The Oklahoma City Thunder aren’t down 2-1 in the NBA Finals because of their coach. They’re down 2-1 because LeBron James has turned into some unholy amalgamation of Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley, and because Shane Battier has decided that he is really, really good at hitting 3-pointers from both the wing and top of the key. And it’s not completely unreasonable for the Miami Heat — defending Eastern Conference champions and owners of a regular-season record that would have fetched 58 wins in a typical 82-game run, to be up 2-1 after three hotly contested Finals games.
This doesn’t mean Brooks is supposed to get off cleanly after the way he mishandled his team’s rotation in Game 3, especially in light of the news that Brooks and his representatives actually turned down a three-year and nearly $11 million contract extension as reported by Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski . Brooks has been criticized more than any other coach in this postseason, save for perhaps the oft-maligned Vinny Del Negro of the Los Angeles Clippers, and for good reason. And the man’s work in sitting both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook during the last five minutes of the third quarter leaves him more than open for us to pick things apart.
Because though the Thunder only finished the third quarter down 69-67, the Heat basically turned the game around with a 15-3 run with Durant and Westbrook on the bench. Unless you count Derek Fisher’s four-point play. Which we don’t. Because it was awful. And because Brooks didn’t exactly draw it up.
Jun 182012