Westbrook Leads by Example in Home Win Over Pistons

You know, it was about time I saw something resembling leadership from Russell Westbrook. To the untrained frilly fan boy eyes over there at Little Nick Gallo’s Daily Thunder blog — this may have gone unnoticed, but to those of us who’ve played and coached sports–it didn’t go unnoticed.

Russell Westbrook put Pachulia’s worseless ass down on the floor hard midway through the second period and finally sent a wakeup call to his teammates. Finally.

I don’t go to the coach’s illustrator board all that much on here because quite frankly I find Kenny Smith a bore on TNT. Charles Barkley , an Auburn guy of course, is the captain of that ship. So…let’s go to the ‘underground’ illustrator and highlight the biggest play in the Thunder’s win over the abysmal Detroit Pistons—the former bad boys of hoops themselves.

Now ask yourself…all during this Thunder slump since the All-Star break…had you seen anything like this until tonight inside the Peake? Of course not…all we’ve seen is Billy Donovan’s pretty boy ball which eventually had him leaving the SEC because Calipari had all the players because they knew Florida wasn’t the ticket to being a first round NBA pick anymore.

I’m guessing Westbrook and his father had a very long and personal talk the other night after the Laker game and this team’s obvious lack of passion since the All-Star break. I’m not saying Westbrook Sr. told Russell to do this before the game, but I’m guessing in a broad sense Westbrook Sr. reminded his son good teams are generally coached internally by the team’s two stars… as in Russell and Paul George.

How many times in an NFL game have you seen a hard hit change the flow of a game? How many times in the NHL does an open ice check change the feel of the game? How many times in a MLB game does a pitcher have to get the batter off the plate? Yet…in OKC—up until tonight…the Thunder not one singular time have Billy Donovan get ejected or have a star do what Westbrook FINALLY did tonight.

The little prissy fan boys over at Nick Gallo’s Daily Thunder blog never played sports so this prolly went right over his/their heads.. and quite frankly–it’s why I want Little Nick Gallo to serve at the minimum a six month internship with me over here.

But enough of that. This was a nice win for the Thunder, but it doesn’t mean anything long term if the attitude we saw from Westbrook doesn’t manifest itself into an edge on an every night basis as in playing some defense with some friggin’ physicality.

Here’s Isiah back in the day sending his future mate Rick Mahorn and his Piston teammates a little message. I’m not saying Karl Anthony-Townes should be clotheslined in the first period in Minneapolis during the ABC matinee game on Sunday, but I’m not saying he shouldn’t be either. Depends on the flow of the game. It is what it is, but at least in this game Russell Westbrook sent his teammates a little reminder their star point guard hasn’t checked it in with three games still remaining in the regular season.

In closing…we all know the Thunder have two chances of beating the Warriors in a seven game series…as in slim and none. Yet, to me at least, if you’re going down…then at least go down in flames leaving nothing in the gas tank.

If it turns out the Thunder have to play Golden State, I’d insert Morris, Burton, and some enforcer from the G League into the starting lineup and set the tone right there in the game’s opening minute. The Thunder have nothing to lose. Get physical and see what happens. Maybe Durant or Steph will break a hand in the brawl. See Westbrook Sr. smiling as I finish up here.

That’s it for me until Sunday … I have a Baby Reveal Party to attend and a Final Four to cover.

For Billy Donovan