Russell Westbrook is now the NBA’s triple-double king. (Getty Images)

Before Russell Westbrook came along, Oscar Robertson’s 181 career triple-doubles seemed unattainable. Even Magic Johnson and Jason Kidd both said no one will ever break The Big O’s record. But someone forgot to tell that to Westbrook.

Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook made history on May 10, 2021, when he produced the 182nd triple-double of his career in just 940 games. Robertson’s 181 triple-double record stood for 47 years, and many thought it was going to stand the test of time much like Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. Westbrook finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, 21 assists in a 125-124 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Westbrook had an opportunity to cap his historic night with a game-winning shot, but his 3-pointer with under three seconds left grazed the rim and bounced off to the side.

The loss takes some of the zest off Westbrook’s record-setting performance, but it doesn’t take away what the 32-year-old former UCLA standout has accomplished throughout his basketball journey. He won an MVP in 2017 after posting the first triple-double season in league history since Robertson did it in 1962. Westbrook has averaged a triple-double in four of the last five years, and he will lead the league in assists for the third time. Not bad for a natural shooting guard who learned how to play point guard when he got to the NBA.

“What he’s done and how he’s done it, he didn’t just inch his way to it, he exploded the chart. And not only did he explode it, he said, ‘If you don’t think that was good let me come back and do it again the next year,’ ” two-time NBA champion and current NBA TV analyst Isiah Thomas said.

“Let’s put some respect on Westbrook,” Thomas added.

Teammates respect Russell Westbrook. You’ll never hear any of his current or former teammates say anything bad about him (expect maybe Kevin Durant, but that’s a whole different topic). Opponents respect him. Fans love him. The only people who pour water on his greatness are the basketball TV, radio, online pundits who are into advanced statistics. They don’t like the turnovers and the awful shooting. Those are legit claims. But from a pure basketball standout, Brodie brings it every single night. He has never cheated the game. He plays every game like it’s gonna be his last. You have to respect that.

“It was always a misconception of Russ on how he is as a teammate, how he is as a person, how he responds to coaches. Total opposite,” Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal said on ESPN’s “First Take.” “He’s all about the team, he’s all about winning, he’s all about getting better. And he’s all about pulling his teammates up, trying to get the best out of everybody. That’s something that has helped me. Seeing his mentality, his approach to the game night in and night out. He’s an MVP. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

You can argue that a player could be labeled as “selfish” for chasing scoring titles instead of NBA titles, but there is no case or argument to be made when it comes to assists. An assist is a coach’s favorite statistic. It means the ball doesn’t stick and a player’s action ultimately led to a teammate scoring a basket. When Magic and John Stockton and Steve Nash led the league in assists, they were celebrated. They were labeled unselfish, making others better. When Russ Westbrook leads the league in assists, it is seen as padding stats.

Westbrook has been relentlessly pursuing the triple-double record for the past few years now, and some in the media suggested he was padding his stats. Russ’ response to the whole “stat-padding” claim was simple. “People that’s talking or saying whatever they need to say, they should try doing it and see how hard it is,” he said. And he’s right. If grabbing 20 rebounds or dishing out 20 assists were so easy, then why don’t we see it more. LeBron James ranks second in triple-doubles among active NBA players and he’s nowhere near Westbrook.

Westbrook checks a lot of boxes. The only box that’s unchecked is a championship. He came close in 2012 when his OKC Thunder squad with James Harden and Durant reached the NBA Finals, but lost to LeBron and the Miami Heat in five games. But not having a championship ring shouldn’t take away what Westbrook has done in a career that has been doubted from the start.

“Can’t take anything away from him,” said Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who coached Westbrook in Oklahoma City for seven seasons before reuniting with him in D.C. following an offseason trade.

“He’s a winner,” Brooks said. “[He’s] making the basketball and the non-basketball world a better place. Not a lot of guys have had the impact that he’s had, both on and off the court. It’s pretty phenomenal.”

