Dubs in-depth: Kendrick Perkins says Warriors lose 2016 series if he was on Thunder

It may have been four years ago, but it is still just as funny today.

Former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins said that if he was on the 2016 Oklahoma City Thunder team, they would have beaten the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs.

Really, he said that. I don’t know what difference Perkins could have made other than maybe yelling at players and sharing his knowledge of how to win a championship like he did with the 2008 Boston Celtics.

Seriously though, this was a laughable comment. Perkins sat on the bench throughout the 2018 NBA Finals when Golden State swept Cleveland and clearly didn’t a damn thing.

Looking back at the 2016 series, OKC was up 3-1 and it looked like the 73-9 Dubs wouldn’t have a chance to defend their title.

Steph Curry dropped 31 in Game 5, leading the Warriors to a 96-88 win, cutting the series deficit to 3-2.

Game 6 is one of my favorite NBA games of all-time. Golden State was down by eight going into the fourth quarter. That’s when Klay Thompson went off.

Thompson scored 19 points over the final 12 minutes, finishing with an NBA playoff record 11 3-pointers and 41 points, leading the Dubs to a 108-101 win.

This is still beautiful to watch.

In Game 7, the Warriors outscored the Thunder by 17 in the third quarter and won 96-88 to advance to the NBA Finals.

I don’t mind Perkins as an analyst, but he makes absolutely zero difference in that series.

Let’s share a collective laugh at Perks’ expense.

Onto some more links:

I wrote about Maverick Carter’s dumb comments about Steph Curry’s defense. The two-time MVP joined Chris Strachan for an interview and reminded everyone why people appreciate him. (h/t Chris Montano)

The debates continue on who would have won a series between the 2016-17 Warriors and 1995-96 Bulls. Dubs legend Chris Mullin did a podcast with NBC Sports and shared his opinion on the matter.

The “We Believe Warriors” were one of the most fun teams of the last 20 years. Head coach Don Nelson, who led the team to a huge first-round upset of the Dallas Mavericks did a podcast on that squad with Warriors.com and shared what it was like coaching that team.

Kevin Durant’s departure from the Bay Area has been scrutinized for many reasons. His agent, Rich Kleiman says people who blame the media for KD leaving are wrong. (NBC Sports)

A good read from Ben Dowsett on how the league has changed since Michael Jordan’s Bulls dominated the 1990s. His breakdown on Forbes looks at how the game has evolved since the “hand check” era.