Donovan MUST show trust
Coach Billy Donovan greatest weakness is his unwillingness to run with bench players when they are out performing the starters. Last night’s game against Dallas was a classic example of Donovan’s lack of trust in his squad as he made a number of questionable decisions regarding rotations.
Here are five questionable decisions Donovan made that raised eye-bows:
- Using a five-man rotation throughout the third period
- Unwillingness to change line-ups when the offense was struggling in the third quarter
- Pulling the second unit too early in the fourth quarter after they turned an 11-point deficit into a two-point lead
- Replacing Nerlens Noel and Patrick Patterson who were crucial to overcoming the deficit
- Taking the ball out of Dennis Schroder‘s hands
Oklahoma City went six and a half minutes without a field goal and allowed Dallas to go on a 12-0 run. Coach Donovan finally called a time-out but waited almost five minutes to do so, giving all the momentum to Dallas. Despite regrouping, Donovan elected to play four starters the entire third quarter and OKC scored a measly 14 points.
Second-unit with the play of the game
Down 11 entering the fourth, the second unit ripped off a 17-4 run topped off by the games most impressive sequence.
After receiving a pass from Dallas guard J.J. Barea, Powell attacks the rim but is blocked by Nerlens Noel. Westbrook saves the ball from going out of bounds to Noel who in turn delivers a beautiful half-court pass to Hamidou Diallo. The rookie then hits Patrick Patterson for the alley-oop two-handed slam.
Dallas call a time-out and instead of playing on with his bench, Donovan substitutes Noel and Diallo out for no reason. Two minutes later, Patterson is subbed for Jerami Grant.
My biggest gripe is Donovan should ride with his bench since they turned the game on its head but instead reintroduces OKC’s starters who managed a ghastly 14 points in the third. Trust the second unit as they clearly out-performed the starters.
Schroder needed to handle the ball
While the German finished the fourth quarter with seven points on 3-11 shooting, he was effective getting to his spots. Schroder was pulling up from mid-range and hitting floaters as he attacked Dallas’ big men off the dribble. When Russ checked back in, he was forced to become a spot-up shooter, affecting his rhythm. Coach Donovan needed to tell Westbrook to take a back seat and let Schroder and PG13 handle the ball in the closing moments.
Russ was way off and Dennis was starting to fire. With the German giving up the ball, Dallas allowed Westbrook to fire brick after brick, eventually becoming to much to overcome. Sure Russ is a superstar but when he’s off, its time to trust someone else. When the second unit made its run, it was Schroder who lead the charge.
The German is no scrub but until Donovan trusts him to bring OKC home when Russ is off, these kinds of disappointing finishes will continue.
Final Thought
More from Thunder News
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
The ebbs and flows of Westbrook’s season continues and the Brodie had another terrible outing. However, this notion that the loss rests solely on him is untrue. Sure, he went 0-8 from distance but OKC missed 53 shots as a team (40-93) and shot 9-28 from three (23.8).
While Paul George was outstanding scoring 36 points, he also turned the ball over twice, gave up six free throws and missed two mid-range jumpers inside the last two minutes.
Its too easy to simply blame Westbrook but in the greater scheme of things, it was a collection of errors that ultimately lead to the loss.