Let's relive some BBALLBREAKDOWN moments as we gear up for our 500th today! How about GAME 3 of the 2012 NBA Finals, when Russell Westbrook got benched by Scott Brooks: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8I3izzQDG3o.html
Westbrook is a top 5 player in the NBA, he's FAR from bad. He's not being coached correctly & that's the biggest issue. Westbrook displays a bratty attitude & needs to be punished like a child at times, in order to be broken & forced to play the right way. When he does play the right way, which is when he wants to, you see him put up pts, ast, & reb. no other PG could regularly.
i can't even lie, coach nick, you've changed the way i watch professional basketball. i'm a die-hard dwyane wade fan, but i love the way you make these videos and critiques from an objective point of view. you've got a great channel going on.
Hey Coach Nick! Absolutely love your videos and I'm just wondering if you can do a video on how plays work? What the play names mean and how to do them. Thanks!
I guess it's subjective which part was most important but inarguably fact is that Thunder were up 10, Brooks took out Russ/KD for the last half of the 3rd, when they were put back in it was a 1 pt deficit. If you want to "calm him down," you call a timeout, or sit him a few possessions but to sit there and watch the lead disappear and not come back with him or KD is mindboggling. I hope we throw 10mil+ at PJax this offseason
This is true. Idk if Thunders needs to wait for Westbrook to develop more soft PG skills and awareness as you say, or to put smoeone in there, a more traditional PG to facilitate the flow, have a knack for passing the ball to certain guys at certain times int he game. What remains to be answered, for the future, is if Westbrook will stay at PG or shift slightly to the SG combo guard? For all the criticism, this dude is a beast...lets not forget hes also just 23!! Ridiculous upside.
Depends on your cup of tea harden is a pure ISO player he has to have the ball in his hands for a majority of the 24 seconds u get to run an offense making your team easy to guard and resting the defense since they all are just standing there watching harden work, he jacks up so many shots it makes it easy for a fastbreak to occur and get ur team ran out of the gym, harden is what u want when ur team lacks scores and guys who can shoot he is fitted for a defensive minded team since he hates defense and can let his man beat him and not worry about the his teammate picking up the lost assignment harden is not ever going to win anything he is too dam selfish,
Dru, you couldn't be anymore wrong. Harden can play the point and is great at moving the ball, because he sees the court differently than most. Harden can also play great defense, when he wants to. Many key playoff games he hasn't played any defense, but the fact of the matter is he can. Also, did you really put Harden and "selfish" in the same breath together?? He's a 2 guard, that will pass 1st, when he needs to. He's always looking for the open teammate, even sometimes when he's hot, just not much in clutch moments. There's really nothing you can say about him on the offensive side of the ball, at all. Harden will fit any system, but AGAIN, its the playoffs where he hasn't been consistant, otherwise he's the best Shooting Guard in the league, period.
MrRCH86 reg season has a feel of just run and don't get hurt. nobody really commits until playoffs. the rockets are my favorite team and I remember when he first came on the team until now and nothing has changed other than he is now a draw so the refs give him tons of flops which to me is a disgrace to the game. you can sell harden all you want to me but I don't value anyone with his game and mindset. I remember Patrick Beverly roughing up LeBron and harden was a bitch to not back him up and give in and let them bully his team as Patrick was the only player who gave a fuck and played defense. harden will never be a leader and I hope the rules change so we have a mens league instead of flopping divas
I agree with this tactical move, it makes sense. Perhaps put Fisher in PG as Wade and Lebron are shooting all the shots anyway. The problem with making this move is that, it may be too late to implement- Finals, game 4 tonight, better sticking with the rotation that has worked all year and playoffs. Coach should put an earplug in Westbrook's ear to work the ball around and not force anything; encourage the aggressive into the lane drives tho!
the more I watch this series the more I see how experience plays a factor. With the Thunder having never been here before they just don't know how to react to the calls they're not getting. Now, it's almost as if they're playing to try and get calls on defense instead of actually playing defense. That has to come from youth and just really not being equipped to deal with the calls or avoid them.
i know everybody will laugh at me, but i think if Maynor wasn't injured, he'd provide OKC solid playmaking that would be really crucial, like he did in 2011 WCF (i think there was even a breakdown about it)
in game 3 imo... the crucial part was, the OKC didnt capitalize MIA's 9 TO in Q4. late Q3 when the roosters are on rotation, it doesnt matter much as long as the scores were still tight. and i dont know if i agree with Coach Nick's thought on benching Westbrook, it was clear that Westbrook didnt do well on the extra plays they got after the steals and the TOs in Q4.