Brodie wasn’t highly recruited out of high school and when he arrived at UCLA he had to earn his way to the starting lineup. He proved the doubters wrong with two Final Four appearances and shot up the NBA draft boards following impressive workouts. He landed as the fourth overall pick in the draft by Seattle — which later moved to Oklahoma City. Westbrook, Durant, Harden turned OKC into a Western Conference powerhouse before Harden left for Houston and KD left for Golden State. Westbrook single-handedly kept the Thunder relevant for three seasons before being traded to Houston in 2019, teaming up with Harden once again. The Harden-Westbrook duo could only get the Rockets to the second round of the 2020 playoffs in the Orlando bubble.

There were whispers of Brodie being “done” after a slow start to his Wizards season. He was obviously hurt, but he didn’t complain. Once he finally got healthy, the old Westbrook returned. Washington was left for dead during the halfway point of the season and was practically slotted in the lottery before the season turned around dramatically. Now, Brodie and Beal have the Wizards competing for a spot in the play-in series.

“They came from way out of it to where they’re in the thick of this thing. It’s mind-blowing,” Sam Mitchell said.

Scott Brooks has led Oklahoma City to 50 or more wins in four of the last five years. (GETTY IMAGES)

Finding fault in a coach who has won 50 games three times and 60 once in the last five years sounds a bit ridiculous. But if you’re Oklahoma City, the time is now to win a championship and Scott Brooks may not be the right guy to get the Thunder over the hump.

As good as the Thunder have been over the last five years under Brooks, they could be better. When you have the likely 2013-14 MVP in Kevin Durant and perennial All-Star in Russell Westbrook, winning 50 games and getting to the playoffs is not enough. It was OK back in 2010 when forcing a Game 7 against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in the first round was considered a big deal. Now, losing in the first round may cost people’s jobs.

Brooks did get the Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2012 — losing to Miami —but the bar is set much higher now. Anything less than a championship would be considered a failure.

Brooks is a good coach, no doubt. But in order to win a championship, you have to make great decisions. And so far, we’ve seen too many questionable decisions from him.

A prime example of that was Monday’s playoff game against Memphis.

When the Thunder were struggling to bust the Grizzlies’ defensive alignment, he could have inserted Derek Fisher for Nick Collison down the stretch to open up the court. Fisher goes in on offense, then Collison returns on defense. It takes a slick coach to pull that off, and that’s not Brooks.

When Thabo Sefolosha stole the ball from Mike Conley with under a minute left in overtime, the Thunder had a possible fast break. But Brooks, micromanaging the situation, stifled that runout by calling a timeout. That allowed Memphis to set up its defense and Durant ended up missing a free throw on the possession.

And before we chastise Westbrook for taking too many shots and not getting the ball enough to Durant, watch Game 2 of the Memphis-OKC game and you’ll see that Durant couldn’t get open because Tony Allen was draped all over him. Westbrook tried to get him the ball, but the Grizzlies did a terrific job of denying KD the ball.

This is where the coach should step in. Brooks needed to get KD in spots where he could operate freely and get Allen off him. But he didn’t. Westbrook was left on an island and the Grizzlies forced him into bad shots.

Brooks went to the Rick Adelman school of coaching. He was an assistant under Adelman — who announced his retirement today — in Sacramento when the Kings were major title contenders. Adelman ran Pete Carril’s Princeton offense in Sacramento, and it’s the same offense Brooks runs in Oklahoma City.

Adelman had fantastic teams during his time in Sacramento. He had Vlade Divac at center and Chris Webber at power forward; Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu at small forward; Doug Christie at shooting guard; Bobby Jackson and Mike Bibby at point guard.

The Kings were an exciting team to watch, much like the Thunder today. But they could never get over the hump because they ran into roadblocks in the form of the Lakers and Spurs. Despite winning a ton of regular season games (1,042 to be exact), Adelman’s Kings never won a championship and didn’t even get a taste of the NBA Finals.

Adelman’s teams relied on the jump shot too much and were not stout enough on defense.

Brooks could be following a similar path in Oklahoma City.

The Princeton offense sets up two bigs at the elbows and that triggers multiple actions on either side. If a defender overplays his man, the offensive player has the freedom to cut backdoor for a layup.

It’s a beautiful offense to watch but it doesn’t bring to the table an inside-outside, low-post power game. It’s a perimeter-oriented, finesse scheme that serves jump shooters well. It doesn’t put pressure on a defense’s interior where most championships are won or lost.

In short. You live by the jump shot, you die by the jump shot.

