Perkins was the starting center when the Celtics' Big Three first came together and won the NBA championship. He relied on his physical strength and excellent interior defensive ability to make a name for himself in the league.

However, his height of only 2.08 meters also limits his development potential in the NBA to a certain extent.

It can only be said that Perkins is an inside player with distinctive characteristics, equivalent to a senior inside blue-collar with excellent defensive ability.

When the Thunder traded for Perkins and renewed his contract with a four-year, $34.5 million contract, they took advantage of Perkins' excellent defensive ability and his experience as the starting center of the Celtics championship team.

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In the Thunder, there are many talented players on the outside who can complete the offense. Perkins' role in the team is very simple, that is, he only needs to do a good job of defense and rebounding, and occasionally pick up frontcourt rebounds on the offensive end.

Just score points or eat the pie.

Especially this season, with the addition of rookie post player Adams, who is also good at contributing on the defensive end, he has become the post player that the Thunder wants to cultivate. Moreover, Adams is taller. Although he still seems to be a big player on the big stage of the NBA.

He is immature, but in the eyes of Thunder executives, his own children are obviously more worthy of training than Perkins.

Although Perkins is still the Thunder's starting center choice this season, as a rookie, Adams' time on the bench is actually about the same as Perkins.

Anyway, in the Thunder's game, there is no need for the center to implement any complicated tactical system arrangements, so Adams, who is younger and more impactful, can better cooperate with the Thunder's perimeter offensive style in the game.

Adams' task in the game is to protect the rebounds and strive for offensive rebounds when shooting from the outside. The rest is to take advantage of his physical strength and run back and forth on the court.

What Perkins mainly does now is to use his rich game experience to contribute defensively to the team at the opening and final critical moments.

However, in this game, since the second young player Westbrook is not available, Perkins was originally going to become a member of the Thunder's offensive system in this game.

Not to mention, Perkins was replaced on the court by an obviously thin rookie.

When Durant takes a proper rest, the Thunder's main perimeter offensive point is still Reggie Jackson holding the ball.

Reggie is the biggest beneficiary of Westbrook not playing. In the past, when the two young men were together, Reggie didn't have as many shooting opportunities as he does now.

Although the shooting rate is not very impressive, Reggie's characteristic is that he dares to shoot and hit.

Although what the coach expected was to pass the ball inside, allowing Perkins to use his weight to attack the opponent's defensive weakness Zhang Feng.

But Reggie had the ball in his hands, but he didn't care. If he had a chance, he would take action without hesitation.

From the three-point line at a 45-degree angle on the right, he accelerated to break through. After driving away the defender, he made an emergency stop, leaned back slightly and shot directly. Unfortunately, Reggie was doing a superstar move, but his hit rate was not guaranteed.

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The ball bounced directly out of the frame, leaving Perkins stuck in the paint with Zhang Feng for a long time, trying to reach an excellent offensive area, and all his efforts were in vain.

Instead, Zhang Feng, who was squeezed behind him, turned around after Reggie took the shot, blocked Perkins, and steadily grabbed the backboard.

The subsequent offense organized by the Trail Blazers still handed the ball to Lillard for pick-and-roll.

The Thunder's double-team defensive tactic was implemented very thoroughly.

Sefolosha went directly from behind Zhang Feng and continued to pounce in Lillard's direction, while Perkins went directly up and made a big delay.

At the same time, Ibaka also retreated to the three-second zone to guard the basket and prevent Lillard or others from taking advantage of the opportunity to cut into the basket.

Zhang Feng is standing in the penalty area, with an absolute open opportunity. The Thunder's goal is to lock down Lillard and force him to pass the ball first.

Sefolosha grasps the distance very well. Even if he rushes towards Lillard, he is in the middle of the line between Lillard and Zhang Feng. He can not only interfere with Lillard's passing line, but also can interfere with Lillard's passing line at any time.

Turn around and complete the pursuit of Zhang Feng.

Lillard did not pass the ball immediately, but held the ball and tried to bypass Perkins' defense, but Perkins was too wide, which caused a big delay. Even though Lillard came out in a circle,

But Sefolosha had already arrived at the defensive position in time. Lillard did not choose to play hard this time. Seeing that Sefolosha had left the range to defend Zhang Feng, Lillard jumped up and passed the ball.

The ball was thrown to Zhang Feng.

In private training with Lillard, Zhang Feng became accustomed to Lillard's powerful passing. He quickly adjusted after receiving the ball and completed a jump shot directly in the penalty area before Perkins came over to defend diagonally.

The ball went hollow into the net, and Zhang Feng scored his first two points of the game.

Originally, Zhang Feng's psychological quality was good, but Perkins had neither height nor bounce. His muscular body was of no use when defending Zhang Feng's jump shot.

Therefore, Zhang Feng completely regarded Perkins' defense as nothing, and he only needed to make his own shooting movements.

Zhang Feng's shooting also stimulated Perkins, a member of the Celtics championship team that year. He also wanted to regain the field on Zhang Feng's head. He took one step outside the three-second zone and made more aggressive moves.

position, and finally relied on his own momentum to let Reggie pass the ball obediently.

After receiving the ball, Perkins first used his back force to lean against Zhang Feng, and was always paying attention to the help of other opponents' players.

However, the Trail Blazers players are just staring at the inside and have no intention of coming to help defend. When Perkins dribbles the ball and makes a strong attack, they don't know who will suddenly come over and try to help defend and steal the ball.

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After observing for a while, Perkins directly exerted his strength, leaned against Zhang Feng, and shot the ball toward the penalty area.

Zhang Feng was behind Perkins, exerting all his strength to resist.

Perkins dribbled the ball, and the ball bounced back to his hand very well. Perkins also felt that he had entered his attack zone after squeezing into this position.

Dribble the ball again, and then directly hit with force? Or turn around and hit the other side?

Let’s fight hard!

Perkins's muscles were tense and ready to be beaten.

but.

"Where's my ball?"

I didn’t even get the ball, but I still hit the ball!

Just when Perkins was dribbling for the last time, Zhang Feng suddenly took a small step to the side and back when Perkins was trying to find a counterattack. Although this action only slightly affected Perkins' balance. For professional

For players, with strong body control, they will not easily lose their balance because of the opponent's "removal of the stool".

But Zhang Feng started very quickly at the same time. Taking advantage of his height and long arms, Zhang Feng dived directly from the side to reach the ball.

Although it is impossible to directly steal the ball, Perkins' attack can be destroyed by hitting the ball.

Perkins also didn't expect that Zhang Feng would "remove the stool" and gamble at the same time. When he reacted, the ball had already been touched by Zhang Feng.

Lillard was originally preparing to help defend, but he immediately reacted and caught Zhang Feng's shot and quickly counterattacked.

A one-stop breakthrough, although Sefolosha barely kept up the defense, but facing Lillard who was already starting at full speed, with no one guarding the inside, he had no choice but to give up at the end. He did not dare to give Lillard a chance.

A chance to tie 2+1.
Chapter completed!