Coach, being the strict coach that you are, would you say that Lebron James is not making much mistake on the court in this series? He seems to be making the best play almost every possession in my amateur eyes.
Hey coach, I figured you'd be the best person to ask, but regarding tonight's game (Game 4), how come after the Haslem-Harden jump ball and subsequent tipoff the shot clock was reset to 5 seconds, as opposed to remaining at 0.8 seconds when the referees made the call? By the way, I am a Heat fan so no complaints here, just curious.
Hi from Scotland Coach Nick. Ive got a question about the fouls on the 3pointers. I dont understand why the Fisher 4 point play was a bad call, he clearly gets hit, why is it a bad call? And the other thing that puzzling is that later on you say that Fisher fouls the shooter that it IS foul, and from what I can see both are pretty similar. Surely there both a foul or not?
It baffles me how Westbrook can make some of the worst plays , but then come back down the floor and make some really amazing plays. I'm sure this is not news to anyone but if Westbrook played smater and was more consistant he'd be a really great ball player. He has the potential to switch the momentum of a game, but unfortunately he usually switches the MO to the opponent. But I agree benching him there was the right thing to do.
I have a feeling that Durant is going to get a lot more shots tonight and not defend lebron. I think it will work for about a few minutes of whatever quarter they start doing that. I believe Spoelstra is waiting for that to happen, and as soon as it becomes clear that Durant is trying to get 25 or more shots, Spoelstra will continually throw double teams at him.
not to start an arguement of any sort of those... when you look at the stats, you need to look at the full picture: kobe in this season shot for 301 shots, and has 52 assists, while gasol has 143 FGA but has 43 assists while session has 114 FGA and 42 assist... and Kobe has the lowest FG% among these 3, meaning his shot selections were not as good. i cant find the article, but i read it some time after the lakers were eliminated, his Pau and bynum and Brown complained about him not passing
If he has twice the amount of FGA's, his shot percentage is obviously going to be lower. Tyson Chandler had the best FGP in the league this season with 67.9%. But by no means does that make him an offensive powerhouse.
I honestly think that there are a lot of similarities between Kobe and Westbrook's game. I think Kobe might be a little better at jumpshots and defense but their style of play, I can't help but sense the similarity.
I would agree, most people pass judgement simply by looking at a player's PPG, which doesn't tell really how good a player is, and force them to say bullshit like Westbrook is better than pass first guys that dont have high PPG like Nash and Rondo.
you know, when your 2nd scorer and the 3rd scorer and the head coach ALL say he doesnt run the designed play and ballhog...it's bad... and i dont know if you really watched how the lakers played this season. their games disgusted me, so many tough shot WHICH DOESNT HAVE TO BE THAT TOUGH if kobe passes
oh god I wanna see what you say about him in game 4, such a great performance but his play down the last 2 minutes was so dissapointing, I think he's just showing his inexperience and youth. He's talented but he doesn't have poise and seems a bit frozen by the moment, I know he scored a ton, but those mistakes just show he's not focussed...
I find you to be a tad bias towards the Heat, how come you do not comment on the "charge" on Durant that clearly should have been no call, play on. You also dont comment on the constant grabbing of LeBron on Durant as he tries to get in front of him?
HOW IN THE WORLD DID THEY NOT CALL THAT CHARGE THAT DURANT DID ON BATTIER THAT SHOULD HAVE FOULED HIM OUT THATS EXACTLY WHY THE HEAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP 10
Moises The best players in the world are playing each other, no matter what someone is going to make the other look silly. I guarantee you if you were to challenge Russell Westbrook, he’d make you look silly (in spite of his bone-headed b-ball IQ).
westbrook plays better than kobe this season, i would say. at least RW does pass the ball sometimes while KB almost always plays 1v9 when he is on the court.
nash... nash will slow the line up, and OKC lives on their speed and hustle plays. i think Westbrook needs a treatment like what Gregg Pop did to Parker... Gregg Pop literally told parker to get to his office early be4 matches and told him what to do and how to play the game when it were parker's first years... I think Scott Brooks needs to coach Westbrook like that so that westbrook can have better understanding of the game and better court vision... he is literally blind when he has the ball
Yes, his ability to score and rebound benefits from his athleticism. He is good at those things, I'll give you that, but what separates him from guards like Rondo, Paul, and Nash is Westbrook's decision making skills and his b-ball IQ. Stats don't tell the whole story, you gotta admit that he makes too make boneheaded plays for his own good.
