Later, it looks like Beasley comes over to apologize…

End the lockout, please.

That took place one night after Durant scored 66 points at Rucker Park. There is so much to love about this next video, from the two team’s jerseys (orange & red), to the guy on the microphone, to how no one respects the court’s boundaries. The key sequence starts at about the 2:50 mark.

Kevin Pritchard was the man in charge of the Portland Trailblazers when the team took Greg Oden with the #1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft instead of Kevin Durant. Pritchard joined 95.5 the Game with John Canzano and discussed a wide range of topics, including that decision.

“I have never studied a person or players like I did Durant/Oden. It was every single minute of every single second of their entire careers. We were going back into AAU and the one thing that kept hitting us really hard was Greg Oden lost three games until he got to Ohio State, then he got hurt again and only lost a couple there and that was over hundreds and hundreds of games. The overwhelming thing that we got from everybody we talked to was the cat doesn’t care if he scores or does anything, but he’s about winning. We had been really trying to change our culture for guys who really put the team first, not care about stats, and really be about winning. We thought he was the pick at the time. We did the same thing with Durant. They said he’s gonna be the best scorer in the league, he’s going to be an amazing player, and he’s gonna win. We just felt like Greg was going to be that guy that just doesn’t lose basketball games. Right before he got hurt we were talking as a management group and we were like man doesn’t it feel like this is becoming a little bit like Greg’s team because in the locker room after a loss he would get really, really upset and he demands out of his teammates probably more than any other player I’ve been around other than Larry Bird. When he lost, he let his teammates knows what they have to do the next game. We were feeling so comfortable going into the rest of the second half of the season that we were going to be good because Greg was coming along.”

At the time, it was not easy to see that Durant was going to have the better career because it was impossible to know that Oden was going to have so much bad luck with injuries. Durant was definitely the better offensive player, but franchise centers don’t come around very often, and Oden was a major force on the defensive end (not unlike Dwight Howard). He also was capable on the offensive end, and already had a couple of post moves when he came out of Ohio State.

He may not be able to stay healthy, but the guy can play. His 36-minute splits over his first two seasons are impressive: 15.3 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.4 blocks, 6.4 fouls…wait, ignore that last one. But seriously, lots of big men have trouble adjusting to NBA officiating.

Even if Oden can stay healthy, he’ll never overtake Durant in terms of overall value, but he can close the gap a bit…if he can just stay upright.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been waiting to write this piece for the last couple of weeks. With the way that the Thunder had been closing games, I knew it was just a matter of time before they’d be eliminated from the Playoffs and I have been thinking about the different directions that the franchise can go from here.

After watching both the Memphis and Dallas series, I have come to this conclusion: Oklahoma City can not win a title with Russell Westbrook at the point.

It’s not that he’s not a good player. He is. He’s just not a point guard. People say that he has come a long way in his three seasons, but he sure didn’t show it in the last two series. Take a look at his numbers in the fourth quarter (and overtime) of all the games against Dallas and Memphis:

Westbrook was benched for one fourth quarter against the Mavs, so he played four 4th quarters and one overtime against Dallas. I threw out Game 5 against the Grizzlies because it wasn’t close in the 4th quarter, and I’m interested in how he plays with the game on the line. In total, he played six 4th quarters and four overtimes against Memphis. That adds up to 145 potential minutes and Westbrook played a majority of them. That many minutes converts to three full games (145/48 = 3.02), so I divided his totals by three to give us a rough idea of what his per game averages would have been if we only counted his 4th quarter and overtime numbers.

His totals (27.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists) are fairly impressive, but his shooting percentages (37% 2P, 22% 3P) are not. He did do a great job of getting to the line (12.3) and made them when he got there, at least against the Grizzlies. He turned the ball over at an extraordinary rate (7.3 per “game”). His assist-to-turnover ratio (0.59) was absolutely brutal. To put this in perspective, a ratio of 2.5 is average for a point guard, while the best ones are usually over 3.0.

He’s not a point guard. This much is clear. In his career, he has played 269 games at the position and proved against the Grizzlies and the Mavs that he’s not consistently able to be the floor general that a championship-caliber team needs.

So what does OKC do with him? The way I see it, they have two options:

1. Move him to off guard.
He’s a little undersized at 6’3″, but with his long arms and athletic ability, he could defend most opposing shooting guards. Also, for a “shooting” guard, he’s not a very good shooter (33% 3P on the season), but Dwyane Wade isn’t very accurate from distance and he makes it work.

In my mind, Westbrook’s best way forward is to follow in Wade’s shoes. Wade isn’t a point guard either, and he has figured out a way to play off guard even though he’s a little undersized.

The problem with moving Westbrook to the ‘two’ is that it’s going to impact James Harden, who is a prototypical off guard. Harden would either stay on the bench (he’s too good for that) or he would have to play small forward, where he would be undersized. That would push Durant to the ‘four’ and he’s not strong enough right now to play power forward on a consistent basis.

