Whenever the Oklahoma City Thunder find themselves in a close game late, it seems like everyone watching the game (and talking about it on Twitter/TV) focuses on Russell Westbrook, and when the Thunder don’t have success and Kevin Durant isn’t touching the basketball, everyone seems to bash Westbrook for it. That is exactly what happened in game four, a game the Thunder eventually pulled out in triple overtime.
In the fourth quarter and in overtime, Kevin Durant didn’t get a shot off in about nine minutes or so, and despite Russell Westbrook being the point guard, this isn’t on him. It is on Kevin Durant, who seems to struggle more and more when it comes to moving off of the basketball late. We saw plenty of examples of this in game four.
Lack Of Movement
Something that should be extrememly concerning for Thunder fans is that Kevin Durant is starting to watch Russell Westbrook more and more. Instead of moving off of the basketball, Durant is getting flat-footed behind the three point line, even when his man turns his head/leaves him to help on the basketball:
On these three plays, Kevin Durant takes a total of zero steps when moving off of the basketball. Despite the Thunder scoring on two of these plays, this isn’t good for Oklahoma City, because Durant is developing a bad habit of standing behind the three point line and watching. The most interesting aspect of this is that Durant’s man leaves him (or at least turns his head) on all three plays. Durant needs to make the defense pay for this and cut right off of his man’s back. Instead, he stands and watches.
Here is another play, and after setting a pretty bad screen, Durant stands at the top of the key as the ball continues to get moved from side to side on the court. One of the reasons just standing there isn’t a good thing for Durant is that he makes it easy on the defense. Look at Shane Battier here. He can easily watch both Kevin Durant and the basketball, without the fear of Durant cutting off of his back. If Durant doesn’t move, Battier doesn’t have to move either.
This is the same type of thing we criticize players like Josh Smith for doing time after time after time, so it is interesting to see Durant get a free pass as his point guard gets crushed for not passing it to him.
Now, people looking to defend Durant and criticize are going to say that Durant was disinterested because he knew Westbrook was taking the shot/he wasn’t going to get the basketball. That should be even more troubling, especially considering that it isn’t true. The rare times that Durant did cut into an open space, his teammates got him the ball, and the Thunder had success:
Here, the Thunder get the basketball on the offensive rebound and they run a pick and roll with Durant standing in the corner. His defender, Sam Young gets caught watching the pick and roll action and Kevin Durant cuts backdoor. Durant gets the basketball going towards the rim and he is able to finish with the dunk.
On this play, Durant runs the pick and pop with Russell Westbrook, and instead of simply popping on the play, Durant rolls to the rim on the weakside as Westbrook attacks the rim. Westbrook finds Durant and he is able to draw the foul and go to the line.
Struggles Off Of Screens
This is something that I have been talking about for quite some time and every time I bring it up I feel like I am committing overkill, but if we are going to continue to question Russell Westbrook’s decision making, we should question Durant’s ability to use screens:
When a scorer effectively uses a screen, it is usually because they are a threat to go either way off of the screen, and they use that threat to help set up the screen by faking one way and going the other. Kevin Durant usually does a pretty poor job of setting up his screens. On both of these plays, Durant shows his hand too early, and Shane Battier reads which direction Durant is going and beats him through the screen. This negates the effectiveness of the pick and pop and blows up the entire play.
If Durant uses the screen better in this situation, Battier would be trailing the play, and there is a pretty good chance Durant gets free on the pick and pop.
Here is another way that Durant does a poor job of setting up his screens, he usually goes through them too quick, not allowing his teammate (in this case Kendrick Perkins) set the screen. Here, Durant gets up on Perkins before he can set the screen, in fact, he is standing shoulder to shoulder before Perkins can even turn around. It isn’t an effective screen, and despite getting the basketball, Durant isn’t in a position to score.
Playcalling
In addition to Durant and his ability to move off of the basketball and work off of screens, the playcalling has to be called into question here. Far too often, there aren’t sets called, and the offense breaks down into watching Russell Westbrook dribble and try to create. Yes Durant needs to cut off of the ball more, but if Scott Brooks sees that Durant isn’t moving on his own, why not run plays designed to get Durant on the move.
In addition, how many times have you seen Russell Westbrook dribbling the ball at the top of the key as he waits for Durant to try and work off of a pindown screen as the only option. With Durant as the only option, the defense is able to load up on him and keep the basketball out of his hands.
Ray Allen does a great job working off of screens, but one of the reasons he is able to get open is because Doc Rivers runs a lot of misdirection style plays where Allen gets screens off of the ball on the weakside. This is the type of stuff that should work with Durant as well. In fact, in overtime, Brooks ran one of these plays, and it worked:
Here, we have a pick and roll at the top of the key, Westbrook uses the screen and attacks the towards Durant’s side. As this happens, Harden sneaks behind Durant’s man and sets a backscreen. Durant works off of the backscreen and Westbrook gets him the basketball, putting him a position to score.
Another way Brooks can make sure Durant gets the basketball is to not rely on his “offense” to get the ball to him. Instead of allowing the defense to get set and trying to get the ball to Durant late in the clock, Brooks started to get the ball to Durant early in the clock.
On these plays, Durant gets the basketball up top, and he is allowed to work. More creative playcalling from Brooks is important if the Thunder want Durant to have success late in games against the Grizzlies.
This wasn’t designed to be a blast piece on Kevin Durant. He’s a great player and a great scorer, but the perception that Russell Westbrook is always at fault when he has these stretches where he doesn’t get shots off is just plain wrong. Westbrook does make poor decisions, yes, but at times it is not his fault (especially in game four). He is forced to try and create when Durant doesn’t cut off of the basketball or use a screen correctly (or if a play isn’t called or well designed).
When Durant did cut or Scott Brooks did run a play designed for Durant, Westbrook was willing and able to get him the basketball. Russell Westbrook does have a tendency to try and be “the man” from time to time, but the number of times it does actually happen is far less than the perception. In the plays above, how many times did Westbrook ignore Durant? Bad shots? Some, but Durant wasn’t open on any of these, and Westbrook was forced into these poor decisions. If Durant wants to have success late in the postseason against tough defenses, he has to be more willing to work off of the basketball and he needs his coach to design better plays.
