Oklahoma City Thunder: More from Kendrick Perkins

The Celtics were in town Sunday, and it was fun. For a lot of reasons.

The classic green uniforms – though the white trim is much better than the gold the Celts wore Sunday. The history. The tradition. And the personality. The Celtics have personality.

Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins (5) defends against Boston’s Kevin Garnett (5) during the NBA game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 10, 2013. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman

Boston’s Doc Rivers might be the best NBA coach to talk to. He’s a great coach, no doubt, but he has fun, too. Jabbers with friends and foes alike, be it refs or players. “No retired players! No retired players!” he barked at Derek Fisher as the ancient one squatted to check into the game.

But Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are good talkers, too. Not necessarily funny. Not necessarily provocative. But they answer questions without apparent corporate spin.

Anyway, no surprise that the best Thunder talkers are Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison and Derek Fisher. Fish and Collison played many NBA seasons pre-Sam Presti; Perk was reared a Celtic.

After the Thunder’s 91-79 victory Sunday, I asked Perkins what was going on with his team-high five assists.

“You surprised?” Perkins said with a hint of a smile. “No. I ain’t going say that. Shouldn’t surprise you. You been watching me for awhile.”

Gran Torino is a polarizing player. His obvious lack of value against the Heat has made fans oblivious to his value against most NBA teams. Including the Spurs, the Grizzlies, the Clippers, the Lakers.

Perkins was tremendous against the Celtics, as I wrote for my Monday column, which you can read here. Kevin Garnett made just five of 19 shots.

“I was just trying to keep a body on him,” Perk said. “He had some good looks. I just wanted to contest all of ‘em.”