Royce Young Perk: "I just don't understand why we start out the first quarter the way we did, with the lineup that we had, and all of a sudden we change and adjust to what they had going on. So they won the last three quarters, and that's what happened." http://sulia.com/channel/nba-finals...4-e926-48b1-ab20-69cb5ccca555/?source=twitter
Perkins is the starting center and Ibaka is the starting power forward. If perkins only played 17 minutes and Ibaka 27 minutes...and their only real backup front court player collison only played 17 minutes it only shows brooks was playing small ball.
Russell Westbrook played 45 minutes and his backup Derek Fisher played 22 minutes. Fisher was t he one eating up the playing time of the frontcourt players. Perkins has a point , they built that seventeen point lead with their two real frontcourt players. Small ball has been proven time and again to be a failure.
Perkins once called a timeout during a game not because of an injury or because he just got a loose ball on the floor, but to stop the flow, which is the coaching staff's job. Seems like he doesn't exactly respect Scott Brooks's authority, and in general he's always thought that he's better than he is. The OKC Thunder may need to get rid of him, his declining and overrated skills are not worth the trouble of a potential team cancer.
Why are you guys beating on Perkins? He's the starter... so is Ibaka. Why they weren't on the court is baffling. They should have been in their protecting the rim. Brooks messed up bad by playing the heat's game, and not playing his own game.
The Heat have gone with a small lineup the past few weeks which is not really what they did during the season. They've changed the dynamic of their team and Brooks is the one who's gone with essentially the same rotation.
If you watch the game, they built a Seventeen (17) point lead in the first quarter with Ibaka and Perkins and Collison putting in minutes. Scott Brooks decides to go small ball and plays Derek Fisher and is rewarded with : 0 points, 0 rebs, 0 assists, with 22 minutes of playing time for fisher. On the other hand, while the thunder were playing small ball they missed the rebounding, shot blocking and shot altering presence that ibaka, perkins and collison had playing alongside each other. Perkins was not actually saying he should be playing he is questioning that something was working when they built the seventeen point lead (playing with two big men on the floor) instead of playing the small ball lineup.
The OKC starting 5 had a +\- of 0 tonight. So whatever lead they built in the 1st qtr they gave it all back.
The question is how long were they playing with two front court players playing together? That is what perkins is questioning. Perkins played 17 minutes, Ibaka 27 minutes, Collison 17 minutes. Derek Fisher started playing in the Second Quarter when they lost the lead.
Did you watch Miami at all this season? Battier was not their starting power forward, playing 40 minutes/game. Miami went small, post-Bosh injury, even now that Bosh is back. It draws Ibaka away from protecting the rim (as he has to guard Battier at the three-point line, or -- as has happened -- give up wide open threes). Ibaka is awesome at protecting the basket; not so much out at the three point line. Miami outfoxed how the Thunder won all year. If the Thunder don't go small, and ditch either Perkins or Ibaka, they have no chance. And, despite losing the last three, they've been a bucket or two off from tying/winning in each of those three games. So the Thunder going small has actually kept them in the fight. Predicated almost entirely on Westbrook's freakishly hot start. Perkins had little to do with that 17 point lead. Point is, Perkins has no post game to punish the smaller defender. And he hasn't exactly been lighting it up on the offensive glass, either. If nothing else, he and Ibaka on the floor together, should be manhandling smaller lineups for putbacks. But he hasn't. So, he's been a waste of space against small ball.
Boston got rid of Perkins because he's a liability against any team without a center whose relied on for scoring, ie he was good for la and orlando, but terrible for miami and chicago. That being said, fisher is a liability against everyone.