Brooks lives and dies with Durant and Westbrook. He hardly deviates from his beloved Princeton offense, and he struggles with in-game adjustments. When teams take away the backdoor cut, the Thunder usually fall back into an isolation game that mostly relies on the one-on-one skills of Durant and Westbrook.

To win an NBA title, you have to do two things consistently: attack the paint and protect the paint.

As the Heat found out in 2011 when they lost to the Mavericks, you can’t win a championship shooting threes.

As good as Durant is he doesn’t impact the game in the paint. Westbrook is the only player on Oklahoma City capable of putting pressure on the defense by attacking the paint. But Westbrook is a 6-3 guard. It is nearly impossible for him to attack the paint on every possession. That would require super-human strength and stamina.

The Thunder are currently in a playoff dogfight with Memphis. An early exit in the postseason could trigger some changes in Oklahoma City, starting with the coach.

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Reggie Jackson goes up for a layup against the Spurs. (GETTY IMAGES)

While all eyes have been focused on Kevin Durant during his remarkable scoring binge this month, lost in the shuffle is the brilliant play of Reggie Jackson.

The third-year pro out of Boston College has been more than just a backup plan for Oklahoma City while Russell Westbrook continues to recover from knee surgery. Jackson is gaining a reputation around the league as an assassin, a player who doesn’t seem to be fazed by the big moment. Just ask the San Antonio Spurs.

During Wednesday’s nationally televised showdown with the Spurs, Jackson gave Durant all the help he needed as he matched his season high with 27 points while handing out eight assists.

Durant and Jackson combined for 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting in a 35-point fourth quarter for Oklahoma City (33-10).

”He has had great games against the Spurs,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks told the Associated Press. ”I can’t put my finger on it. We want him to play aggressive basketball on both ends of the floor. I thought he did a good job of finding spots on the floor that he can finish around the rim.”

Jackson averages 13.2 points, but has scored 23.7 points against the Spurs this season.

In the fourth quarter against the Spurs Wednesday, Jackson put on a show. He had 11 consecutive points early in the fourth, blowing past Tony Parker for layups to give the Thunder a 94-89 lead with 8 minutes left. When the Spurs tried to switch on the pick-and-rolls, Jackson dropped a jumper right over Tim Duncan.

Jackson’s superb play down the stretch allowed Durant to bust out of his mini funk and hit back-to-back 3-pointers to close the deal in San Antonio. It was the Thunder’s third victory over the Spurs this season, a statement game that should reverberate around the league.

You get the sense that these two teams could meet at some point during the playoffs. The Spurs better figure out a way to solve the Reggie Jackson puzzle.

Russell Westbrook let his emotions get the best of him during the Thunder-Grizzlies game. (TNT)

Before we all gang up on Russell Westbrook for throwing a tantrum on the bench during the Thunder-Grizzlies game on TNT Thursday night, let’s listen to the responses of his coaches and teammates.

Kevin Durant said was just a disagreement. ”This is the game of basketball,” Durant told the Associated Press. “You have so many different emotions on one team. You’re going to have disagreements. It wasn’t the first. It’s not going to be the last. ‘You’ve just got to know how to respond to each other. I think we always do a great job of that.”

Thunder coach Scott Brooks chimed in and said he took Westbrook out of the game after his blowup and then once his All-Star point guard calmed down he returned to the court without any incidents and order was restored.

“It was nothing,” Brooks told AP. “He just had to regroup. … It was nothing that has not happened before – not just with him, with all of our guys.”

The outburst occurred in the third quarter with OKC ahead of Memphis by double digits. Westbrook started sniping with his teammates after a possession when he posted up along the left side of the lane and eventually got called for a turnover when Jerryd Bayless stuck with him on defense for 5 seconds.

Westbrook then spiked the ball and appeared to be gesturing toward teammates Thabo Sefolosha and Durant that they needed to get open. He then hollered toward coach Scott Brooks on the bench and refused to join the huddle during a timeout. Cameras caught Westbrook screaming at assistant coach Maurice Cheeks and was seen slamming one of the chairs at the end of the bench. He walked off to the tunnel and when he returned he had a towel over his head.

