The Thunder find themselves in a 3-1 hole after choking away game 4 in OKC due mostly to poor shot selection and late-game management...and Dirk Nowitzki going HAM.
Dirk's late heroics aside, the major killer for the Thunder was, and has been throughout these playoffs, Russel Westbrook.
Westbrook is a great player: he can get the rim at will, he's a great defender, great free throw shooter, and has the ability to create open shots for his teammates when he drives. All of these reasons would seem to make him a great late-game player right? Unfortunately for the Thunder, no.
A lot of what makes Westbrook great are the same things that destroy him late in games. His biggest problem is getting too caught up in the moment, and forgetting he has a pretty damn good player on his team as well in Kevin Durant. Too often Westbrook takes it upon himself to be the hero, the only problem is when he does this nobody else touches the ball, and his non-stop 100 mph game ends up causing a turnover or a bad shot (did I mention jump-shooting isn't his strongest attribute?).
I love Russel's game, I really do, but late in games it would benefit the Thunder to bring in Eric Maynor to run the point and use Westbrook off the ball. Maynor knows how to manage a game and when he's on the floor he creates open shots for his teammates, something the Thunder has desperately needed late in games this series.
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