Cavaliers instigator Kendrick Perkins explains why he flipped bird to Kevin Durant

Sam Amick | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption NBA Finals: Best quotes following Game 3 Here's what the players and coaches had to say following the Golden State Warriors' Game 3 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

CLEVELAND – Kendrick Perkins was done seeing Kevin Durant have the last word.

The two men are the best of friends, having played together for most of five seasons in Oklahoma City before their paths crossed in a different way these past eight days. Durant made the controversial decision to sign with Golden State in the summer of 2016, and now here Perkins is prolonging his career (sort of) with the Cleveland Cavaliers squad that is on the verge of falling to the Warriors for the third time in four Finals tries.

But when Perkins was walking out of the Quicken Loans Arena after Game 3 on Wednesday night, with Durant having decimated all hope of a Cavs comeback with a 43-point, 13-rebound, seven-assist outing for the ages, he just couldn’t stand the sight of his ex-teammate recapping his own greatness. So, in true "Perk" fashion, he flashed the old middle fingers at Durant as he spoke with reporters at the postgame podium.

“Yeah, I flipped him the bird,” Perkins told USA TODAY Sports. “That’s my family, but that was for real.”

Except, of course, that it wasn’t.

You have to know Perkins to understand how this all works.

The 33-year-old big man is nothing if not unfiltered, as evidenced yet again by these past few weeks in which he has made all sorts of no-love-lost headlines despite not playing one minute. He had postgame beef with rapper/Toronto Raptors ambassador Drake after Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, then had another dust-up from the bench with Warriors point guard Steph Curry during Game 2 of the Finals. But this interaction with Durant was different.

“Yeah, that’s my brother,” Perkins said. “Me and KD, we talk at least every day or every other day, all throughout the year. That’s family, man. Obviously we’re competing right now. He wants to win. I want to win. You’re going to always have that competitive nature going against each other.”

Perkins’ competitive side, in other words, was not happy with what Durant did to his team.

“To be honest, I’d seen (Durant’s Game 3 performance) coming,” Perkins said. “Me being around him, me being a brother of his, I know him from playing with him for four and a half years, and I’d seen it coming in the first quarter.

“When he hit his first four shots, and none of them hit the rim and they were all from different areas, I was like, ‘Man, we can’t continue to let him play like this.’ He kept them in the game, big shot after big shot.”

It was something Perkins had seen so many times during their Oklahoma City days.

The irony of it all is that Perkins is as big a Durant backer as you’ll find, which is saying something at this particular moment. After his Game 3 outing, the discussion about his controversial decision to form a Golden State super team was front and center again. But Perkins, middle-finger moment notwithstanding, is ecstatic for his friend.

“He did the best thing for KD,” Perkins said. “It ain’t about doing what the next man feels (you should do), or whatever. He wanted to win a championship, and he’s doing it in great fashion.

“He chose the best route for himself, and it’s working out great for him. I’m not mad at KD at all for the decision he made. He made the decision, and I was happy for him. I’m still happy for him.”

As Perkins sees it, Durant’s legacy will hold up just fine over time so long as the Warriors keep winning titles.

“Think about this, he’s led the league in scoring (four times), he got the MVP, he makes the All-Star team every year,” Perkins said. “So at the end of the day, why not win? The way this (league) is going now, to me you get judged off of championships. Why not stack ‘em up? I’m happy for him. I don’t give a damn what nobody says. Win them rings.

“He’s still the same, humble guy. He ain’t caught up into all the BS. He’s still the same Kevin who wears the sweatsuits to the game, humble, ain’t flashy at all. Don’t care about money or none of that. He just plays basketball. He loves basketball. You can’t do nothing but love the guy. If you don’t, you’re a hater.”

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