Washington Wizards’ Scott Brooks Wasn’t The Problem For Oklahoma City

New Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks wasn’t the problem for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Billy Donovan’s team is making the same errors

After the Oklahoma City Thunder took a 3-1 series lead against the Golden State Warriors, many were quick to crown them the next Western Conference champions, forgetting that the Warriors  of all teams were capable of making it interesting again.

Golden State tied the series on Saturday night after Klay Thompson went berserk from deep – and I mean from way beyond the 3-point line.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Warriors got plenty of solid looks by moving the ball and getting their shooting confidence back in typical Warriors fashion. Once Thompson started rolling, it gave Stephen Curry a spark to close the deal.

While Thompson’s scoring outburst and historical shooting night – he broke the NBA record for most 3-point shots made in a playoff game with 11 – was the primary reason the Warriors were able to secure the victory away from home, Oklahoma City’s blunders down the stretch were certainly a key factor.

For the first time since Kevin Durant was drafted in 2007, it seemed like the Thunder “finally got it.”

They didn’t always run their sets late in games, but Durant and Russell Westbrook showed up when it mattered most. They were simply outplaying the Warriors down the stretch prior to last night.

That vanished on Saturday.

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Oklahoma City reverted and began making the same mistakes that caused them to get eliminated before making a trip to the NBA Finals.

Durant and Westbrook, in particular, looked completely out of it, often taking errant shots and turning the ball over.

The mistakes they’ve been making late in games under new coach Billy Donovan mirror the ones they made under former coach Scott Brooks, who the Washington Wizards recently hired.

The Thunder have benefited from Donovan’s situational coaching greatly and the two coaches are pretty different, even if Oklahoma City’s offense remained the same.

Unlike Brooks who stuck to the same rotations, Donovan has switched his lineups based on the match ups. He’s given players like Dion Waiters and Andre Roberson more freedom, but he’s also known when to insert certain players into the game based on the situation.

When the Thunder needed offense, Brooks didn’t hesitate to give Anthony Morrow a chance to play, even though the sharpshooter has been seldom used in the Conference Finals.

Donovan’s willingness to try new things has given the Thunder a different look, but I’m not 100 percent certain that look is a better one.

In Game-6, the Thunder made the same mistakes as they did under Brooks, and at the end of the day, the changes implemented under the new coach won’t matter if the results are the same.

The Durant-Westbrook duo is terrifying and will remain that way until they inevitably split, but they’ve yet to win a championship. Their respective games have been enough to make the Thunder a threat in the postseason, but they haven’t meshed during the most important parts of the game.

Both players are two of the best scorers in the world, but they have both relied heavily on isolation basketball, causing the Thunder to splutter in late-game situations.

While the Warriors were flowing and looking for the hot-hand, the Thunder became almost comically predictable.

Westbrook was going to bring the ball up the court, forcing a bad shot or Durant would take some more time off the clock, eventually putting up a well-contested jumper over Andre Iguodala, who was locked in last night.

The series obviously isn’t over yet and Game-7 should be one of the most exciting NBA contests in the league’s history, but the Thunder are going to be faced with one of the most difficult situations in basketball: beating the top seed on the road in the final game of the series.

Oklahoma City’s problems late in games might come back to bite them in the Western Conference Finals just like it has in the years prior. Durant and Westbrook have made the same errors this year as they have in the past.

The Thunder have benefited from the coaching change but the same problems have remained.

The things that Scott Brooks was often criticized for, such as Oklahoma City’s unimaginative offense late in games, have been the same things Donovan is now taking the blame for.

The coaches might not be the problem after all. The players are the ones who have to put it together in fourth quarters and Oklahoma City’s duo hasn’t been able to do that.

Next: Wizards Free Agency: Case Against Harrison Barnes

The Washington Wizards have been watching the series closely, just like everyone else. The future of all three teams could change if the Thunder are unable to close it out on Memorial Day. If they fail to reach the Finals again, Oklahoma City’s terrible late-game play might be the key reason they didn’t accomplish their goals.