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Thunder center Kendrick Perkins acknowledged Sunday that he played with a partially torn groin throughout parts of the postseason, but he said the injury wasn't much of an issue since the second round. “My groin hasn't bothered me since about the Lakers series,” Perkins said. “It's gotten a whole lot better. It's probably been about a month and a half now. It feels a whole lot better. It won't affect me (this summer) at all.” Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins 

Royce Young: Scott Brooks confirms that Perk played the last three rounds with a partially torn groin. Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Injuries, Scott Brooks 

Adrian Wojnarowski: Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins played the final three playoff rounds with a partially torn groin, league sources tell Y! Sports. Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Injuries 

Kendrick Perkins said Wednesday he wasn't criticizing Thunder coach Scott Brooks after Game 4 when he questioned Brooks' rotation of players. “I'll roll with Coach Brooks all day, so it wasn't nothing directed at him,” Perkins said the day after Oklahoma City's 104-98 loss gave the Heat a 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals. “It wasn't nothing to that nature.” Oklahoman

Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Scott Brooks 

On Thursday, Perkins attempted to clarify his remarks, explaining “all of its frustration.” “At the end of the day, we've got a group of guys who are all capable of playing well and making plays,” he said. “At the end of the day, Coach is trying to coach and win games.” Oklahoman

Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Scott Brooks 

Royce Young: Perk was clearly a little uncomfortable speaking with the media today. He used the phrase "at the end of the day" 22 times. Yes, I counted. Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins 

Kendrick Perkins: "I just don't understand why we start out the first quarter the way we did, with the lineup that we had, and all of a sudden we change and adjust to what they had going on. So they won the last three quarters, and that's what happened." Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins 

How difficult is it to get LeBron James in foul trouble? Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, rarely at loss for words, responded with a wince, a sigh and a pause. ‘‘Do I have to answer that question?’’ he said. I think you just did, I told him. ‘‘I don’t know, man. I don’t know.’’ But it’s a tougher chore than against most players in the NBA, right, Perk? Another sigh. Another pause. ‘‘I’d rather not answer that question,’’ Perkins said. Chicago Sun-Times

Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron James, Kendrick Perkins 

Tom Haberstroh: Kendrick Perkins on Thunder's inability to get him the ball when Battier defends him. "It's disturbing." Twitter

Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Shane Battier 

"We’ve got to understand that over there in the locker room, there’s a team that really wants it," Perkins grumbled. "They’ve got a couple guys over there who want this. … They want it. Nothing’s going to be given to us, we’ve got to go take it. We were just careless and sloppy. … We’ve got to know that we are in the Finals. "We’ve got to trust each other. Tonight, we got back to 'I' basketball, the individual shooting over two and three people." Yahoo! Sports

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins 

"We've just got to make sure we realize that we're all in the Finals," said Perkins, who's been here before and knows what was squandered in Game 3. The Thunder lost the game, 91-85, allowing the Heat to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series, but they lost so much more than that. "Guys might not get this chance ever again in their life," Perkins said. "You've got to take advantage of it." CBSSports.com

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins 

Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins said he has talked with former Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett and believes the 17-year veteran wants to return to the NBA next season. Boston Globe

Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Garnett 

“I feel like if he does return to basketball, I think that that would be the team,’’ Perkins said of the Celtics. “I heard Kevin say a few times that he wouldn’t want to play for anybody but Doc, so it will be interesting to see. I still think he got a lot more years in him. He got a lot of love for the game and it would be hard to see Kevin walk away from the game right now.’’ Boston Globe

Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Garnett 

When asked if he sensed Garnett wanted to keep playing, Perkins said, “I do. I think he found some kind of new life, what do you call it? The fountain of youth, just how he’s been playing over these last couple of games in the playoffs and in the regular season, he’s almost a 20-10 guy". Boston Globe

Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Garnett 

Thunder center Kendrick Perkins said Heat-Thunder definitely is not a rivalry, but guard Thabo Sefolosha said: “I think we don’t like that team, and we’ve got to play angry. I think that’s what we’re going to do.” Miami Herald

Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha 

But promises do exist -- Olshey said when he was working for Tellem, they received promises for Shelden Williams, Marcus Banks, Kendrick Perkins, Kedrick Brown and Robert Swift. Sometimes, the promises don't work out -- Swift in 2004 got a promise from Boston at No. 14, but he was chosen by Seattle at No. 12. Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Draft, Kendrick Perkins, Neil Olshey, Shelden Williams, Robert Swift, Marcus Banks 

Oklahoma City basketball fans speculate about Kendrick Perkins' scowl, but Dean Taylor will guarantee you that's just his game face. Standing guard outside the home team's locker room in Chesapeake Energy Arena since before even the Thunder played here, the 71- year-old Shriner finds it hard not to get close to the team. Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins 

“They are a bunch of really, really nice men — all of them,” he said several hours before tipoff of Game 2. “You see them out on the court, like Perk with his scowl, but really he's just a teddy bear.” Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins 

Thunder center Kendrick Perkins was asked on Wednesday to compare and contrast the personalities and coaching styles of Boston's Doc Rivers, whom Perkins won an NBA championship with in 2008, and OKC head man Scott Brooks. Perkins pointed out Brooks' desire to keep learning and overall humbleness as the coach's unique qualities. That even trickles down to Brooks' ride. “He drives a (Toyota) Corolla,” Perkins said. “I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, but what NBA coach that you know (would) do that? Seriously. He's so down to Earth, it's crazy. “I think that's just the main thing that sticks out about him, he's wanting to learn and just staying down to Earth and just trying to get better.' Oklahoman

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins, Scott Brooks 

Marc Stein: Best-off day revelation, though, was Perk telling us Scotty Brooks drives a Corolla ... even though ESPN sources say it's actually a Prius Twitter

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kendrick Perkins