Westbrook described it as ”just a little miscommunication.” Brooks said it was an offensive play that went awry. Sefolosha acted as though nothing happened. Obviously something happened because it took a few minutes before the highly combustible Westbrook could compose himself.

TNT reporter Craig Sager asked Westbrook if needs to control his temper more, and Westbrook responded with, “I control it like a man.” Sager followed with “do you put it behind you and go ahead and win?” Westbrook gave him a terse: “If that’s what you say, bro.”

The best part of the TNT clip was the way Charles Barkley explained why Westbrook was so mad. Barkley said: “I think I know what happened. When he left home this morning, and it was dark, and he realized at halftime that he would have to put that shirt on.”

Whether it’s his loud shirts or his loud screams after dunks, Westbrook is fueled by his emotions. Perhaps no player in the league depends on raw emotion more so than Westbrook. His passion and energy is what makes him one of the best players in the game. Now, what he did on the bench was unacceptable, but he’ll learn to deal with that better as he matures. He’s just 24 years old.

Westbrook is like that wild thoroughbred in the stable. You don’t want to fence him in. Let him roam free so he can run wild and wreak havoc. Let him be himself and let him figure things out on his own. He’s a smart, deeply religious guy who has never had any major off-the-court issues. He cares deeply about winning, so why curb his enthusiasm.

It was a mini-implosion no question by the defending Western Conference champions right in the public eye. But when disputes arise, Durant said the Thunder know how to ”talk it out and don’t let it simmer for a long time.”

Just like what Durant said, it won’t be the last time Westbrook will have a meltdown. The Thunder have seen this movie before and they know how it ends.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastbreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Kevin Durant got into foul trouble again guarding LeBron James in Game 3. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

There is nothing like home sweet home. After gaining a split in Oklahoma City, the Miami Heat took advantage of an energized American Airlines Arena crowd to win Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The Heat rallied from a third-quarter deficit and pulled out a 91-85 victory Sunday night to take a 2-1 series lead against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Here are a few observations from Game 3:

DON’T FOUL 3-POINT SHOOTERS!

The last 15 minutes of the second half wasn’t OKC’s finest moment and the pressure of the NBA Finals may be finally catching up to Scott Brooks’ young squad. The Thunder blew a nine-point lead in a three-minute span in the third quarter with two boneheaded plays fouling 3-point shooters. Within a matter of seconds, the Heat were able to cut the deficit to three thanks to six free throws by Shane Battier and James Jones. So, instead taking a lead into the fourth, the Thunder got outscored 15-3 down the stretch in the third and trailed by two entering the fourth.

MORE THUNDER MELTDOWN

After Russell Westbrook cut the Heat lead to 86-85 with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter, the Thunder never scored again and committed some costly gaffes. The worst one was James Harden fouling LeBron James with 16 seconds left when the Miami lead was just three and there was a six-second difference in the game clock that would have given OKC another possession with just one defensive stop. After James made it a four-point game, Thabo Sefolosha and Westbrook had a miscommunication on an inbounds play that led to a turnover.

FOUL TROUBLE FOR DURANT

For the second consecutive game Kevin Durant was in foul trouble. He picked up five fouls in Game 3, but only two of them were legit. Three times Durant was whistled for fouls on LeBron that could have easily been non-calls. Instead, Durant had to taper his aggressiveness and couldn’t play his normal game. Guarding LeBron is hard enough, but when the officials are going to call cheap fouls on Durant it is almost impossible to stop LeBron from scoring.

MIAMI SMALL BALL CAUSES BIG ISSUES

Despite starting two small forwards and a power forward at center, the Heat outrebounded the Thunder 45-38. James had a team-best 14 rebounds playing the big forward spot, while Chris Bosh grabbed 11 rebounds as the starting center. “We don’t necessary feel that we’re small. Everybody calls it small ball, ” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have two forwards, but neither one of them is a power forward and one of them is as big as anybody. Chris is as long as any center. We look at the benefits of the flip side. You gotta make decisions against us. Our versatility may seem unconventional we think it’s one of our greatest strengths.” What the small lineup does for Miami is keep Serge Ibaka from patrolling the paint. Ibaka has been matched up with Shane Battier out in the perimeter, negating his effectiveness and forcing Brooks to match the Heat’s “small ball” with his own brand of “small ball.” Instead of playing a conventional lineup Brooks sits two of his three bigs, which plays right into Miami’s hands.

