Peace, Love and Thunderstanding: What Happened?
How could the the Thunder go from obliterating the defending champs in game 4 to being obliterated two nights later? On Sunday morning, the talk was about how the Lakers looked old, fat, and unmotivated. On Wednesday morning, the talk was about how the Lakers look hungry, fresh, and invigorated.
I was so angry while watching the game that I spent a lot of it diagnosing what went wrong, and trying to figure out how to swing the momentum back again.
HOME COURT
My partner in crime at The Lost Ogle, Patrick tweeted during the game:
I wouldn’t think the home court would such a big deal for professionals. Shows what I know.
As a fanbase, we have enjoyed the good that comes with having a team full of players who are right around drinking age. On Tuesday night, and probably in games 1 and 2 without really realizing it, we saw the bad. These guys, who in olden days would have been resting after the NCAA tournament, obviously fed off that Ford Center crowd and were intimidated by the Staples Center “faithful.”
If we think the Thunder can overcome this factor in Game 7, we’re probably deluding ourselves. That being said, they can totally do it.
HOMETOWN
As much as the whole team has suffered in LA, the Thunder’s two guards who grew up in SoCal and likely dreamed of playing in the Staples Center have been worse. That familiarity has not seemed to aide James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Both players seem to press when playing on the soil they were raised on.
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If we think the Thunder can overcome this factor in Game 7, we’re probably deluding ourselves. That being said, they can totally do it.
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During the season, Westbrook was actually a slightly better scorer on the road than he was at home. Not so much in LA. Versus the Clippers and Lakers at the Staples Center, Westbrook averaged 12.5 points (as opposed to the 16.1 overall) and did it with more shots than normal. He shot a putrid 34% in LA and has yet to make a single three point attempt. Even his free throw percentage is worse (70% in LA, 78% overall, and 79% on the road as a whole). Probably because he’s pressing so hard, his turnovers are up by one per game in LA.
Harden actually scores more when he plays in the Staples Center. He averaged 9.9 points per game, 10.6 on the road, but that rose to 12.5 in Los Angeles. Of course, he does that by taking far more shots than ordinary…in fact, about four more shots (two of those from behind the arc). And the percentages are far worse. He makes about 40% from the field normally, but only 33% in LA.
My hypothesis is that both players are wanting to perform well during their homecomings and try harder. As a result, they play more wrecklessly and less organically. If it comes to game 7, these guys need to stop following the advice coaches always give to calm nerves “Pretend you’re out on your driveway” due to the incredible fantasies of playing in that building which the two of them probably associate with that.
PLAYING WITH FIRE
Awful start. Just a truly awful start. Before Kevin Durant finally put home a seventeen foot jumper, the Thunder had missed their first thirteen shots. They also had a handful of turnovers during that stretch.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time Oklahoma City has dug a hole in this series. They allowed the Lakers to make their first nine shots in Game 3 before wrestling momentum away and finally winning. It isn’t even the first time, they dug a hole that eventually buried them (see games one and two). The only difference was that this time, the Thunder couldn’t even start to turn things around. While I wouldn’t go as far as saying that they gave up, there wasn’t much fight.
If this series makes it back to L.A., it will be essential that they keep the game close early, like game 4, or they are going to get burned again.
LAKER ADJUSTMENTS
Scott Brooks made a major splash from the coaches box when he assigned Kevin Durant to hound Kobe in the fourth quarter of game 3. It was an outside-the-box decision that put OKC in the series.
Super genius Phil Jackson finally stopped harrassing the referees long enough to realize that Russell Westbrook was absolutely abusing Derek Fisher in games 1.75 thru 4. He finally changed the defensive match up by placing Kobe (who had been standing around bored while “guarding” Thabo) on Russ. Of course, if you believe the game announcers, it was Kobe’s idea to make the change.
It worked even better than even the most casual NBA follower would have imagined.
That’s mainly because the Thunder didn’t make an adjustment to the adjustment. The reason Phil didn’t alter the defensive assignments from the beginning is that he did not want his best scorer sapping away at his energy, and risking foul trouble, on the defensive end. Had Westbrook forced Kobe to expend energy, the matchup would have been shortlived. Instead, he stared at the 24 on the jersey in front of him and forfeited being a factor in the game.
In game six, you can rest assured that Russell will find himself guarded by the self nicknamed “Black Mamba.” And in game six, he needs to go right at the Laker superstar. The risk is that Westbrook will be the one who lands in foul trouble, but the reward will be regaining the advantage.
TWO DAYS REST
This seemed to be overlooked. By game 4, with the long in the tooth Lakers looking bewildered on the bench, numerous mentions were made of how tired the Lakers were. Well, there was only one day of rest between each of the first four games. On Tuesday, both teams had an extra day to get spa treatments. That helps a veteran crew much more than a team of players in the primes of their lives.
Unfortunatley, game 6 also has a “long” rest.
OVERCONFIDENCE
I can’t speak for the team, but some of us were a little bit too confident with the Thunder’s chances of taking game 5.
Let’s, just for a second, assume this extended to the players. I would imagine that they probably have come back down to earth. So, hopefully, the remainder of the series will feature the Thunder giving a healthy amount of respect for what the Lakers are capable of doing, and that respect will lead to them producing plays that stop it from happening.
KOBE SANDBAGGING
After the game 4 shellacking, Tim Keown of ESPN wrote of Kobe:
(H)e’s the rare great player who feels the need to prove his greatness by not being great. It’s selflessness as selfishness, a feat very few at his level are able — or willing — to pull off.
Phil Jackson plays a lot of head games with his stars, and with Shaq and Jordan they typically worked. With his current star, it is more of a mixed bag. Kobe always rebels like a sullen teenager at the first issuance of constructive criticism, and lately Phil has been critiquing Bryant’s shot selection.
Unlike, in the past, Kobe’s rebellion occured at an opportune time for L.A. In 2006, Kobe quit in game seven of their first round playoff match up against Phoenix. In 2008, he quit in the clinching game of the Finals against Boston. When he gets pissed off, he decides to quit shooting and make his teammates prove they can win without him. However, like in game 4 of this Thunder series, he doesn’t try to defer in a manner that actually helps those teammates shine.
By game 5, he took Jackson’s mind games and applied the lessons as they were intended. On Tuesday night, he was the most effective I’ve ever seen him, and he won them the game taking only 14 shots.
On the bright side, Bryant usually doesn’t embrace being a facillitator. He wants to win on his terms.
