Angry methed-out cat is here to symbolize the Nugget's play.
"I'd like to formally apologize for screwing this pooch harder than a Bangkok masseuse."
Anyone remember the debate from the beginning of the season of who was better, Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook? It’s a solid enough debate, really. They are two of the best in the business going to the hole. They both only recently added defense and perimeter shooting to their games. They are, very nearly at least, the same player. They are cut from similar cloth, made up of the same DNA. The only thing left to debate really is basketball IQ. We have no idea what Derrick Rose would do if he was playing alongside the league’s reigning two time scoring champion. But tonight, we did see exactly what Westbrook looks like.
And it definitely isn’t pretty.
But for a moment let us look at why it turned into a clutch situation in the first place. I present for your inspection the Denver nuggets, their pride on the line, knowing that one more game ends the season in which they lost Carmelo Anthony and somehow got better. Make no mistake; straight from the tip they looked like a team that knew that they had nothing to lose, that knew this was the last opportunity to leave everything on the floor and show a great mountain crowd that the loss of ‘Melo is not the death of Denver basketball.
And the focus showed. They had steel in their eyes while Oklahoma seemed to have butterflies in their stomach. Ball movement and active defense were the name of the game early, with Kenyon Martin hitting a couple of mid-range spot up jumpers off of guard penetration, and excellent one-on-one and help defense forcing turnovers, two in the form of travel calls. The Thunder looked very flustered, and Denver would wind up taking the quarter 20-26.
Before the half, we would see the Thunder start to heat up, starting with good bench production from back-up point guard Eric Maynor and beard enthusiast James Harden. Denver would start to slip a little bit, and when KD and Westbrook returned to the floor with 7:00 remaining, they would immediately fuel a run that would leave the score tied 45-all at the half. The telecast would also note a bit of yelling between Westbrook and Durant. We never hear exactly what this is about, but it most likely was due to some turnover trouble. Westbrook would have a bad pass and an offensive foul in the quarter.
The third quarter is where we really see the Nuggets ratchet up the energy to methed-out squirrel levels, and this would continue until about midway through the fourth. The rebounding and fouls in their favor illustrate this. It would also see Denver’s resident crazy person JR Smith and resident rooster Danilo Gallinari up their games, and they would combine to score twelve points in the quarter, and help the Nuggets lead by two going into the last phase of the game.
The fourth quarter was all about running and pushing the tempo as much as humanly possible, and watching I was almost surprised that Ty Lawson, Chris Andersen, or JR didn’t play hard enough for their heart to explode on court. At one point, they would get two offensive rebounds (missing three shots, but still), then force a turnover on one end to set up JR Smith for a three ball on the other end. The lead would be pushed all the way up to 9 before OKC would finally call a time out to try to take the wind out of their jump-shot hitting sails. Westbrook starts to look overzealous into his attempts, though between his hitting a good part of these shots and KD forcing the issue at the basket to get to the line, they manage to pull within two with around four remaining.
Now I am going to stop recap for a moment and just make a list of things Westbrook does wrong during the stretch run:
1. Plows over Ty Lawson, drawing an offensive foul.
2. Goes to the hoop, looking to draw the foul, and when he doesn’t, walks for a moment shaking his head, while Ty Lawson is already up court getting ready to cut baseline and dish to Danilo for three. (Perkins would also be guilty of something similar on the next play.)
3. Rather than moving the ball with about 30 seconds left, chooses to go iso and shoot a contested 3 that everyone in the arena knew was coming.
4. At 7 remaining, fires up a terrible air-ball 3.
5. Fails to even look for KD at all during 3 and 4 on this list.
Now I am not placing all of this loss on Westbrook. He draws a beautiful and-one basket during his stretch, and assists Durant cross-court for three. His is a phenomenal player who does amazing things on the court. If the Thunder make it to the Conference Finals or beyond, Westbrook will be huge reason for that. But he also took thirty shots. As a point guard, on a team featuring Kevin Durant, this is unacceptable.
But I don’t feel he is the only one at fault, which brings us to our-
Key Moment:
An important thing to note is that on what would become Westbrook’s air-ball, Thunder coach Scott Brooks had a timeout, and decided instead to let his young, play-off inexperienced team try to find a three pointer in transition instead. If he draws up a play for Durant instead, maybe a Ray Allen-style stagger screen, then maybe the Thunder hit it and tie, and find a way to pull it out, and I don’t have to spend all night writing an article ripping the decisions of a team and player I actually quite enjoy.
What it Means for Denver:
Just as Ty Lawson said, they need to get ready to give the Thunder hell in the next one. Like I said about the Heat game, 3-0 is an NBA death sentence, but if I had to pick one of the teams facing it to do it, it would be the Nuggets.
What it Means for Oklahoma City:
This is still their series, in all reality. They should be able to take care of business at home, and then turn their focus towards the Grizzlies, who are looking to make my prediction of the Spurs look stupid. If Westbrook can realize that he is not co-owner of the team with Durant, then this group could possibly find themselves in the Finals.
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