TEMPO, TEMPO, TEMPO

Since Game 1 when OKC ran circles around Miami to the tune of 24-4 in fastbreak points, the Heat have been able to play at their pace and control the Thunder speed. Spoelstra has been preaching “imposing their will” on the Thunder and taking away their air space. Having Bosh in the starting lineup really helps the Heat control the boards. He had 15 rebounds in Game 2 and had 11 more in Game 3, and that allows the Heat to set up their defense and keep the Thunder from running wild on the break. Westbrook is the one player the Heat have really attacked defensively. Westbrook nearly had a triple-double in Game 1, but the Heat have adjusted their defense and is making Westbrook more of a playmaker than a scorer, which he struggles with at times. Westbrook was so disjointed and out of sync in the third quarter Sunday that Brooks had no choice but to sit him for the last five minutes of the quarter, allowing the Heat to rally. For the Thunder to pick up the pace, Westbrook needs to push the ball harder and make the Heat scramble by attacking the paint and not settle for jump shots.

Dwyane Wade (right) attacks Kendrick Perkins in the second half of Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Miami Heat avoided a 0-2 hole after holding off the hard-charging Oklahoma City Thunder, 100-96, Thursday night in Game 2 of the 2012 NBA Finals. The series now heads to South Beach for games 3, 4, and 5.

Here are a few observations from Game 2:

HEAT USES THE FORCE

Erik Spoelstra talked about playing with more force after his Heat got hammered in Game 1. It was straight out of the Pat Riley book of coaching and the Heat responded by imposing their will on the Thunder. By inserting Chris Bosh — who hasn’t started since Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals — in the starting lineup the Heat played a more conventional lineup and were able to turn the tables on the Thunder in the rebounding department. After getting outrebounded 43-34 in Game 1, the Heat outrebounded the Thunder 40-36 thanks to Bosh’s 15 rebounds — seven on the offensive end — in 40 minutes. “We needed every bit of his big tonight,” Spoelstra said of Bosh.

SLOW STARTS NOT OK IN OKC

The Thunder have outscored the Heat in six of the eight quarters played, but the first quarters have been their Achilles’ heel. Oklahoma City got down 29-22 in Game 1 and it happened again in Game 2 as the Heat surged to a 27-15 lead in the first quarter and led wire-to-wire. “Two games in a row the first quarter let us down,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “It’s tough to come back when you’re down 17. I told the guys we’re a much better team to be down 17.” The Heat are too good of a team to be given a cushion every game, and Brooks better figure out how to get his team going early.

BATTIER ON A ROLL

Shane Battier is probably not on the Thunder scouting report because he has been wide open all series. In two games, the Heat forward has 34 points on 9-for-13 from 3-point range, including a key bank-shot trey in Game 2. This is the same guy who struggled to find the rim in the first two rounds of the playoffs, now he can’t seem to miss. Oklahoma City may have to start staying home on Battier because he is locked in and has provided a much-needed scoring punch from the outside, allowing LeBron James and Dwyane Wade more room to operate in the painted area.

DID LEBRON FOUL DURANT?

The conspiracy theorists are running rampant after some questionable calls Thursday night. The biggest one was the noncall on LeBron James when he appeared to foul Kevin Durant on his baseline jumper with seven seconds left in the game and the Thunder down by only two. Replays showed that Durant was thrown offbalance after James gave him a nudge on his shot attempt. When Durant was asked about it during his postgame press conference, he shrugged it off, didn’t use it as an excuse, and said: “I missed the shot, man.”

LEBRON CLUTCHES UP

We all quickly pounce on LeBron when he shrinks in the fourth quarter, but we should also highlight his brilliance when it deserves it. James made some clutch baskets late in the game, including an offbalance bank shot with the clock winding down that put the Heat up four and two free throws with seven seconds left to ice the game. LeBron had another monster game overall, scoring 32 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 42 minutes. He was also a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line. James also dug deep defensively, matching up with Durant for most of the game.

