The long-distance formula worked fine in this contest. But without Perkins’s presence and screens, a lot of the Celtics’ offensive sets simply don’t work. Opposing defenses have to respect Perkins’s threat down low. And, whoever is chasing Ray Allen and Paul Pierce must keep an eye out for picks. No Bobcat crashed into Perkins, but Gerald Wallace was flattened by a legitimate Garnett screen.

So, though Perkins has had a low-profile opening to the season, his low-post play has had a high-yield effect.

Perkins matched muscles with Shaquille O’Neal in a 95-89 victory at Cleveland in the season opener Tuesday night. Less than 24 hours later, Perkins was facing Tyson Chandler. O’Neal scored 10 points for the Cavaliers, but went scoreless in the final quarter. Chandler went scoreless for all four quarters.

And, as the Celtics were going on a 21-2 run to open the second half, the Bobcats started taking their frustrations out on Perkins. First Wallace, then Chandler earned technicals after tangling with Perkins. Then, before he could complete a 3-point play, Perkins was given a technical of his own.

“I was just trying to go for the offensive rebound,’’ Perkins said of the Wallace collision. “He said I just threw him out of the way. He pushed me. You’re wrong when you retaliate and right when you instigate. I instigate the situation and I end up getting him a tech. Chandler instigated a situation with me and I end up getting a tech.

“[Chandler] was kind of mad at me, for whatever reason. I wasn’t doing nothing, I was just playing hard. He got in foul trouble early, he was frustrated. I was just playing basketball - it wasn’t nothing personal, it’s not like I’m looking at the scouting report and saying I’ve got Tyson and I’m going to get into it with him. It wasn’t nothing like that. I had Tyson - big difference from playing Shaq, so I just wanted to be extra physical.’’

Perkins was able to defend O’Neal straight-up, without help. And that was a major reason most other Cavaliers were unable to be effective offensively - LeBron James excepted. Perkins’s positioning kept O’Neal away from his spots, even if only a few millimeters away. After that heavy-lifting test, the Bobcats presented relatively lightweight resistance.

And Perkins might have had a chance to compile some bigger numbers - he attempted 10 shots, second most on the team.

“I was trying to do deep post-ups, trying to post up a little bit more,’’ Perkins said. “It [his offense] wasn’t there, really. I was rushing a little bit, didn’t really have a flow on offense. But I thought my defense was pretty solid, so that kind of made up for it.’’

Perkins blocked four shots in just more than 26 minutes of playing time. Garnett had three blocks in just less than 26 minutes. Charlotte had its lowest point total ever.

“That’s like a goal, that’s something we can actually be happy about,’’ Perkins said. “We take pride in defense. Like everybody’s been saying, we’re trying to be the best defensive team in history. I just feel as long as we come in, night in and out, and play defense, we’ll be all right. We’ve got a team that can score points, no matter who’s shooting bad, or whatever. I just feel like if we play ‘D’ and be consistent on the defensive end we’re going to win most of our games.’’

Frank Dell’Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com.