Oklahoma City Thunder: Kendrick Perkins, OKC's defensive anchor, shows he can score

Brooks spoke at length about Perkins afterward and is maintaining the same expectations since his arrival in OKC.

“He had just a great shooting night,” Brooks said. “I've said many times before, we don't judge Perk on his points. We judge Perk on his activity and his leadership and his ability to anchor the defense. He made a couple of jump shots, he made a runner, but he's been making that the last couple three or four weeks. It was a balanced scoring attack. Everybody participated.

“Perk works every day, guys. He anchors our defense and he takes pride in it. There's no question that everybody feels good that they get opportunities to score, but he doesn't go home thinking he had a bad game if he only scored four or five points. We don't allow him to think that way. He's one of our emotional leaders.”