Remember 48 hours ago when Scott Brooks and the Oklahoma City Thunder were determined not to change Russell Westbrook's hyper-aggressive playing style?
No worries. Scott Brooks doesn't remember either.
Sunday night, with the Thunder up six points midway through the third quarter and flirting with taking control of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Scott Brooks decided to temper Westbrook's hyper-aggressive playing style. He benched his All-Star point guard and quite possibly irreversibly changed the momentum of this best-of-seven series.
In the matchup of young head coaches being dragged through the Finals by trios of superstars, Scott Brooks blinked before Erik Spoelstra.
With Kevin Durant already on the OKC bench nursing his fourth foul (a Joey Crawford phantom call on a Dwyane Wade drive) and James Harden in the nasty throes of another miserable Finals shooting performance, Brooks sat Westbrook the last five minutes of the third quarter, foolishly tossing away the Thunder's momentum....