FLASHBACK

Dwyane Wade’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. “One day it’ll happen. Father Time will knock on the door and tap me on the shoulder. But not right now,” Wade said. The 2006 Finals MVP looked like the D-Wade of old, scoring 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting, and had seven in the first quarter. When Wade is in attack mode, like he was Thursday night, the Heat are a different team. He didn’t settle for jumpers and did most of his damage in the paint. In the fourth, he scored a tough floater and set up Bosh for a big-time dunk with under a minute left.

Russell Westbrook shoots over Chris Bosh during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Oklahoma City Thunder drew first blood in the 2012 NBA Finals after defeating the Miami Heat, 105-94, in Game 1 Tuesday night.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 36 points in his first Finals game, and he got plenty of help from Russell Westbrook, who nearly had a triple-double. The Thunder point guard had 27 points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists. The Heat got 30 points from LeBron James, but was just 2-for-7 in the fourth quarter, and didn’t get much help from Dwyane Wade (19 points) and Chris Bosh (10).

Here are some observations from Game 1 of the Finals:

DURANT FIRES FIRST SHOT
The marquee matchup between the Durant and James lived up to the hype, and went according to the script. James came out swinging with an impressive first half to give the Heat a seven-point halftime lead. Durant then countered with a superb second half, including 17 points in the fourth quarter in which OKC outscored the Miami 31-21. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra gambled a bit by having James guard center Kendrick Perkins and it allowed KD to get into a groove against Shane Battier.

SEFOLOSHA’S SUFFOCATING DEFENSE
Thabo seems to have Wade’s number, dating back to his days when he was a member of the Chicago Bulls. Sefolosha’s length and activity bothered Wade a lot in Game 1, and Wade wasn’t able to get going offensively. The Heat guard was just 7-for-19 from the field and missed several makeable shots. With Wade under control, OKC coach Scott Brooks switched Sefolosha on LeBron in the fourth quarter and Thabo locked surprisingly was able to lock up LeBron, forcing him to 2-for-6 shooting. Sefolosha was so effective Brooks stayed him for much of the fourth quarter (28 minutes) and kept Harden (22 minutes) on the bench, a shrewd move by a young coach.

WESTBROOK TAKES CHARGE
For all those Westbrook critics out there, here is stat for you to digest: the Thunder are 25-5 when Westbrook takes more shots than Durant. Brooks has repeated the last two years that Westbrook makes the Thunder special. If you have a championship thoroughbred like Westbrook you don’t fence him in — you unleash him. And that’s exactly what the OKC point guard did in Game 1 as his energy and effort enabled the Thunder to erase a double-digit deficit and surge ahead of the Heat in the second half. The game changed when Westbrook started penetrating and collapsing the Heat’s interior defense, opening up the floor for Durant and others. Spoelstra must figure out a way to corral Westbrook or else this could end up being a short series.

BROOKS PRESSES THE RIGHT BUTTONS
Once the Thunder got the nerves out of the way they rolled in the second half thanks to a couple of bold adjustments by their fourth-year coach. Aside from keeping Sefolosha in the game longer than usual, Brooks also called on Nick Collison’s number instead of sticking with Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka. Collison rewarded his coach by scoring eight points and grabbing 10 rebounds off the bench. Collison’s hustle and energy gave OKC extra possessions with tip-ins and offensive rebounds, and his ability to score on screen-and-rolls and baseline drives took advantage of a small Heat lineup.

WHERE IS WADE?
LeBron absorbs a ton of Heat for his fourth-quarter failures, but Wade shouldn’t be absolved for Miami’s downfall. Wade just doesn’t look like the D-Wade of old. He struggled against Sefolosha, but more alarmingly he couldn’t punish James Harden, Westbrook or Derek Fisher when he was matched up against them especially in the low block. Wade had his knee drained last month and he has been battling all sorts of injures (ankle, knee, finger) all season. You have to wonder if they are all taking its toll on him.

CATCHING UP TO THE THUNDER
LeBron and Wade normally are the fastest guys on the court, but they met their match in Westbrook and Durant. OKC had a 24-4 advantage in fastbreak points, an alarming stat considering speed and uptempo is Miami’s best weapon. Spoelstra said the Thunder were quicker to seemingly every 50-50 ball and turned turnovers into points in a matter of seconds. In any other series, Miami would embrace a track meet. But against OKC, the Heat may have to dial it down and slow the pace.

