Oklahoma City Thunder Coach Scott Brooks declines to reduce Kendrick Perkins’ minutes – For how long?
On Saturday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder went into 2-1 hole when the Dallas Mavericks defeated them in game-3 of the Western Conference Finals. On that night, much was left to be desired from most of the OKC cast, but one man who specifically came into the highlight was the Thunder big man Kendrick Perkins.
Perkins was traded by the OKC from the Boston Celtics, this mid-season, in an attempt to bring more aggressiveness to an otherwise inexperienced defence. Perkins did the same and has been pivotal in marshalling the OKC back court on the road to the Conference Finals. This series though, Perkins has been struggling to make an impact. However, OKC’s coach has reposed his confidence in the burly centre.
A day after game-3 Thunder coach Scott Brooks has made it clear that he is not going to change his starting line-up and will not reduce the minutes of centre Kendrick Perkins.
Scott has so far received loads of criticism for his statement. The critics believe that multiple slow starts have proved that Oklahoma City’s first unit is out of touch, but Scott is not tinkering with his starting line-up because of chemistry concerns. What is being highlighted the most is the sheer inability of Perkins to counter his opposite number Tyson Chandler, who has hit a purple patch, this post season.
Ironically it was Oklahoma City, who refused to acquire Chandler two seasons ago, when there medical staff did not find him fully fit in his physical tests. Now the same guy has nailed their defence. Perkins has consistently failed to match the athleticism of the 7 ft 1 Chandler, who is one of the few athletic big men in the league.
In game-1Chandler scored three points, clutched eight rebounds and blocked two shots and Dallas won that game 121-112. In game-2, Tyson dropped 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to again ruffle Perkins. Then in game-3, which Dallas won by 93-87, Chandler made eight points, grasped 15 boards, one block and steal two.
In comparison to him, Perkins has just scored 15 points, blocked three shots and grabbed 14 rebounds in three games. During Perkins’s 82 minutes on the court, Thunder have been outplayed by 32 points, but when he was on bench Oklahoma City outperformed the Mavs by 23 points. Moreover, when Chandler is on floor Perkins’ point differential per 36 minutes is minus-17.7, the worst for any Thunder in this series.
In the backdrop of all these performances, it was only logical to give Perkins a break, but Coach Scott has dismissed this option. And it is not that, he doesn’t have any options. He has a inform reserve, in the form of Nick Collison, who despite playing less minutes in game-1 and game-3, was exceptional in hounding Dirk Nowitzki.
Scotts’ best bet at the moment will be to deploy Collison at power forward position so that he can guard Nowitzki like a shadow and put Serge Ibaka at centre in place of Perkins. Ibaka is way better options at centre as he has the capability to match Chandler’s athleticism.
Another alternative is to deploy Kevin Durant at power forward position and Collison in centre so they can play in small spurts. Although this move comes at the cost of losing rebounds, but Durant can certainly guard Chandler and Brendan Haywood. Collision’s battle with Nowitzki will also provide open looks to James Harden or Daequan Cook.
However Brooks is sticking to his opinion, at least for now.
“I like to play big. I don’t like to play small. The only time we play small is if we’re down. That’s not something I go into the game hoping, to play small.”
With no change in the first unit and minutes of Perkins, it looks very likely that Brooks will have to start playing small soon.
Tags: