The Portland Trail Blazers held the Denver Nuggets to just 95 points on Saturday night, which may have come as a shock to Kendrick Perkins. Jusuf Nurkic was more than happy to rub it in Perkins’ face.
After the Nuggets beat Portland in Game 3 on Thursday night, Perkins tweeted that Nurkic and Enes Kanter are the two worst defensive big men in the NBA.
Mike Malone flat out coached Terry Stotts!!! Nurkic and Kanter are the worse defensive bigs in the NBA! Btw shoutout to Austin Rivers tonight for proving all the haters wrong…I just remember them saying he was in the NBA because of his Pops. Carry the hell on…
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) May 28, 2021
Portland’s win on Saturday tied the series at 2-2. Nurkic had 17 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal. When speaking with the media after the game, he referenced the “clowns” who called him one of the worst defensive bigs in the year. He then went right at Perkins.
Jusuf Nurkic references "clowns" who say he was "the worst defensive player in the league." Asked who he's referring to: "The guy at ESPN. The big fella. Perkins. I guess if he was in the league today he'd be a mascot. And I like him as a person."
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) May 29, 2021
Perkins was known as a solid defender during his NBA career. He was instrumental in helping the Boston Celtics win a championship in 2008, but he makes more headlines with his hot takes as an ESPN analyst than he did while he was playing.
Kanter knows all about having public disagreements with Perkins.
Photo: Frenchieinportland/Wikimedia via CC-by-SA-4.0
