“We knew that they were probably going to foul,” Scott Brooks said. “They’ve done that in the past. I think Russell thought he was going to get fouled, and he got pushed a little bit, but probably not enough to get the call in that situation. And then there were going to be some other actions off a drive and kick.”
Brooks paused, waiting for the next question. And then figured he should add something else.
“But there were many other plays throughout the game,” he said.
A very correct statement. And we’ll get to those other things in a bit. But that last play. That last play, you guys. The Thunder had come back to have a chance to tie, down 115-112 with 3.4 seconds left after Corey Brewer split free throws. Anthony Morrow, who is shooting 2,000 percent on 3s the last two months, and was 6-8 from deep tonight, was inbounding the ball. Sure, makes sense. You know what they say, a lot of times the inbounder is the most dangerous player on the court. A little obvious, but still.
Instead, Westbrook came to get the ball, anticipated Brewer taking a foul, and fired wildly from 35 feet. Airball, game over, sadness ensued.
“He did,” Westbrook said when asked if he was anticipating the foul. “He did actually.”
It’s a decent excuse for an otherwise ungodly bad play. It’s why you do advance scouting, and it said the Rockets foul up three. So the Thunder were prepared, and Westbrook tried to make something happen by getting into the shooting motion. He’s gotten the call before, and he was trying again.
I have two problems with this: 1) You can’t run a play that puts the responsibility on the referee to make a call for you and 2) it didn’t seem like there was anything else planned after it. Brooks was vague with the “other actions” thing, as he always is, and I took that as he didn’t want to say that Westbrook broke the play to come get the ball, which has happened in the past.
But after hearing Anthony Morrow postgame, I’m not so entirely sure.
“I was just taking it out,” he said. “I was making sure I got a good pass in to him. I knew we had a few seconds on the clock but I couldn’t really tell if it was a foul or not, but it’s tough. It didn’t come down to that play, obviously, there are hundreds of plays and we didn’t take advantage all the way tonight.”
Was he anticipating getting a look himself?
“I mean, I’m always trying to make myself available for everybody. But obviously with Russ coming to the ball, he got himself open, which I’m glad he did and I got the ball into him.”
So. It would seem to me that Morrow — one of the best 3-point shooters in the league — wasn’t involved in the final play. It would seem to me, that the final design was for Westbrook to get fouled and go to the line for two free throws, or try and get fouled on a 3. If all that is the case, that’s horrible planning by Brooks and the Thunder. If this were a one-off play, you’d get over it. But we’ve seen it too many times to really forgive it. The Blazers run a simple double-screen for Damian Lillard that everyone in the building knows is coming, and get a look. Why is it so very hard? Is it because Westbrook’s death grip on wanting the ball makes it too difficult, or is this Brooks’ lack of ingenuity? I don’t know the answer. I do know that the look the Thunder got, even if Brewer did take the foul, wasn’t good. And the play that produced it, wasn’t good.
) relativ problemlos durchgekommen ist. 
