J-Speaks: Thunder Fall In First-Round Again

There is nothing more disappointing then losing in the opening-round of the NBA Playoffs, especially when you have two dynamic players and you go against a team you swept in the regular season, and that you have a serious monkey you are trying to get off your back. The Oklahoma City Thunder enter the 2019 NBA Playoffs with a favorable matchup despite not having homecourt advantage against the Portland Trail Blazers, who they swept 4-0 in their regular-season series. Even on the brink of elimination in Game 4 on Tuesday night, they were pretty confident about sending the series back to their gym up 15 with 7 ½ minutes left. Unfortunately for the Thunder, who did a lot of talking showboating during this series the Trail Blazers and their All-Star lead guard would have the last word. 

Trail Blazers four-time All-Star Damian Lillard capped his 50-point performance by nailing a game-winning three-pointer at the final buzzer over fellow All-Star Paul George to win Game 5 118-115 and the series over the Thunder 4-1. 

Despite a triple-double by 2017 Kia MVP Russell Westbrook of 29 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds with four steals and two block shots in 44 minutes and 36 points and nine rebounds in 42 minutes from George, the Trail Blazers closed the game on 28-10 run that was capped by Lillard’s 10^th three of the night in 18 tries in the Game 5 cincher. 

“That’s a bad shot. Don’t care what anybody says, that’s a bad shot,” George, who was 14 for 20 shooting in the loss said during his postgame presser. “But hey, he made it. That story will be told it was a bad shot. You live with that.”

What is hard to live with though is this was the 12^th straight road loss in the postseason for a Thunder team that also dropped to a 4-12 mark in the postseason since 2014 Kia MVP Kevin Durant left in free agency to join the now back-to-back defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.  

There are a lot of questions of what went wrong for a Thunder team that had their perennial All-Star lead guard in Westbrook average a triple-double for a third straight season of 22.9 points, a league-leading 10.7 assists and 11.1 rebounds (10^th NBA) and a sidekick in George, who averaged career-highs of 28.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals (2^nd NBA), on 38.6 percent from three-point range? 

For starters, after going 37-20 in the unofficial first half of the 2018-19 regular-season, they went 12-13 following the February All-Star break. 

The other issue is that Westbrook despite averaging a triple-double during the regular-season for a third consecutive season, he went through the worst shooting season of his career. He shot just 42.8 percent from the field, the second worst of his career; 29.0 percent from three-point range, his lowest since shooting 29.8 percent last season and career-low 65.6 percent from the charity stripe. 

Throughout the season, the entire Thunder squad from head coach Billy Donovan, to Westbrook to the rest of the roster did not seem too concerned about Westbrook’s shooting struggles and thought that things would eventually turnaround for him. 

It did not and it only got worse against the Trail Blazers, whether it was from distance or from in close.

In the Game 5 loss at the Trail Blazers, Westbrook was just 11 for 31 from the floor, which included going 4 for 11 from three-point range and made just 5 of his 13 shot attempts within five feet of the basket. 

To bring this point into clearer context, Westbrook made just 20 of his 41 shots from less than five feet in the series.  

Speaking of shooting, the Thunder’s shooting struggles as a team really showed in this series. Take away their 15 for 29 performance from distance in their Game 3 win, The Thunder shot 37 for 128 (28.9 percent) from three-point range combined in the other four games of this series. 

“The one thing that Sam Presti [Thunder general manager], one of the best GM’s did to fail Russell Westbrook and this squad is their lack of shooting,” NBA studio analyst Jalen Rose said on ESPN’s morning show “Get Up!” on Tuesday morning. “When you have a guy like Russ who can get to the basket at will, you have to surround him with knockdown shooters. They don’t have that.” 

“So, all of sudden, a guy like CJ McCollum can rest on D [Defense] and stand next to [Terrence] Ferguson because he’s not going to get the ball. [Dennis] Schroder played well but I don’t want to see Raymond Felton playing playoff minutes. Every time he checks into the game, I’m like, ‘I’m glad I did not file my retirement papers. Like, there’s still hope for me.’”

The point that Rose was trying to drive home is that the supporting cast of Jerami Grant, Schroder, Markieff Morris, Steven Adams have had their moments during the regular-season and in the playoffs but they did not a serious difference needed to beat a team like the Trail Blazers. 

For much of Game 5 when Lillard got going offensively, especially in the pick-and-roll, it was Adams who they put in the action where Lillard was coming off and shooting uncontested shots, especially from three-point range. 

