According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Kendrick Perkins played the last three rounds of the playoffs with a partially torn groin. An injury he sustained in Game 4 against the Mavericks in the opening round.
Perk sat the remainder of that game, but returned to start the rest of the postseason. His injury was labeled as just a hip strain, but clearly there was something more. He’s expected to have offseason surgery on it.
Naturally the question is, then why the crap did he play so much? Especially considering the matchup didn’t make much sense, and Scott Brooks had a built in excuse to sit or not start him. Why? WHY????
I’m a big Perk fan, because I appreciate the value he has in doing his job. He defends post scorers, is a tough dude, screens well and adds a whole lot to the team in terms of leadership. I tried to warn everyone that you’d complain about him during the Spurs series and then the Miami series. He doesn’t play well in space, and that’s what he was forced to do. He performed admirably in the last few games against the Spurs, but never did find much impact against the Heat.
I would imagine it was at Perk’s command that he stay in the lineup and credit to him for not using it as an excuse or complaining. But at the same time, you have to look at if it’s hurting the team. I respect the heck out of Perk for playing through an injury, but if he wasn’t 100 percent, does that help or hurt?
Scott Brooks likes to say if you’re on the floor, you’re healthy in his mind. While I see the idea, that’s obviously not true at all. If you’re not healthy, you’re not at your best. Playing through injury is one thing, but not when it potentially hurts the production of the team.
There wasn’t anything obvious in The Finals with Perk’s health and with the way he performed later in the Spurs series certainly didn’t hint at anything. He battled valiantly, but knowing this now, it makes you wonder.
no excuse they just sucked ass period. how are the now coming up with all these excuses for losing in the finals? were too young, we have players hurt . no excuse they just choked
Oh, good, so now Brooks has an excuse to play him again next post season.
Really wish I hadn't read this. I guess we wouldn't have made to the finals if Perk hadn't played through the pain against the Lakers and Spurs. But why was he still playing when it he was an obvious mismatch against the Heat. I really wish I hadn't read this.
I don't really care all that much about rotations and offense. Most coaches get slammed for rotations when the team loses. Spurs fans killed Popovich, for example. When the Lakers didn't win, Phil's rotations were to blame. It's easy to second guess that. I think my biggest issue with Scott Brooks is that he touts the Thunder as a defense first team, but the defense has gotten worse the last two seasons even when the roster has supposedly gotten more defense oriented during that time. It just doesn't make sense. There are more missed assignments and rotations this year than there were in 2009-10. Watching the Thunder trying ridiculous defensive strategies against the Heat, get lost on double teams, switches, etc. No reason for that to happen so much with this roster. Maybe the youth on the team + no training camp has an effect. But I don't have much confidence left that Brooks can turn this group into an elite defensive team on his own.
@justin_mia It's so frustrating (our defense) especially since we were somehow better as a team at it when we had Kristic at C, Green at PF, a younger skinnier KD at 3, Younger Thabo at 2 and an out of control brainless Russ at the 1. There is no way in hell that team should've been better at defense than this year's roster, yet it was. That is completely on Brooks. Can we bring back Ron Adams as head coach please?
@Koka_Da_Bauce @justin_mia Wow, very valid argument right there....
@justin_mia I think that was the case in the regular season but I thought we played a lot better defense in the playoffs until we got to the Heat and then I thought Brooks couldn't find a good answer so he stuck with bad matchups. For some reason though he played Perkins and Fisher a ton and like last night, Thabo got like 9 minutes and they had 96 after 3 quarters. As much as I felt he did a great job against the Spurs he got competeley abused against the Heat.
I got stuck in the old thread since no one did this
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/06/staring-at-the-sun/
The teams were pretty evenly matched coming into the series and we had home court. With that every little thing matters. In 4 games that were close little things matter. Did Brooks miss FTs? No. Did he miss Harden's shots for him? No. But rotation management was terrible. If the team was outscored by about 5 points through 4 games and the starting unit was a negative, and all of us could see Perk shouldn't have been playing much, even without knowledge of the injury, how he couldn't see that is a problem. Playing two bigs, double teaming blindly even in the midst of the Heat shooting lights out from 3, these things matter. The players could've played better but the coach's job is to put his players in the best position to succeed. I don't see how anyone can argue that was done.
Should he be blindly fired? No. Should he be replaced if a better option (quite possible) is available? Yes.
