According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins had a partially torn groin muscle throughout the final three rounds of the playoffs. Talk about toughness. Groin injuries are terribly painful, and to bang down low on top of that with other NBA big men, including Tim Duncan, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, is nothing short of impressive.
Looking at Perkins’ numbers, the injury clearly explains his drop in playing time throughout the playoffs. His 23.4 minutes per game in the NBA Finals was down from his 26.8 regular season average; his 41.6 field goal percentage was a significant drop from 48.9 during the regular season; and, most importantly, Perk’s 6.6 regular season rebound average hardly dropped in the playoffs, finishing up at 6.2.
Perkins is one tough dude – no one has ever questioned that before. And, even though his numbers did drop, no one can say he was ineffective during OKC’s Finals run. Sure, Chris Bosh blew by him a few times, but that’s to be expected; Perk is a low post defender. We’ll just give him a hearty pat on the back for being tougher than any of us could ever be and hope he gets well soon.
What are some of the greatest moments of players playing through injuries in the playoffs?
Follow Dylan on Twitter at @DylanTMurphy.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
