Kendrick Perkins channeled his inner Larry David when explaining his side of courtside confrontation with Warriors star Steph Curry during the 2018 NBA Finals.
A plainclothes Perkins was seated on the Cleveland Cavaliers' bench during Game 2 at Oracle Arena. He didn't play in that game, or any other during The Finals, but jawed with Curry at the end of the third quarter after the guard threw up a desperation 3-pointer as time expired.
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"First of all, I don't know what I did wrong," Perkins recalled on ESPN's "Hoop Streams" on Thursday. "Right? I'm sitting down. I didn't move, I didn't do nothing. I'm sitting down, chilling, right? I'm minding my business. We're getting beat, he's doing his thing.
"He said that I tried to trip him. I'm like, 'Bro, I didn't move my legs. I didn't stick my leg out. I was sitting the same way the whole time. What are you talking about?' And I was just like -- you know what I told him? I said, 'Steph, man. Chill out, man. For real, before I make you smell my cologne.' "
Curry told reporters after the game that their argument was "much ado about nothing," but multiple Warriors reportedly were "disturbed" that Perkins didn't move his legs.
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Perkins insisted he didn't try to injure Curry.
"I go to extreme measures to try to win, but I would never try to take anyone out," Perkins said Thursday.
Of course, neither did David, who was similarly sprawled in an iconic episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
In a second-season entry simply titled "Shaq," the fictional Larry David stretched his legs out while sitting courtside at Staples Center. Then-Los Angeles Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal walked by, tripping over David's legs and getting injured.
Things didn't work out for O'Neal, but they did work out for David. In the episode, he becomes a pariah in LA and fulfills his lifelong dream of not having to interact with people.
The same couldn't be said for Perkins or the Cavaliers, however. Curry made an NBA Finals-record nine 3-pointers that night -- including all five he took in the fourth quarter -- as the Warriors cakewalked to a 122-103 victory and a Finals sweep over the Cavs.
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Perkins said Thursday his legs were in Curry's path as Perkins sunk in his chair due to his disappointment with how Cleveland ended the third quarter. Curry backed up into Perkins' legs, but he didn't appear at risk of tripping over them.
And thus, Perkins and Curry weren't destined to follow in David and O'Neal's fictional footsteps. Having said that, Curry and the Warriors were pretty, pretty, pretty good that night.
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