For parts of five seasons, Kendrick Perkins was teammates with Kevin Durant with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Perkins also played 17 games with Kyrie Irving on the Cleveland Cavaliers, making him as good a source as any when it comes to the psyche of the Brooklyn Nets' two most important players.
On Postgame Live Saturday after the Nets lost 109-103, falling into a 3-0 hole against the Boston Celtics, Perkins didn't mince words with what he saw from Durant and Irving as Brooklyn moved to the brink.
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"The Celtics have snatched the Nets' soul," Perkins said. "They're punking them, they punked KD, they done made Kevin Durant quit. He had no interest whatsoever in playing this game. He was not engaged."
It didn't end there.
"Some people were saying that KD and Kyrie were the most skilled duo of all time," Perkins continued. "What did we just witness? We witnessed the Boston Celtics make both of those guys quit."
It seems unfathomable that Durant took only 11 shots from the field in 46 minutes of action on Saturday night, not to mention only two free throws, but the numbers would definitely seem to back up what Perk proclaimed. Durant shot 6 of 11 from the field, and 2 for 3 from 3-point range, so it's not as though he was in any sort of funk in that regard.
Irving, meanwhile, went 6 of 17 from the field, missing all seven of his attempts from 3-point range. He and Durant each finished with 16 points, combining for less than Jayson Tatum's game-high 39.
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The performance was enough for Perkins to once again declare he has the Celtics going all the way.
"If you can do that to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, you can do that to anyone else in the NBA," Perkins said.
Note: Games 4-6 of the Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics series will be aired on NBC Sports Boston and can also be streamed on NBCSportsBoston.com or with the MyTeams App, which you can download below.