By Craig Davis, Sun Sentinel –
MIAMI — He dazzled. He entertained. He put on the single-handed show of the NBA Finals with one jaw-dropping rush to the hoop after another.
Russell Westbrook did everything but carry the Thunder to victory Tuesday in Game 4, though he put relentless energy toward that objective from opening tip to final horn.
Yet, when he was finished abusing the net, with 43 points on 62-percent shooting, it was Westbrook receiving the bonehead award in the defeat that put Oklahoma on the brink of elimination, down 3-1 to the Heat.
All because the Thunder guard fouled Mario Chalmers needlessly with 13.8 seconds remaining as the shot clock was running down on the Heat following a jump ball. By rule, the nearly-expired shot clock was reset to 5 seconds for the jump ball.
The Heat, leading by three, needed to rush to get a shot off. Instead, Westbrook’s foul enabled Chalmers to ice the game with two free throws.
“I was just thinking like it was 13 seconds left, so if they won the tip, then we were going to have to foul. But I forgot that you get five seconds once the jump ball occurred again, and I just forgot. Just a mental error on my part,” Westbrook said Wednesday.
There was some confusion as to whether the players were apprised of the situation. Dwyane Wade said he was unaware of the rule until Heat coaches pointed it out. Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins said the Thunder players were reminded there were five seconds on the clock and not to foul.
“It’s not his fault,” Perkins said. “That’s not the reason we lost the game.”
Westbrook copped the mea culpa, and it goes down as another strike against the star who seemingly is the designated scapegoat of this Finals, much like LeBron James was last year.
The knocks are he shoots too much, doesn’t get the ball to scoring champ Kevin Durant often enough, and has too many costly brain cramps. Coach Scott Brooks sat Westbrook for the last five minutes of the third quarter of Game 3.
The previous game, Magic Johnson cited Westbrook with “the worst performance by a point guard in NBA Finals history.”
That had to sting. Westbrook is a SoCal kid. He played at UCLA. Magic was his idol.
Westbrook came out like a scoring machine possessed Tuesday. He made his first four shots and kept shooting, perhaps because James Harden couldn’t score and Durant seemed increasingly reluctant to.
Durant scored six points in the fourth quarter to 17 for Westbrook. Many came on spectacular drives that led to Johnson altering his assessment to “amazing,” and saying, “Maybe I got to apologize to him.”
All of that was meaningless to Westbrook because, “We didn’t come out with the win.”
He also made it clear that the critics are of little consequence to him, saying, “Let me get this straight, what you guys say doesn’t make me happy, make me sad, doesn’t do anything. It’s all about my team and us winning a game. I don’t have a personal challenge against you guys, and it’s not me against the world. It’s not the world against me.”
Ibaka clarifies comments — sort of
Thunder forward Serge Ibaka backtracked on his criticism of LeBron James’ defensive play, saying his remarks that caused a stir prior to Game 4 were misconstrued. His explanation lent credence to the possibility a language barrier contributed.
“I know for myself I didn’t say that or mean that,” Ibaka said. “I didn’t say like people are thinking now. It was something about the team; they do a great job. Then people take it bad, thinking like they want.”