You Westbrook Homers are delusional! Seriously he didnt diss Westbrook, he defended Scott Brooks reason for Pulling him and backed it up. Yeah Mia went on a run but hindsite is 20/20! Based on Westbrooks previous plays he didnt give him a reason to keep him on the floor. IMO Rus saw KD go to the bench and tried to take on Mia by himself instead of running the offense thinking he's OKC's best option. Media has been too hard on Rus but stop lashing out at everyone that points out his obvious flaws
Yeah I guess, but I think that the Clippers have a better chance than OKC simply because they have so many player capable of doing damage, Crawford, CP3, Blake, Jordan. Its crazy.
Rondo isn't " hands down" better than Rondo. They both have their faults and successes. And Westbrook is clearly better than Rondo. If Rondo were to be traded to a low market team, and wasn't surrounded by Hall of Famers, he wouldn't be getting 24 assists every damn game, and he barely averages 10 pts. Meanwhile, if Westbrooks were to be traded he could dominate on any team because he can score and get triple doubles as easily as Rondo.
Please, explain how Miami Cheated? I watched all 5 games and they called all the fouls down exactly right except the 4 point play for Fisher. OKC won the first game and deservingly so but the reason Miami won was because KD thought LeBron would try to play as a scorer and didn't realise that LeBron had decided to put his Magic Johnson shoes on for the finals.
yeah 3:50 not a foul, but do you realize how fast it happens during the game? so its not an awful call, shit happens fast, just like how lebron travels everygame but hard to make a call since it happens really fast
but every one has roles in a team. and not every one has the same skill set depending on their athleticism and physical built. and positions arent that stagnant per se, but in this case, PG is the most imp position bc they handle the ball almost all the time and Westbrook is not a PG at all.
if 3:54 was not a foul, then how the hell is 4:08 a foul? yes he hit him, but way after the shot was in the air. I could understand an on the floor foul, but shooting? No, shot was up and he was done shooting, and the only reason he would've missed is cause he missed on his own.
Your obsession with Westbrook is puzzling. Benching Westbrook (and KD simultaneously) is why OKC lost the game. A 10 pt turned into a 1 pt defiicit before they came back in to start the 4th. Why don't you make a video on KDs fouls, turnovers, or failures to get open which are directly responsible for many of Russell Westbrooks "bad shots." How about a video on why Spo is coaching circles around Brooks by playing small since Brooks doesn't make adjustments
just think about it,rondo at point with his backup fisher, sefolosha at sg with harden as a b ackup off the bench who can give you 15-20 points,ibake anc perkins with green coming off the bench with harden. easy championship
Brooks has been terrible...why isnt he playing collison more...why did he think it was a good idea to put durant on james...why are derek fisher and perkins playing so many minutes...why would you bench westbrook and durant at the same time during a pivotal run...
That is not true. The future hall of famers wouldnt be future hall of famers if it werent for Rondo. Rondo is the floor general. The Celtics will go as far as Rondo takes them.
Westbrook makes an easy scapegoat, he looks angry all the time, cusses a lot, doesn't particularly care for the media, while KD is conversely perceived as a flawless Golden boy who kisses his mom after every game. Coach Nick won't address that the "good coaching" removing Westbrook is win the Thunder lost their 10pt lead and turned into a deficit for good though. He's a typical hater, easily influenced by the media. Ol' hack ass dude.
well no I wouldnt say that, because it isnt true, i would say something more like, we are a franchise where star players along with skilled role players lead us to victory over bad teams with unwilling passers for point guards, inexperienced coaches, and ball hogging small forwards (hint: it's the thunder).
