TAKE A SEAT: Thunder coach Scott Brooks bravely left point guard Russell Westbrook (above) on the bench during the final stretch of a 106-100 Game 2 win over the Mavericks in the Western Conference finals Thursday. Other coaches have praised the gutsy move. (Getty Images)
SARASOTA, Fla. —The buzz name on the lips of the coaching civilization that migrated here in flocks Friday night from all over the country and helped raise over $1 million for cancer research at the sixth annual Dick Vitale Gala—picking up where Jimmy Valvano left off 18 years ago–was not those being honored.
In due course, John Calipari, Roy Williams and Nick Bollettieri certainly received their appropriate respect from the 850 people that packed the Ritz Carlton hall. However, the most talked about guy before and after the five-hour plus affair was Thunder coach Scott Brooks.
Conversations with Larry Brown, Stan Van Gundy, Billy Donovan, Jay Wright, Mike Fratello, Richie & Scott Adubato and Matt Doherty inevitably led to the chutzpah Brooks demonstrated by keeping Russell Westbrook’s buckled to the bench for the final 12:28 of the Thunders’ Game 2 upset of the Mavericks.
Regardless of how the game played out, Brooks’ peers are very proud, in awe is more like it, at how he refused to pussyfoot around the prickly situation.
The fact this is just Brooks’ second full season as a head coach makes his serene stance even more remarkable.
“Had the Thunder lost it would’ve been a shame,” Fratello said when asked to consider the fallout had that happened, “because it would’ve detracted from what Scott did for all the right reasons.”
The above coaches agreed Brooks was correct to squat Westbrook for not getting the most out of his teammates — Kevin Durant went over mine minutes during one stretch without a shot — turning the ball over and then mouthing off behind Brooks for an awfully long time after being yanked and reprimanded.
Those consulted also agreed, despite Westbrook’s unruliness as well as the Thunder’s synchronized success with Eric Maynor and James Harden as backcourt partners, they would’ve been steeply inclined to re-insert him, if not the other three regulars, halfway into the quarter for fear of assorted harmful repercussions.
Any later and a star—All League Second Team, in this case — has a ready-made excuse for not producing. A loss would’ve resulted in crooked fingers galore being internally and externally cocked at the coach.
“When one of my key guys is sitting I feel it’s important to bring him back with six minutes to go,” Van Gundy said. “If you don’t do it then it’s very hard to do it around the 3-minute mark and expect the player to get loose. By that time, considering longer TV times out, Russell would’ve been sitting about 20 minutes.”
Only a selfish fool would’ve said something negative for public consumption following the victory. And, by all accounts, Westbrook is a model kid and idyllic teammate whose off-the-charts competitiveness unfortunately sometimes arouses him into a state of disturbance and confusion.
On the surface, at least, Westbrook took his minutes in the time out chair like a model kid. His actions on the sidelines—cheering and charging Harden and Mayor and Durant and Nick Collison with high fives during work stoppages — were emphatically supportive.
But Westbrook’s eyes betrayed him. Humans can hide only so much emotion; he looked dejected.
The short turnaround should benefit the Thunder. Who knows how much lava would’ve oozed out of Oklahoma City had there been another day for Westbrook to dwell on his rejection and the media had extra time to delve into it?
By the first five minutes last night (I wrote prior to Game 3) we should’ve discovered whether the discipline/ unrest affected Westbrook constructively or adversely.
I wasn’t off by much. As usual, in this series anyway, the Mavericks jumped to a double digit spread (18-8 with 3:38 left) and Westbrook, having malfunctioned for two turnovers, two fouls and two misses in three tries, was back on the seat of his shorts where he belonged. By the time he returned 2:04 into the second, the Mavs had enlarged the gap to 35-12.
Westbrook’s eventual 30 points (13-14 from the line) indicate he recovered his assurance and came back strong, as did the Thunder before stalling out, 93-87. However, reality confirms he dry-heaved 12 of 20 shots — hoisting several horrid ones in the last few minutes — and finished with seven errors vs. four assists as well as his fifth playoff technical.
As officer of operations, Westbrook’s biggest offense was not insisting Durant set up shop closer to the toll booth where he could create the most havoc for the defense, and then take the time to figure out how to get him higher percentage looks.
How many failed trifectas does Durant have to take before it dawns on Westbrook, Our Mr. Brooks and everyone else concerned the NBA’s leading scorer’s touch badly needs to be laundered?
I don’t have the inclination to research the last time Durant squared up from offshore and flicked a meaningful 3-ball. I did look up his last meaningless three; it occurred with 97 seconds left in Game 1 and brought the Thunder to within seven.
Since, Durant whiffed on all five from long distance in Game 2. All eight were blanks in Game 3, 7-14 from 2-point range.
The Thunder were practically as useless from three, making a single deposit… on the final attempt after clanking 17 straight. They weren’t exactly on target from mid-range, either. Of 74 field goal attempts, they cashed in a mere nine from outside five feet of a possible 27.