Kevin Durant will be matched up against LeBron James in the 2012 NBA Finals. (GETTY IMAGES)

This is the dream matchup for the NBA. You have arguably the best team from the West playing against arguably the best team in the East. And each side boasts arguably the two best players in the game.

The NBA Finals has not had this kind of salacious showdown since Magic Johnson’s Lakers faced Michael Jordan’s Bulls in 1991. Twenty-one years ago, a hard-charging Jordan outdueled Magic, who was a few months away from retirement, to capture his first NBA title. The 2012 matchup between Kevin Durant’s Thunder and LeBron James’ Heat involves two superstars in the prime of their careers hungry to win their first championship rings.

No disrespect to Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, but this year’s NBA Finals series is all about LeBron, the three-time league MVP, and Durant, the three-time scoring champion.

“Yeah, that’s a sexier matchup I guess,” Durant said. “But I don’t read newspapers. I don’t get on Twitter anymore. I just focus on what I need to do.”

The last time Durant posted something on his Twitter account was May 1. LeBron’s Twitter account hasn’t been touched since April 27. Both young men have been razor sharp in the postseason, with James averaging more than 30 points per game while Durant has already produced three game-winning baskets.

James averaged 25 points and eight assists against OKC during the regular season, while Durant averaged 29 points and six rebounds. The Heat are coming off a hard-fought seven-game series against the Celtics, while the Thunder dispatched the San Antonio Spurs in six games.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks says Durant will definitely guard LeBron in the series, but the Thunder will need all hands on deck to slow down the 6-foot-8, 265-pound locomotive who wears No. 6 on the Heat.

“Kevin is a gym rat. He’s always looking for a challenge,” Brooks said. “It’s definitely a matchup that is enjoyable to see and how it turns out. If Kevin has a bad shooting night it’s probably because they played great team defense on him.

“They’re both great players. They’re both driven and hungry basketball players.”

After what transpired in last year’s Finals, there is a ton of pressure on James to win now. He has already failed once as a member of the Cavaliers and last year as a Heat. He is hoping the third time is a charm.

“I didn’t play well. I think I’ve said that 100 times this year,” James said of his 2011 NBA Finals meltdown against Dallas.

“I didn’t make enough game-changing plays that I know I’m capable of making and I felt like I let my teammates down,” he continued. “‘I’m happy and I’m humbled that I can actually be back in this position less than 12 months later to do a better job of making more plays, more game-changing plays out on the floor on a bigger stage. So we’ll see what happens.”

For Durant, he is four games away from winning his first title before his 24th birthday but he has to go through his good friend LeBron to accomplish his ultimate goal.

“He can score at will. He’s strong, can shoot it. I have to play my hardest every possession. I can’t take any possessions off,” Durant said of James, who worked out with the Thunder superstar during the summer and served as his mentor.

”Our relationship is really good,” James said. “Our relationship is going to continue to grow and I’m happy to be in this position where I can compete against him.”

Great players rise to the challenge, and the series will likely come down to Durant and James. The championship will come down to which superstar shines the brightest.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks pressed all the right buttons in the series against the Spurs. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

What a difference a week makes. Last week the San Antonio Spurs were on a historic roll, winning 20 in a row and were a perfect 10-0 in the postseason.

Seven days later the unbeatable Spurs are going fishing after dropping four consecutive games to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs’ season ended Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, as the young and hungry Thunder — led by three-time scoring champ Kevin Durant — overcame a 15-point halftime deficit in Game 6 and closed out the Western Conference finals series with a 107-99 victory.

The Thunder will get their first taste of the NBA Finals while the Spurs are left with a bitter taste in their mouths after dropping the ball on what seemed like a sure-fire championship. The Thunder showed remarkable composure for such a playoff novice, while the veteran-laden Spurs were the ones looking unsure and played out of character.

“As sad as disappointed as we are it’s almost like a Hollywood script for OKC in a sense,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They went through Dallas, last year’s NBA champion. They went through the Lakers and they went through us. Those three teams represent 10 of the last 13 championships.”

It’s not often Popovich gets outcoached in a playoff series but Scott Brooks pressed the right buttons for OKC. It started with the hack-a-Splitter in Game 2, staying with Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins and deciding against small ball, and putting Thabo Sefolosha on Tony Parker in Game 3.