This leads me to option 2 for Westbrook…

2. Trade him.
If I were GM Sam Presti, I’d get the Hornets on the line and see if they’d be willing to give up Chris Paul for Westbrook. The Hornets may be feeling the pressure to do something with Paul since he’s entering the final year of his contract and may be on his way out of town. If they don’t trade him and he signs elsewhere, it would be disastrous. It’s very tough to get equal value for a superstar, but with all his flaws, Westbrook is an All-Star and All-NBA performer who could make a killing as an off guard on the right team. Perhaps New Orleans would go for a package that would include Westbrook, Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson’s expiring contract. (See it in the ESPN Trade Machine.)

If the Hornets decline to trade Paul, then I’d ring up the Nets and see if they would do the same deal for Deron Williams, who is in a similar position (contract-wise) as Paul. Both the Hornets and Nets have to feel the pressure with these two point guards, and if the Thunder played the two teams off of each other, I bet someone would bite.

Imagine a lineup of Paul (or Williams), Harden, Durant, Collison and Ibaka for the next five years! I have no inside info, but I suspect both Paul and Williams would love to join the Thunder simply because they’ll have a chance to contend for a title for the next several years. And don’t forget that Paul is familiar with OKC since the Hornets played there (and drew great crowds) while New Orleans was recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Obviously, Westbrook would have to agree to an extension as part of the trade, as would Paul/Williams. Both sides will need to come away from the trade with the peace of mind that their new star is locked up for the long term.

Is a Westbrook trade going to happen? Probably not, but that’s the direction I would go if I were in charge. The current makeup of the roster cannot accommodate his move to off guard and there’s no one to take over the point even if he did. (Eric Maynor is a solid backup, but he’s just that…a backup.) A trade would bring in an impact point guard and free up all those minutes for Harden at the two.

After a Kevin Durant three-pointer with 5:05 to play in regulation, the Thunder led 99-84 and looked destined to tie the series up. But somehow they ended up in overtime — how did that happen?

It was a combination of two factors: 1) Dirk Nowitzki took over offensively for the Mavs, and 2) the Thunder had several poor possessions down the stretch.

Take a look at the Mavs’ final 10 possessions:

4:48 Shawn Marion makes two free throws
4:33 Dirk Nowitzki makes 1 of 2 free throws
4:09 Dirk Nowitzki turnover
3:48 Jason Kidd makes two free throws
3:15 Dirk Nowitzki makes 13-foot jumper
2:11 Dirk Nowitzki makes 24-foot three point jumper (Jason Kidd assists)
2:00 Dirk Nowitzki makes 14-foot jumper
1:25 Dirk Nowitzki makes 5-foot two point shot
0:39 Shawn Marion makes 1 of 2 free throws
0:06 Dirk Nowitzki makes two free throws

That’s 17 points on 10 possessions, or 1.7 points per possession, which is outstanding.

Now, the Thunder’s final possessions:

5:07 Russell Westbrook misses 25-foot three point jumper
4:33 Serge Ibaka misses 6-foot jumper
4:20 Russell Westbrook misses 17-foot jumper
3:48 Russell Westbrook lost ball (Jason Kidd steals)
3:32 Kevin Durant misses 22-foot jumper
2:49 Kevin Durant misses 25-foot three point jumper
2:32 Russell Westbrook makes two point shot
2:11 Russell Westbrook misses two free throws
1:38 Russell Westbrook misses 15-foot jumper
1:07 Kevin Durant lost ball (Shawn Marion steals)
0:40 Russell Westbrook misses 16-foot jumper
0:20 Thabo Sefolosha misses 23-foot three point jumper
0:01 Shawn Marion blocks Kevin Durant’s 30-foot three point jumper

That’s two points on the Thunder’s final 13 possessions, or 0.2 points per possession. They went 1-for-11 from the field with two turnovers. Westbrook went 1-for-6 with a turnover and zero assists in the final 5:07. OKC was just unable to get good shots when the Mavs tightened up the defense in crunch time. Durant was getting pushed around while Westbrook was doing his usual dribble-around-and-fire-up-a-shot act.

Overtime was more of the same for OKC. Take a look:

4:26 Kevin Durant misses 24-foot three point jumper
3:54 Thabo Sefolosha makes jumper (Kevin Durant assists)
2:51 Russell Westbrook misses 25-foot three point jumper
2:31 Russell Westbrook step out of bounds turnover
1:54 Serge Ibaka makes 17-foot jumper (Russell Westbrook assists)
1:01 Kevin Durant lost ball (Jason Kidd steals)
0:26 Russell Westbrook misses 5-foot running jumper
0:09 Kevin Durant misses 24-foot three point jumper
0:01 Kevin Durant misses 25-foot three point jumper

Over the final 10 minutes, Russell Westbrook went 1-for-8 with two turnovers and an assist. The turnover in overtime was inexplicable. The ball was tapped back on the Mavs’ end of the court and it hit Jason Terry’s hand as it headed over towards the Dallas bench. Westbrook should have let the ball go, but instead tried to save it. It’s what I like to call “dumb hustle.”

It’s no surprise that Westbrook struggled down the stretch; it has been a common theme in these Playoffs. But Durant was pretty awful too. Here’s his line for the final 10 minutes: 0-for-6 from the field (0-5 3PT), one assist and two turnovers. Combined, the Thunder’s two stars went 1-for-14 from the field with four turnovers and two assists.

And that’s how you blow a 15-point lead with five minutes to play, only to lose in overtime. In total, they were outscored 28-6 over the final 10 minutes.