The Heat’s 98-93 win over the Thunder on Wednesday didn’t just give us a thrilling game to watch, but it also showed us what may be bubbling into one of the league’s bitter rivalries. Things got a little testy at times: Kendrick Perkins committed a hard foul on Dwyane Wade and moments later Russell Westbrook took down LeBron James on a fast-break dunk attempt. Let’s also not forget about Perkins harshly criticizing LeBron in February for his much-discussed tweet after Perkins had his soul taken away by Blake Griffin on that dunk. LeBron refused to apologize.
On Thursday, the Heat were still buzzing over their big, comeback victory the night before and Udonis Haslem, who apparently took exception to Perkins’ foul on Wade, used a guest spot on WQAM to take a dig at the OKC center.
“I think sometimes people just use the TVs and the cameras and the crowd, you know, to put on a show,” Haslem said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. “I don’t think he’s all that he shows out there on the court.
“I think anybody can be a tough guy with a thousand people watching on TV and referees who call fouls and stop the game and different things like that. I don’t see him being any tough guy that he puts on the show to be, at all.
“If we were playing at the park, I don’t think he’d be doing all that.”
Last I checked, the NBA doesn’t play its games at the park (maybe eventually in some presason gimmick). So as long as Perkins is an enforcer when games are played in arenas — like they all are — it shouldn’t matter if he’s putting on an act. But what do I know? All I know is that a Heat-Thunder pairing would provide one hell of an NBA Finals.
