Q: It’s a bad sign for Brooks that Russell Westbrook’s brother tweeted during Game 3 that OKC needs a new coach, right?
It’s certainly not a GOOD sign. Another not-so-great sign: Our ESPN comrade Brian Windhorst tweeting during Game 3, “Grizzlies know all of OKC’s plays. When the 1st option is taken away the Thunder just shut down their offense.” Well, that sounds like a problem. You know what else was a problem? My reaction to that tweet was, “The Thunder have plays?” Either way, we’ve clearly hit a fork-in-the-road moment for OKC’s franchise — similar to Miami falling behind 2-1 in the East semis to Indy, soaking in all the “They might be done” buzz, then laying the smack down (and then some) with LeBron and Wade’s otherworldly 70-27-15 combo game. Even though Wade was brilliant in that game, that was also the day when LeBron gently grabbed the steering wheel from Wade (and never relinquished it). I love watching Durant and Westbrook, but Westbrook’s overcompetitiveness — the trait you want 99 percent of the time — actually hurts Oklahoma City because he’s saying “I GOT THIS!” way too much.
Put it this way: At some point, Michael Jordan never had to worry about Scottie Pippen saying, “Hey, everybody, I got this!” When you have the greatest and most efficient scorer of an entire generation — and that’s Durant right now, by every calculation — do you really want one of his teammates saying “I got this!” just as frequently? It’s starting to feel more and more like Durant and Westbrook might need their own teams. But that’s the best thing about Game 4: They could flip that narrative with one monster game in Memphis. Do they have their own everyone-needs-to-shut-the-eff-up 70-27-15 lurking in them? Welcome to this weekend’s most fascinating subplot … well, other than Indiana having basketball’s first-ever collective nervous breakdown
From Simmons mailbag and I agree that besides Brooks being a shitty coach the roles of Durant-Westbrook isn't defined. Brooks needs to sit them both down and stress that down the stretch this is Duran'ts team. No if's and or buts about it.
Comments
It’s certainly not a GOOD sign. Another not-so-great sign: Our ESPN comrade Brian Windhorst tweeting during Game 3, “Grizzlies know all of OKC’s plays. When the 1st option is taken away the Thunder just shut down their offense.” Well, that sounds like a problem. You know what else was a problem? My reaction to that tweet was, “The Thunder have plays?” Either way, we’ve clearly hit a fork-in-the-road moment for OKC’s franchise — similar to Miami falling behind 2-1 in the East semis to Indy, soaking in all the “They might be done” buzz, then laying the smack down (and then some) with LeBron and Wade’s otherworldly 70-27-15 combo game. Even though Wade was brilliant in that game, that was also the day when LeBron gently grabbed the steering wheel from Wade (and never relinquished it). I love watching Durant and Westbrook, but Westbrook’s overcompetitiveness — the trait you want 99 percent of the time — actually hurts Oklahoma City because he’s saying “I GOT THIS!” way too much.
Put it this way: At some point, Michael Jordan never had to worry about Scottie Pippen saying, “Hey, everybody, I got this!” When you have the greatest and most efficient scorer of an entire generation — and that’s Durant right now, by every calculation — do you really want one of his teammates saying “I got this!” just as frequently? It’s starting to feel more and more like Durant and Westbrook might need their own teams. But that’s the best thing about Game 4: They could flip that narrative with one monster game in Memphis. Do they have their own everyone-needs-to-shut-the-eff-up 70-27-15 lurking in them? Welcome to this weekend’s most fascinating subplot … well, other than Indiana having basketball’s first-ever collective nervous breakdown
From Simmons mailbag and I agree that besides Brooks being a shitty coach the roles of Durant-Westbrook isn't defined. Brooks needs to sit them both down and stress that down the stretch this is Duran'ts team. No if's and or buts about it.