OKC's problem is Westbrook, plain and simple. You can surround him with other superstars, but it doesn't matter. During the Westbrook era, OKC has been horrible at closing out games, which seems unfathomable, given the talent he's been surrounded by.
The last year Durant was in OKC, they lost a league worst 15 games they led during the 4th quarter. Think about that. They had one of the most unguardable players in NBA history, a 4-time scoring champ and member of the 50/40/90 club and they couldn't hold onto a 4th quarter lead to save their lives.
Why? Simple Westbrook "hero" ball. Ridiculously bad shot selection, countless unforced TOVs and starving out his much more efficient scoring teammates. Doesn't matter if he has Kevin Durant and James Harden on the floor with him, or Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, if the game is on the line, Westbrook is going to selfishly call his own number, over, and over, and over, mote times than not snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Call me a Westbrook hater (I don't hate him, I hate his style of play), but facts are the facts and I first started calling him out about this during the 2011 playoffs. Russ is an amazing athlete, but he's also a terrible shooter, a human turnover machine and a selfish stat-padding loser.
Westbrook is a worse 3-point shooter (.286 3FG%) than Evan Turner (.322 3FG%), yet has attempted over 3x as make 3FGs. Why???? Because he can. Westbrook has the ball in his hands on every possession of the 4th quarter and he decides who gets the shots. Unfortunately, for OKC, (fortunately for the rest of the NBA) he calls his own number WAY too much (currently leading the NBA in missed FGs for the 4th time) in those situation. The bigger the game, the more that's at stake, the more likely Russ is to freeze out his teammates and try (and fail) to do it all himself. If I was a OKC fan, that would frustrate the hell out of me. If I was Paul George (.413 3FG%) or Kevin Durant that would drive me out of OKC in a heartbeat.
BNM
