Perkins has been a waste of space this entire series. The Heat have been playing small ball and Perkins is way too slow on rotations. He doesn't run back on defense which doesn't make sense because he's not matching up with a perimeter player so all he has to do is run to the paint and protect it. The Heat have capitalized and cherry picked the Thunder quite a few times. He has butter fingers and doesn't finish around the rim. He thinks he has a mismatch on offense when in reality the mismatch is in the Heat's favor. Perkins backing down Battier NEVER works. He either bricks a 2 ft. lay up or backs down for 5 seconds and ends up fumbling the ball followed by the shot clock expiring or him turning it over. Nick Collison has vastly outplayed him but doesn't get rewarded like he should.
They don't use him correctly. All he does is guard Star Big men and rebound occasionally. They could use 8 million per to resign Ibaka to a bigger deal.
Can agree with playing Perkins way less. But declining skills, when he's the same age as Lebron and Chris Bosh?
Rudy T probably disagreed when he moved Bob Horry to the 4 spot midway into the 2nd round of the playoffs in 1995.
Yes, I realize the change. But I'm talking about the finals. Miami had success going small throughout the playoffs. It's not smart to punish Bosh at center all season when he only has to do it in the playoffs to be successful. I will clarify. The team that is forced to change their lineup in the finals is the one to lose. Those teams don't count. They were undeniably the best.
He seems to have lost quite a bit off his game when he blew out his knee, and since then, his production has fallen off a cliff, especially in these playoffs.
Bosh's injury forced Miami's small ball. They've dabbled in small ball during the season, but they didn't have to buy in like they did in the playoffs with Bosh out. In the end, it may be serendipitous. What's the better majority lineup against the traditional Thunder (Westbrook - Harden - Durant - Ibaka - Perkins)? Chalmers - Wade - LBJ - Bosh - Haslem (or Anthony)? Or Chalmers - Wade - LBJ / Battier - Bosh? I'd argue that the Thunder would stand a much better chance against a traditional Heat lineup. The Heat realized this; that's why they adapted, and that's why Battier has looked like a god from three-point range -- he's hitting open shots due to the Thunder's failure to recalibrate. It opens everything up for LBJ to attack, and it removes the extra defender from stopping him from attacking. It opens up Wade to cut to the basket. And it leaves Battier open to hit 75% from three (before Game 4). The Thunder had to pick their poison. Sticking with Perkins - Obaka against Miami small ball is the NBA's version of hemlock. (Also, did they not watch the Finals last year? Why in the heck did the Thunder staff not work on a zone during the extended offseason, knowing how good they'd be/ the chance they'd face Miami in the Finals? Ibaka is only a slightly poorer version of Chandler as an anchor. A zone is at least worth a shot -- because the shot is LBJ's and Wade's weakest attribute. It's not their "identity" as a defense, if I remember Brooks correctly. SMH.)
Comments OffOklahoma City Thunder: Big lineup under-used? Posted by Berry Tramelon June 20, 2012 at 12:30 pm Kendrick Perkins was not a happy camper after Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Perk is not a happy camper anytime the Thunder loses, but he had a point to make. “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,” Perkins said. “So they won the last three quarters, and that’s what happened.” True enough. The Heat trailed 33-19 after one quarter but won the last three quarters: 27-16, 33-26 and 25-23. With 6:19 left in the first quarter, Scotty Brooks made his usual substitution — James Harden for Thabo Sefolosha. The Thunder led 15-10 at the time. Three minutes later, the lead had grown to 23-12. With 3:17 left in the quarter, Brooks again subbed, only this time more than the personnel changed. Brooks took out Perkins and inserted Derek Fisher, going with the small lineup. The lead grew to 33-16 before Norris Cole’s 3-pointer just before the buzzer brought the Heat within 14. At the start of the second quarter, Brooks stayed with a small lineup — Kevin Durant, Thabo, Fisher, Harden and Nick Collison. And the Heat scored the first 13 points on the quarter. In a span of four minutes, the lead was lost. Midway through that spree, Westbrook replaced Durant, then Durant two minutes later replaced Thabo. That was the only time in the game Durant or Westbrook sat out. Brooks stayed with his small lineup the rest of the quarter, and OKC had a 49-46 halftime lead. In the third quarter, Brooks went back to the big lineup. This time, it was not so effective. Mario Chalmers’ 3-pointer with 7:07 left in the quarter gave Miami a 64-60 lead, and Brooks replaced Perkins with Harden 35 seconds later. So the big lineup was outscored 18-11 during that span. And did not return. Brooks went small the rest of the game. So let’s review. The big lineup was on the court together 14:11 and outscored Miami 34-30. The small lineup was used 33:49 and was outscored 74-64. The truth is, 14:11 is not a long enough time to establish overwhelming evidence of the big lineup’s superiority. But it is the second straight game in which the big lineup was more effective than the small lineup. Same thing happened in Game 3. In the two Oklahoma City games, the Thunder’s small lineup clearly was more effective than the big lineup, but that has changed in Miami. So that’s what Perk was talking about. The reliance on the small lineup is becoming a question. Its effectiveness lessens with every game. Plus/minus numbers can be deceiving. Thabo was minus-19 in Game 4 — the Heat outscored the Thunder by 19 when Sefolosha was on the court — but clearly Thabo needs to be on the court a ton, to help check LeBron James. Durant and Westbrook were even — they both played more than 45 minutes, and when each was on the court, the score was tied. Perkins was a plus-four. Everyone else was a small minus. The big lineup does not space the court as well as the small lineup, and using Ibaka with the big lineup takes away his chief asset — he’s forced to guard Shane Battier, usually, drawing him far from the basket, limiting his shot blocking. But the bulk that Perk and Ibaka, or Perk and Collison, or Collison and Ibaka provide, has paid dividends the last two games. Maybe Perkins is right. Give the big lineup more court time in Game 5.
