You just have to love Perk. First there was his work ethic that helped to make him into a well sculpted muscular center from a slightly puffy high school kid. He works harder than just about anyone else in the league. When he was fouling too much he watched film until he pinpointed what he was doing wrong.

"It seems like we've got too many chiefs, not enough Indians," said Perkins. "That's the best way I can put it. Everybody with their own agenda, instead of sticking with the team and winning.

"You've got to do your role to help the team win and, in the end, everybody gets a piece of the pie. You can't really go on how many shot attempts you get or what your stats look like because you can't win like that. Like Shaq [O'Neal] said, his best games are when he starts forgetting about the stats. Lose yourself in the team and we win games. Let the game come to you. That's including me, the team as a whole.

"I ain't trying to single anybody out. It's everybody as a team. Everybody needs to go home, watch film, and see where they messed up. I'm not pointing a finger at who did this or what somebody else did wrong. Just go watch yourself and see what you did wrong. That's where we get better. As long as we keep pointing the finger, being sensitive every time coach says something to us, we can't win."