OAKLAND, Calif. – Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins has seen the replays of Blake Griffin dunking on him. He’s also read all the Twitter buzz about what is being called one of the greatest slams in NBA history.
But if Griffin challenges him again, Perkins doesn’t plan to run for cover.
“If I was in the same position, in the same rotation, I’m going to
jump again and again and again,” Perkins told Yahoo! Sports. “I don’t
care. A lot of people are afraid of humiliation or don’t know how to
handle embarrassment or would even get embarrassed. I don’t care.
“I’m the same Perk you’re
going to see. I’m still going to sign autographs the same way. I ain’t
going to change. The people that move out the way and stuff are the
people who have insecurity problems.
“That’s my job. How will my
teammates look at me if next time I just back out the way and just let
him dunk when I’m supposed to be defensive-minded, a shot-blocker? That
would be a coward move on me. He’d just have to dunk on me again.”
Perkins respected Griffin for not
making a spectacle of the dunk afterward or gloating about it. But he
wasn’t too appreciative of LeBron James tweeting praise to Griffin.
[ Also: Chauncey Billups vows injury won’t end his career ]
Several NBA players commented
about the dunk on Twitter and in media interviews, but the only one that
bothered Perkins was James.
Shortly after the dunk, James tweeted, “Dunk of the Year!
@blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess
I’m No. 2 now. Move over #6.” James was referring to his alley-oop dunk
he threw down after jumping over Chicago Bulls guard John Lucas III a day earlier.
“You don’t see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting,” Perkins said. “You don’t see
Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that
don’t excite you. At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for
the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying
about one play.
“They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down
to No. 2. I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he
wants the world to like him.”
Even Perkins admits Griffin’s dunk was “nice; a nice finish.” He also remembers the advice his former Boston Celtics teammate, Kevin Garnett, once gave him: To be an effective post defender, you have to risk getting dunked on.
“It’s part of the game,” Perkins said. “If you are a shot-blocker,
you don’t pick and choose when you are going to jump with somebody or
when you are going to rotate.
“You’re not going to lose no friends about it. You might get talked about. But who cares at the end of the day.”
Thunder coach Scott Brooks was playing for the Houston Rockets when Phoenix Suns
guard Kevin Johnson threw down his famous dunk over Rockets center
Hakeem Olajuwon. Brooks loved that Olajuwon was never afraid to
challenge a shot – and he sees some of the same qualities in Perkins.
“There are sorry defenders, the guys that don’t want to defend or the
guys that run away because they don’t want to put themselves in
position like that,” Brooks said. “Perk is not going to run. If it
happens again, hopefully it will be a different result. But he is going
to put himself in that position again.
“That’s what he is about.”