I understand how young the Thunder’s core and coach is, how they’re ahead of their time, and how bad experience tends to be the sharpest teaching tool.
Still, you’d think their blunted shooters and Brooks would recognize what wasn’t working and what was, and adjust accordingly.
The Thunder are pristine from 15. They are the league’s No. 1 free throw marksmen. Last night they were 32-36 and that’s with Durant and Westbrook each misfiring once late. Instead of exploiting the friendly whistle, the Thunder, to a large extent, took it out of the mouths of the referees by repeatedly firing from afar after closing to within six late in the fourth.
(Amazing how a venue change results in a rule change: Dirk Nowitzki went to the welfare line 24 times in Game 1 and another ten in Game 2. Last night, while going to the hoop infinitely more often than in the opener, the charity he received from the refs was limited to two visits and three shots.)
At the risk of over-reacting weeks, if not many months too soon, in spite of what Westbrook does or doesn’t do for the remainder of the season, I strongly suspect we might have caught a glimpse of management’s plan for next season and beyond.
Westbrook has one season ($5.082M) remaining on his contract. No matter how the collective bargaining agreement negotiations turn out, he is due to strike it rich. Will the two parties work out an extension? If he’s tough now to control and hasn’t yet grasped the role of a lead guard, what will his mentality be like when he gets a goldmine of security? “I got mine, I hope you get yours?”
Durant’s deal last summer was done with no fuss, no muss. This could be different. Harden is showing he’s a more accurate, longer distance dialer than Westbrook and a more responsible caretaker; zero turnovers in a pair of road games, two last night in 36 minutes. Additionally, Harden and Maynor play well off each other. When Westbrook is in the game Harden often gets left out of the offense and, consequently, forces shots.
The Jeff Green trade was made to secure Kendrick Perkins, no doubt. But it also was intended get Harden, who digs out rebounds (nine last night) and loose balls in traffic, major minutes at small forward. A dying desire to be the go-to-guy for must makes and ability to convert them now demand his poised presence remain on the floor for as long as possible, at any position.
I’m just sayin’.
Brooks wasn’t the sole active NBA coach that elicited praise at the charity function. Tom Thibodeau’s gutsy parking of Carlos Boozer (in favor of Taj Gibson) did not prevent the Heat from seizing home court advantage from the Bulls. Nevertheless, fraternity brothers again believe it was the correct move.
Every other game Boozer looks like the second coming of Big Baby Davis. For a guy that battles so hard for position on the offensive end he’s a sieve on the defensive end. As bad as he is on the ball, he’s lost helping out and seeing it.
Two young coaches in same mold! Brooks earned top honors as a rookie last season. Thibodeau did the same this season.
“They’re so far ahead of the game it doesn’t matter what their teams do from this point on,” Van Gundy said. “They’re playing with house money.”
IS IT POSSIBLE DERRICK ROSE was tight (17-45) in front of the home crowd? When you watch him the way he carries himself you forget he’s only 22. One thing’s for sure; 3-20 from the suburbs is not going to get it done. Someone other than Rose—Kyle Korver, Keith Bogans, Luol Deng—must start producing from the perimeter. The Bulls have to hit those shots because when they put it on the floor the quickness and length of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James challenges everything. Meanwhile, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has his snipers on a very short leash.
How many more games must LeBron James dominate at crunch time to convert a doubting world of experts? He’s showing the onions, the will to close and the know how like we saw in Game 2.
Spoelstra was wise to get Udonis Haslem a cameo appearance in Game 1 so he could gauge his readiness in case the Bulls continued their assault on the offensive boards in Game 2. When that happened it was easy to justify using him (to the displaced players) so much, so quickly; an 0-2 deficit might’ve been too big to overcome. The Heat remain flawed (four ineffectual centers and two pointless guards) and fragile. Should they lose Game 3 tonight the pressure and doubters will be back in force and full capacity, which kinda sucks the freewheeling fun out of everything.
How slick of David Stern to stage a three-day mini-lockout test in the midst of the Heat-Bulls series. Not that Haslem is complaining. He’s one guy who definitely needed time off between games, if no other reason than to re-acclimate himself with his mouth piece. Either it doesn’t fit or he should switch to a pacifier.
One of the many highlights at the Vitale charity was speaking at length to Magic senior VP Pat Williams whose “mission is remission.”
His battle with blood cancer may have temporarily interrupted his marathon scampers; last one was Disney’s shortly before being diagnosed in November.
And it may have stopped him for the moment from getting behind the plate and catching at fantasy camps; again, he attended one just before discovering why his back ached so much.
But the disease did not prevent the 71-year-old from driving from Orlando to Sarasota and gracing the event with his wit and wisdom on a day he underwent a chemotherapy treatment.
“It took me two hours and 15 minutes,” Williams said. “It was an easy drive.”
peter.vecsey@nypost.com