You know when you break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, and always wonder if you made the right decision or not? And then he or she gets married before you do, and everything looks really great for them while you're suffering? That's essentially the Thunder/Harden dilemma. James Harden, in the eyes of many, should win MVP. In Oklahoma City today, the best player on the floor was James Harden as he led his Houston Rockets to a 115-112 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Westbrook dropped another triple double. On 29 shots Westbrook put up 40 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. James Harden had 41 points, six assists and six rebounds, while looking like the better player throughout the course of the game. After Oklahoma City stormed back to tie the game late, James Harden closed up shop. It's the perfect fit for the Thunder's unfortunate season. With Durant sitting with the executives, and the Thunder's three best defensive players on the bench in suits, Oklahoma City once again found a way to lose.
If the Thunder still want to make the playoffs, today was one they really needed. Now, the Thunder have just five games remaining, and the control is in the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans. The Thunder have three games left that they have a good chance to win, while the Pelicans have the tougher schedule. Westbrook just looks exhausted late in games. He's taken the team as far as he can, but without two of the top 20 players in the league in Serge Ibaka and Kevin Durant, life is hard.
How about that last second inbound play though? This author has long been a Brooks supporter. Not in the sense that he's a great coach, but more along the lines of defending him because of the teams' success. But as the Thunder continue to launch 35-footers with no creativity, that task becomes much more difficult. Oh Anthony Morrow is 6-for-8 from three and hasn't seemed to miss in a month. Yeah, he should inbound the ball. The question really is, was Westbrook supposed to pass it back to him? That's definitely possible.
There's not a bigger Westbrook fan than this writer right here. The Thunder tried, and succeeded, to add depth to take pressure off its two superstars at the trade deadline. However, what's the point in adding depth if you're not going to utilize it. Steve Novak, Kyle Singler, and Anthony Morrow are all better three point shooters than Westbrook. Sure, you can rationalize throwing the ball to Durant and letting him take the shot Westbrook did, because A) He's seven feet tall and B) He's Kevin Durant who shoots about 41 percent from three, and roughly 92 percent from three in those situations, unofficially.
With the success of the Golden State Warriors after switching from Mark Jackson to Steve Kerr, one has to wonder if the time for Brooks' job evaluation is here. Yes, the team has been banged up, but the little things like trusting other teammates, too many minutes for Westbrook in a lost season, and horrific defense since the All Star Break all make one wonder if Brooks has lost the team. Maybe he hasn't. Sam Presti might know something we don't. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both LOVE Scott Brooks; however, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson both loved Mark Jackson, but no one sees them complaining about only having 13 losses the first week of April. The habbits haven't changed. While Kevin Durant fixes a lot of that, outside of those two superstars the Thunder has nothing tangible to fall back on. And now, Oklahoma City is about to fall into the lottery. Maybe for the better.