The first thing the Tuesday Morning Point Guards have jumped on has been the lack of coaching that went on in this game, which made for a sloppy overtime period. Now, I agree there were some horrific moments in this game, but when two teams play 63 minutes, it is obvious there are going to be a lot of flaws for us to nitpick. Additionally, Lionel Hollins versus Scott Brooks is not like Phil Jackson versus Chuck Daly. Hollins made an obvious error by putting O.J. Mayo out there to foul when he had five, and don't even get me started with Mr. Brooks.
I tweeted yesterday that Brooks is the Ned Yost of the NBA. The guy is absolutely clueless. There is no offense, and he has no idea how to manage his big guys. I understand Serge Ibaka's ankle is weak and had five fouls, but why did Ibaka only get in the game after Kendrick Perkins fouled out in the third OT? It makes zero sense to me. At least rotate him for defensive help, but BrooksYost babied his ankle way too much. The other problem with Brooks' style is he forgot to tell Russell Westbrook to pass the ball.
Westbrook had 40 points, but it was a forced effort. He did not let the points come to him, instead Westbrook decided that he would have the ball at all times attempting to score each time down. He ignored the fact that he had Kevin Durant on his team who by the way, only shot 20 times compared to Westbrook's insanely high 33. Not to mention, Westbrook played six minutes less than KD making that number even more ridiculous.
The only fair defense of what happened last night would be Durant facing guys like Shane Battier and Tony Allen, two guys who are lock down defenders. Even so, I think KD can make things happen against those individuals. Durant not touching the ball for nine minutes is inexcusable. Westbrook's style of play reminded me of Allen Iverson or Stephon Marbury. It was finally clear last night that Westbrook wants no part of being the second banana of this team.
I would like to see Westbrook dish it off to James Harden or Durant, and start to move around the court to create a better shot. Westbrook has this theory about himself that he can do similar things to Derrick Rose, which he sure as hell cannot. Oklahoma City isn't going to win a ton of games with Westbrook throwing up garbage at the rim. The worst thing about this all is that Brooks cannot handle these personalities so if this napalms on the Thunder, they will be split up like the Minnesota Timberwolves did back in the day when Marbury didn't realize his role of number 2.
-Charlie.
