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Russell Westbrook? He's no Scottie Pippen
Published: 5/20/2011 2:53 PM
Last Modified: 5/20/2011 2:53 PM

So far, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder seems to have handled a late-game coach’s decision in exactly the right way. Translated: He is not Scottie Pippen.

Seventeen years and one week ago, the Michael Jordan-less Chicago Bulls were engaged in a playoff battle with the New York Knicks. The score was tied and, during a timeout with 1.8 seconds left, Bulls coach Phil Jackson drew up a play for Toni Kukoc to take a final shot.

Pippen was heard to say “I’m tired of this” when he saw that the play was designed for someone other than himself. Feeling disrespected, he took himself out of the game and sat down.

With only four players on the court and Pippen refusing to go back in the game, Jackson had to call timeout so he could find someone -- Pete Myers -- to sub in for Pippen.

Not only did Pippen commit mutiny, he lost ammo to second-guess Jackson because the play worked as planned. Myers passed the ball to Kukoc, who sank a game-winner.

Pippen lost sight of the fact that a coach’s job is to win games rather than pacify an ego.

I’m waiting for a future instance when a player pulls a Pippen and a coach responds by putting the player on the injured list. The injury? Hurt feelings. It would, of course, destroy the relationship between the coach and player, but the rest of us might get a laugh out of it.

Westbrook didn’t take himself out of a game. Scott Brooks took Westbrook out of a game for the entire fourth quarter. Brooks gets paid to make tough decisions like that. Westbrook gets paid to be a professional and act like a professional. So far, so good.



Reader Comments 8 Total
SS_Hippy (last year)
it was only so good because OKC won. Winning smooths out a lot of things!
Cowboy88 (last year)
Come on Jimmie, did you not see Westbrook throwing a pissy fit when Brooks took him out? He is immature and needs to learn to get his emotions under control.
More info always comes out a day later and today's info is that teammates botched a play the Thunder was trying to run. When the play went all to heck, Westbrook tried to make something out of nothing and committed a turnover. So, he got taken out of the game and told Brooks during the exchange that he was just trying to run the play. He probably feels like he got scapegoated, but Mo Cheeks talked him off the ledge. Cheeks used to have a third eye that he used to always find Dr. J on the court. Now Cheeks can keep that eye on Westbrook, who was passionate that he was taken out. I think it would be more of a problem if he was passion-less.
Cowboy88 (last year)
So be mature about it and harness all that passion. Don't let yourself look like a fool. All the replays on ESPN of Westbrook yelling profanitys on the bench is an embarassment to the program. Brooks did what he needed to do to win the game and Westbrook couldn't handle that.
Golden Hurricane (last year)
Classic Jimmie, just classic! I love ya James, but Westbrook is a malcontent, period.
Cowboy88 (last year)
Golden Hurricane is just bitter that his Fightin' Germans couldn't beat OKC's scrubs last night.
SoonerSkins (last year)
Wow.

To put Russell Westbrook's name in the same sentence as Scottie Pippen's is insulting to Bulls' fans everywhere.

I'm just glad you didn't compare him to Derrick Rose.
Top Flight (last year)
If you have watched the Thunder all year you would know that Maynor always comes in at that time. He usually comes back in at about 7 to 8 min left in the game.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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