking out how the guys were and how they felt, I just felt it was a good idea,” coach Phil Jackson said at the team’s practice facility. “We have two days to work on the things we need to work on. We have guys that are well-conditioned at this time and we need rest and recuperation in this situation, probably more psychologically than we do physically.”

The Lakers did watch game film and Jackson seemed to halt the tape at halftime to keep the players’ eyes away from the ugly third quarter.

“We watched some tape, we looked at the first half. Obviously we were successful in the first half and did some things that got a lead for us, and I wanted to explain to them that they were the same ball club, the same personnel that went out there in the second half, and if they can get that kind of a lead, they can maintain that kind of a game if they really put their minds to it,” he said.

Just after the game on Thursday night, Kobe Bryant was asked about to prospect of becoming the first team to ever come back and win a Finals series after falling behind, 3-1.

“I’m not thinking about beating them three straight. We’re thinking about beating them on Sunday,” said Bryant. “Take one swing at a time to chop down a tree.”

Rivers recalls father

Tomorrow will be the first Father’s Day for Rivers without his own dad. Grady Alexander Rivers died back in November at age 76. When Rivers was asked what his father might think about his son being one win away from an NBA championship, Rivers choked up, wiped his eyes and couldn’t speak for about 45 seconds.

“That’s just a tough one for me to talk about,” he eventually said.

Rivers then added, “to go back to my dad, he’s just very important in my life. It’s still very difficult for me to talk about because I haven’t had a lot of time, really, to reflect on it.”

A champions’ tour

The Red Sox have enjoyed their championship parades through downtown Boston. So have the Patriots. The Celtics are now one win away from their own celebration and they’ve had a little practice. Last fall, Rivers took Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on a Duck Tour of the city.

“I had been sitting in that apartment watching the duck tours when the Red Sox go on them and the Patriots have been on them,” Rivers said, “and I just thought it was important for the Celtics and those three guys because through them you can sell it to the team. Paul knew about it. Paul has been in Boston for so long, but Kevin and Ray, I think they thought we were going on a historic trip of Boston. I don’t think they really got it at first until we explained to them what we were doing. It was a fun trip. I’m glad we did it.”

kmcnamar@projo.com