@SB718 My biggest issue is how unprepared the team seemed, grasping for straws at weak defensive solutions after Game 2. Instead of doing the logical thing and, you know, having the personnel in the game to defend the Heat straight up.
@justin_mia And it's a shame he really was on the ball with the adjustments against the Spurs. He kills me, as soon as I want to give him credit it's two steps backwards.
Free Collsion
I hate to say it but I didn't notice that much difference.
What do we need to do different next year? We will lose Nazi and Fisher and possibly Ivey and gain back Maynor and Pleiss. Can we lose Lazar too? I would like to see us pick a defensive guy behind KD at the 3. The Heat exposed a little bit of a defensive weakness at the guard position. Harden can't guard Wade or Lebron period and he had to guard them a lot. I would like to see us draft or pick up a defensive 3 for some more depth there at the end of the bench and I'm sorry, Lazar is not that guy.
I am actually interested to see Cole and Tibor battle it out for the backup center position.
@okcjim Name a Defense 3 in the entire league that would STOP LeBron and Wade. Not slow them down, but STOP them. You're talking about 2 HOF guys in LBJ and DWade. I get your point, but be realistic. I wish Presti would have picked up Battier. Switching Battier from the dark side to the Thunder all season would have been fun to watch. Who knows the result, but one thing is for sure, he wouldn't have been playing for Miami. Ain't hindsight great?
@jallenmorris Where did I say we'd pick someone up to stop those 2? It's not possible I just said rather than Ivey and Haywood at the end of the bench I'd like to see a defensive 3. Would that person see the court in an NBA finals game? Not likely. I was just analyzing the roster. Maybe a guy like Jeff Taylor at the bottom of the first that's an elite athlete.
The best way to play the Heat defensively is to zone them up. That gives you a big on Lebron when he posts and help when he or Wade drive. That's how Dallas beat them last year and how Boston took them to 7.
@DustinMcWilliams You forgot Elgin Baylor.
@SB718 Losing Lazar is like losing Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Kobe Bryant combined,
@okcjim @jallenmorris I read Miami was effective this year against the zone, I can't find the stats. The D being played surely wasn't working though.
This is going to turn into a Brooks bashing thread. Before that really gets going, I think people calling for his head should be required to suggest someone who we could hire to replace him.
Those just complaining about Brooks but who are not calling for a firing can carry on.
@delolama The only person I'd rather have is Phil Jackson. I've read he wants to come back to the right situation and this really is an ideal fit for him. Two superstars (possibly three) just needing a coach to push them to the next level. I really think Jackson would come to OKC if we offered it to him. I'd rather have Brooks than anybody else though.
@delolama Either Van Gundy.
Can't we continue with the bashing now?
Is Brrooks concerned with loyalty and consistency with his players, or winning basketball games? The obvious answer should be both, however I believe his prioritization of these two goals is bass f'n ackwards.
I like Scott Brooks and want to keep him.But he blew it big time this series.he should get his contract but behind closed doors he should get a good talking to.No way Perk or Fish should've seen the minutes they did.We created mismatches against ourselves throughout the entire series against a team who we have a superior roster to.Inexcusable
@BigTink Cosign!
I really don't understand all this talk about firing Scott Brooks. He has done incredible things in a very short time, he understands the culture of the team and of our city and I don't want the media hogging egos of a Van Gundy or Jackson, thank you very much. Give him some time to take this team to the next logical step. Really!!!
@glenda82954 I agree. Talking about firing or replacing Brooks at this point is premature. Even Magic Johnson commented that OKC needs to retain Brooks, calling him a "great" coach. That being said, the critiques on this board are valid regarding some of his decisions on the rotations and the weakness of some of our defensive schemes. If the Thunder are to win a title, Brooks must improve in these areas.
-face palm-
No need to sugar coat it, there's no reason under the sun why Perkins should have been playing at all, much less at Collison's expense in this series. The fact that he was injured makes it even more perplexing.
Phil Jackson would never have played him.
@TheFix82 Only available coach that I'd rather have than Brooks
Fire Scott Brooks. That is all.
@Zach99 And hire whom?
@delolama Phil Jackson, JVG, SVG, Jerry Sloan... I could go on.
@Zach99 @delolama Definitely not Jerry sloan, he coaches from the stone ages! teams never even watch film.