Shaq and Perk have gone toe to toe a few times... and there's been some tension in those matchups. And when Shaq didn't mention Perk earlier in one of his quotes... everyone started wondering if there was going to be some sort of beef.
Well... Shaq ended all that talk today:
"Perkins is a very tough defender... probably one of the best big defenders in the league.. and it was only on-the-court battles -slash- marketing. You know, he's a guy who's not going to back down and you know I'm not going to back down, so if anything it was good for TV. But now being on the same team, I will give him all of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the past 18 years. Have we had battles? Of course we have. Have we had good battles and bad battles? Yes we have, but that's all over now because we're teammates."
I couldn't possibly think of a better answer.
Couple of other notable quotes regarding teammates:
On Rondo last year: "Rondo just took his game to a whole new superstar level"
On Paul Pierce, when asked if he's as good a scorer as Wade, LeBron and Kobe: "Yes, definitely. He's got that herky-jerkyness that Nick Van Exel used to have... he has that step back move that's unstoppable... you just don't know what he's gonna do and when he's gonna do it."
On KG: "KG has always been one of my young favorite players"
.... to which Doc responded "And KG and young... those words haven't been said together in a long time... so you're happy right now Kevin."
KG was sitting in the upper level at Health Point. He actually flew back from Hawaii for this... which is amazing. That's leadership right there.
Boston Herald photo