Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins has been limited in practice this past week with a strained right hip muscle, but he is progressing toward a return and might play tonight in Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers, reports John Rohde of the Oklahoman.

“He went through some of the drills [yesterday] in practice,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “He’s taken a step in that direction. We’ll see how he responds after the day’s work [this] morning. We can assess that better.”

Perkins originally sustained the injury over a week ago, when the Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks 103-97 on May 5 to close out a four-game sweep of their first-round series. He’s been listed as day-to-day throughout the team’s week of practices.

The big man will be a game-time decision for Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals tonight. The Thunder host the Lakers at 8:30 p.m. Central at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins was held out of practice today to receive treatment for a strained muscle in his right hip, according to the Associated Press. He is day to day.

Perkins suffered the injury during the Thunder’s 103-97 win Saturday night over the Dallas Mavericks, completing a four-game sweep. Thanks to the sweep, Perkins has some time between now and the next round — the Thunder won’t start the Western Conference semifinals until at least Saturday.

“He’s going to do everything to put himself in a position to play,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “If that happens, great. If it doesn’t, we have to make adjustments.”

The Thunder will play either the Los Angeles Lakers or Denver Nuggets in round two — the Lakers lead that series 3-1, and they’ll have a chance to finish the deal with Game 5 tonight at 7:30 p.m. Pacific.

Tempers flared last night at American Airlines Arena in Miami, where the Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 98-93, in a battle of two NBA elites. Most notably, Kendrick Perkins drew the Heat’s ire for an emphatic shove of Dwyane Wade — and a day later, Miami’s Udonis Haslem still isn’t happy.

“I think sometimes people just use the TVs and the cameras and the crowd, you know, to put on a show,” Haslem told Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I don’t think [Perkins] is all that he shows out there on the court.

“I think anybody can be a tough guy with a thousand people watching on TV and referees who call fouls and stop the game and different things like that. I don’t seeing him being any tough guy that he puts on the show to be, at all.”

Perkins earned his 12th technical foul of the season for his skirmish with Wade. The NBA begins issuing one-game suspensions after tech No. 13.

Perkins’ animosity with Wade, Haslem and the Heat goes way back — the Thunder big man was also a member of the Boston Celtics team that got chippy with the Heat in the first round of the 2010 Eastern Conference playoffs.

Miami Heat star LeBron James refused to apologize to Oklahoma City Thunder big man Kendrick Perkins for tweeting about Blake Griffin’s dunk over the center, according to ESPN.

“I would never apologize about anything like that when I’m connecting to my fans,” James said to ESPN’s Bill Simmons on Wednesday after Perkins told Yahoo! Sports of how he feels about LeBron.

After watching Blake’s dunk over Perkins in the Jan.30 game between the Clippers and the Celtics, James tweeted:

Dunk of the Year!! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!! Wow!! I guess I'm #2 now. Move over #6

—
LeBron James (@KingJames) January 31, 2012

Irritated by the Heats star’s comments, Perkins fired back by telling Yahoo! Sports: “You don’t see Kobe tweeting. You don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you… I just feel (James) is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him.”

Along with finding himself on Griffin’s highlight reel, Perkins and the Thunder also lost the Jan.30 game 112-100.  Perkins only totaled two points in the game.

After his Earth-shaking dunk last week over Kendrick Perkins, Blake Griffin drew near-universal praise for his athletic prowess, and with good reason. Even LeBron James, perhaps the early leader in the clubhouse for “Dunker of the Year,” had to show some love for the L.A. Clippers’ star.

Dunk of the Year!! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!! Wow!! I guess I'm #2 now. Move over #6

—
LeBron James (@KingJames) January 31, 2012

But only one guy had a negative thing to say, and unsurprisingly it was Perkins, the Oklahoma City Thunder center victimized by the epic slam. Perk ripped into LeBron for celebrating Griffin, pulling no punches in an interview with Marc Spears from Yahoo! Sports.

“You don’t see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting,” Perkins said. “You don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you. At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play.

“They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2. I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him.”

LeBron may be the 18,000-point scorer, the eight-time NBA All-Star and the two-time MVP, but Perkins has him on championship rings, one to zero. You can decide for yourself whose side to take.

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant was not impressed with Blake Griffin’s dunk over teammate Kendrick Perkins, according to ESPN.

“I wasn’t surprised because Blake is a poster child,” Durant said. “He dunks the ball a lot and makes spectacular plays. If it wasn’t against us, maybe I’d say it was a good play, but it was against us, so it was a bad play. I have nothing against Blake, don’t get me wrong. But it was against us, so I’ve got to stick up for my teammate.”

Perkins, the victim of Griffin’s highflying dunk, expressed his opinion saying to reporters, “It was a layup, I think. He threw the ball in and got fouled and made his free throw. … I really wasn’t impressed.”

Griffin had 22 points in the 112-100 victory Monday night over the Thunder in L.A.  The win snapped the Thunder’s four-game winning streak.

The Thunder hold the division lead in the Northwest with a 16-4 record while the Clippers are leading the Pacific Division at 12-6.  The two meet again on March 21 at Oklahoma City.