Growing Pains

At certain junctures of life, people just need to know when to set pride aside. Whether it is in a debate one person has clearly lost, or if a bet cost someone money; there comes a time to swallow pride and learn from past mistakes. Tonight, selfish play lead to starting point guard Russel Westbrook sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder's 106-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Westbrook could only watch as the Thunder reserves boomed with 50 points; and their back up point guard, Eric Maynor, ran the offense down the stretch in a key playoff game. But it was not just Maynor and his 13 points that propelled the Thunder to even the series; the credit for that goes primarily to James Harden and his beard, for they scored 23 points and effectively replaced Westbrook's usual offensive output.

Playoff Beard in full effect

Yet the primary reason that Westbrook did not get his number called in the fourth quarter is because of his attitude towards head coach Scott Brooks after being benched with 7:20 to go in the third quarter. Westbrook drove to the basket looking to score; instead  of scoring, Westbrook committed his fourth turnover and earned himself a trip to the bench. Head coach of the Thunder Scott Brooks slapped Westbrook on the back, telling him to pass the ball more. That lead to Westbrook expressing his frustration to the point in which assistant coach Maurice Cheeks had to calm him down. After the incident, Brooks decided to let back up point guard Eric Maynor run the offense for the rest of the game. Sitting your second best player when your team is down 0-1 in the series was a risky move by the 2010 coach of the year, but the Thunder won without Westbrook.

And honestly, as tough as it was for Westbrook to sit in the fourth quarter of a key game, it should serve as a good wakeup call in the long run.

Russell Westbrook is a 22 year old professional basketball player, yet he has his moments in which he plays with the selfishness of a 14 year old teenager. Sure Westbrook has had his scoring numbers rise from 15.3 points per game in 2008-2009 to 21.9 points per game this past season, but his ability to defer to the better player in Kevin Durant has not improved much over the course of his three year career. One example of this selfish trend came in the series against the Memphis Grizzlies in game in which he took 2 more shots than Druant, but unlike his teammate who went 11-21, Westbrook only made 9 of his 23 shots. At times, Westbrook plays what ESPN analyst Michael Wilbon likes to call "hero ball" in which Westbrook shows a genuine dislike for passing; which leads to Westbrook taking to many shots and the Thunder not capitalizing because of it.

There is always a little bit of growing up that everyone needs to do in their lives; and if Westbrook wants to win an NBA title, he will take the positives from this experience and use it as motivation to get better.