What makes this even more tough for the Thunder is they will not be able to do much in terms of improving the supporting cast around Westbrook and George this off-season as their projected payroll for the 2019-20 season will be $150 million, which does not include a $60 million luxury tax bill.

Even with the likes of reserves Patrick Patterson ($5.7 million) and Nerlens Noel with player options for next season, the Thunder only have the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception to bring in a difference maker to the team.  

The other way to look at this though is the Thunder have roster stability for the first time in nearly five seasons, a similar position that as the team that beat them. 

The Trail Blazers hung together and not making a move out of desperation from firing the head coach, trading of the star player, or doing something to shake things up after 10 straight postseason losses, which includes a four-game sweep at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans last spring in the First-Round. 

It only works though when you take a good hard look in the mirror and face the reality of their postseason failures. That is what Lillard displayed in this series on the court and to the media. 

That brings us back to Westbrook. Throughout his career, he has shown an unwavering confidence, unshakable mental fortitude, and a relentless competitive spirit. When it is in the right calibration to where he is not taking on all comers from getting his teammates consistently involved but does not allow the naysayers from the outside from fans and the media, his way works. When one of those is not in concert with the others from his will to win supersedes smart decisions and making sure the Thunder have quality possessions, the team as they showed in this series fell apart. 

The Trail Blazers dared Westbrook to beat them, as a Trail Blazers assistant coach told his players that checked into the game during the series, “Let Russ shoot.” 

The result in Game 5, Westbrook had as mentioned his second triple-double of the series and 10^th of his postseason career but it took him 31 shots to get his 29 points. 

It did not help either that George played a majority of the post All-Star break with both shoulders injured. 

This occurrence put a reset a lot of the Thunder’s makeup as Westbrook went back to the primary offensive option after playing more of a secondary role to George for much of the season. 

While Westbrook caught a better offensive rhythm compared to the start of the season shooting wise, the triple-doubles came in bunches but the locker room became more tense and the joy that was evident early on in the regular-season was gone.

Which leads to the question is can Westbrook change? 

As great of talent that he is, he is a very stubborn person who feels that how he plays is good enough even when it can be a detriment to the team at times. Also, he can be very difficult to ask questions to, especially after games. Just ask Barry Tramel of The Oklahoman, who repeatedly when asked a question by him would answer, “Next question?” 

“It’s all part of the business,” Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said to “The Athletic” at the start of this week about how Westbrook has treated the like of Tramel when asked questions they do not like. “You’ve got to feed information to the fans. You don’t have to give a great answer, but it’s dangerous when you go down that path of no communication because one of the reasons people like the league right now is, we have a lot of great players, really good guys who handle themselves well. So, don’t kill that. You’ve got to keep that going. That’s a big part of the business.” 

The other thing that this does is it sends a bad message to the rest of the team to where they can be disrespectful to the press when they have to face the music when they face tough times like failing to make it out of the opening-round for the third straight season. 

The Thunder for over a decade have been known for having a rock-solid culture. They have been a regular in the postseason, even in the three seasons following Durant’s departure via free agency. Beginning with this off-season though, the Thunder have to make some kind of change internally to get over this playoff hump. 

It is unfathomable that for three straight seasons that Westbrook has averaged a triple-double and the team has just four playoff wins to show for it. 

The other options from trading Westbrook or George or firing head coach Billy Donovan are not viable. They have to get better from within. 

In order for this team to reach its full potential, Russell Westbrook the face of the franchise and one of the best players in the NBA has to change in his game and in his demeanor both on the floor and with the media. 

If Westbrook does not adjust in some way and the team does not show growth, this trend of early exits in the postseason will continue and the career of a dynamic talent will go to waist. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 4/22/19 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump,” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Amin Elhassan, and Byron Scott; https://www.nba.com/games/20190423/OKCPOR#/video/boxscore; 4/24/19 www.espn.com story, “The Questions Get Interesting for Westbrook, PG and ousted OKC,” by Royce Young; 4/24/19 1 a.m. edition of “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia on TNT with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 4/24/19 6:30 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “The Starters,” presented by Jack Daniels No. 7 and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey with Tas Melas, J.E. Skeets, Leigh Ellis, and Trey Kerby; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/okc; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_Thunder#Franchise_accomplishments;  www.espn.com/nba/statistics; www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/3468/russell-westbrook; and www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4251/paul-george.