Brooks challenged his big men to switch every pick-and-roll and Ibaka and Perkins rewarded their coach with more energy and effort. There was a great moment in Game 3 in OKC when Perkins was caught in a switch with Parker and instead of backing up Perkins started clapping his hands as he moved forward on Parker, signaling to the Spurs point guard to “bring it!”

And instead of minimizing his role in the series Brooks increased Sefolosha’s minutes and although he didn’t completely shut down Parker he made it harder for the Spurs’ leading scorer to find open teammates because of his length.

Another adjustment Brooks made was the ball screens for Durant. He had Durant in high pick-and-rolls with Russell Westbrook and Perkins to create mismatches and forced Duncan and Parker in one-one-one situations against Durant and created better floor spacing for the OKC shooters.

After the Thunder tied the series at 2-2, Popovich gambled by starting Manu Ginobili in Game 5. It was an uncharacteristically desperate move by the four-time world champion coach. The move not only pushed Danny Green to the bench but it also junked up a rotation that had been so good all season.

In hindsight Popovich probably should have stayed the course and a former Spurs player was also critical of Pop’s decision to tinker with his lineup this late in the season.

Robert Horry, who won two titles with the Spurs, said on NBA TV’s “Game Time” what hurt the Spurs having Ginobili in the starting lineup is it zapped San Antonio’s scoring punch off the bench especially in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a tag team that him and Tony share,” Horry said. “First quarter Tony does his thing then Manu comes in the second quarter.

“They are both very ball dominant, and they get their plays off the pick-and-rolls,” Horry continued. “Now with the insertion of Manu it takes away that punch that you have and you need to keep that punch sometimes because it’s the rhythm you have and that’s what the team is used to and I just think it went helter-skelter kinda crazy with both those guys trying to handle the basketball.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Spurs guard Tony Parker (middle) drives between Thunder forwards Serge Ibaka (left) and Kevin Durant. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Forget about who is going to the NBA Finals. The bigger question is “can anyone win a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs?”

In case you hadn’t looked it up, the last time the Spurs lost a game was on April 11 against the L.A. Lakers. That’s more than a month ago and the team that handed San Antonio’s last defeat is already on vacation. Since that 14-point embarrassment at home, the Spurs have reeled off 20 straight victories — the third-best streak in NBA history — and they’re far from done. They finished the regular season on a 10-game winning streak and so far they’re turning the postseason into a rout and easily the best bet to win the NBA title.

San Antonio is halfway to reaching its goal after going up 2-0 in its best-of-seven series against the second-best team in the West, and the team that was eliminated in the first round a year ago is just six wins shy of completing the first perfect playoff run in the NBA.

The Thunder gave the Spurs their best shot in Game 2 as Kevin Durant (31), James Harden (30) and Russell Westbrook (27) combined to score 88 of Oklahoma City’s 111 points. Normally scoring 111 points should be more than enough to win a playoff game, but the Thunder walked off the AT&T Center court nine-point losers.

“Playing against the Spurs, you take away something you give up something. Today they made a lot of threes,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “They’re a good team, that’s what makes them a good team. That’s why they’ve won 20 in a row. We just have to figure it out.”

Brooks must feel like the captain of the Costa Concordia. His ship has hit a massive rock and is sinking fast, and there’s not much he can do about it. In Game 1, Manu Ginobili hit the Thunder with 26 points. In Game 2, Tony Parker got loose for 34 points. What makes the Spurs so difficult to figure out is because they play as a team. They’re not the Miami Heat, they’re not the Lakers, they’re not the Thunder. They win with a championship-tested system that involves good ball movement and floor spacing.

In the words of Brooks, “they’re a very, very good basketball team” with the heavy emphasis on “team.”

“That’s what they do. They spread you out, they put some tough decisions on the floor,” Brooks said. “You have to guard their big rolling, you have to protect against their 40 percent 3-point shooters, you have to really handle the ball who looks to attack.”

Brooks added, “They have great experience, they know how to play, they pass the ball extremely well. Very rarely do they take an extra dribble. When a man’s open to pass. It’s good basketball.”

“We’re playing against the best team in basketball.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.