“Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were –34 with Kendrick Perkins in the 2012 NBA Finals”: How the former Celtics big negatively affected the Thunder against LeBron James and co

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant along with Kendrick Perkins were an abysmal –34 in the 2012 NBA Finals. 

Kendrick Perkins seems to have found himself in some hot water as of late. The former Boston Celtics big-man criticized Jayson Tatum on Twitter after the Celts blowout win over the New York Knicks last night, while praising Jaylen Brown for notching his first career triple double. 

Tatum took to the social media site to pushback at the criticism that Perkins sent his way while Tatum’s mom, Brandy Cole, went a bit more personal. In a now deleted tweet, she called out ‘Big Perk’ for putting her son down by taking shots at the stats that he out up as a player during his playing days in the NBA.

Also read: “Today is the day we finally get to see Klay Thompson hoop”: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and other NBA stars look forward to the GSW star’s 1st game back since June 2019

Now, it’s well known that Kendrick Perkins was nothing more than a role player throughout his career. He was a decent role player, being able to bully his way into a few buckets down-low while proving to be a solid paint presence. 

His stats however, never leaped off the page. This was evident during the 2012 NBA Finals as the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Miami Heat in 5 games. 

Kendrick Perkins and his awful +/- with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder were quite the inexperienced lot of players during their first ever NBA Finals trip in 2012. Going up against the veteran Miami Heat squad was a lot to ask of anybody and the Thunder were clearly outclassed. Perhaps they could’ve made the series more competitive if they got more production out of Kendrick Perkins.

Also read: “Klay Thompson, when you’re wakeboarding this summer, throw up the friendly twos”: Drake hilariously flexed on the Warriors guard following Raptors Finals victory

Perk was borderline unplayable in the 2012 NBA Finals as he posted an abysmal –34 plus/minus when on the court with both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. That same duo was an overtly positive +19 without Perk on the floor along with them. 

He was getting torched on mismatches which wasn’t hard to do considering the fact that every match-up for him was a mismatch at that point. His game high in the Finals was 10 points and he would go on to post up 4 points in 3 of the 5 Finals games. 

Safe to say that Tatum’s mom bringing up his stats was all too unwarranted in hindsight.