Kendrick Perkins wants to guard Rajon Rondo when Thunder face the Celtics
 

Plenty of story lines are in play when the Thunder face the Celtics, as they will Friday night in Boston, due to the 2010 deal between the two teams that saw Kendrick Perkins and Jeff Green trade places.

Both players were thought at the time to be untouchable members of each team’s core, with Perkins being the bruiser on a championship-contender, and Green being a piece that meshed perfectly with the rest of OKC’s young talent, who was on its journey to become one.

Green doesn’t seem that interested in facing his former team, preferring instead to focus on the opportunity he has in Boston. And Perkins? He just wants to have some fun with it.

From John Rohde of the Oklahoman:

One of Rondo’s closest friends is Thunder center and ex-teammate Kendrick Perkins, who has defended the other team’s point guard on occasion this season in hopes of taking opponents out of their normal offensive flow.
Asked if Perkins was going to check Rondo tonight, Brooks smiled and said: “Absolutely. Perk is begging me to do that. That would be fun. I’m sure the fans would love to see Perk getting down in his defensive stance, pressuring the ball. I don’t know how fun that would be for me watching it.”

We’ll see how serious both Perkins and Brooks are about trying to make this happen.

While Perkins has defended point guards this season, Rondo is far above average, and would likely have his way in that matchup, while making sure to toy with Perkins in the process.

You could see it happening on a switch off of a high pick and roll or something, but lining up Perkins to check Rondo in a straight up man-to-man defensive situation — even for just a single possession — would be basketball suicide.

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