How the Thunder failed to adapt in Game 4

Doc Rivers called it desperate coaching, and the Clippers had every reason to be desperate. After they had chipped away into an early 29-7 deficit, they still found themselves down 16 with just over nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter and the prospects of heading back to Oklahoma City facing elimination.

But in that fourth quarter, Rivers went with the unorthodox decision to have Chris Paul - all six feet of him - guard the 6'11" scoring machine that is Kevin Durant. And between Paul's effort, an effective and aggressive double-team once Durant caught the ball and a lack of imagination from the Thunder, the strategy worked wonders.

Rivers, as great coaches do, went into his bag of tricks and pulled out a rabbit at a time his team desperately needed one. It helped that Scott Brooks proved once again he has no such bag.

Whether it's sticking with Kendrick Perkins for the long haul or with a starting lineup that struggles for stretches despite two of the top-10 talents in the world, Brooks has garnered a frustrating reputation as a coach who is either afraid or incapable of change. Either way, that's a problem when you get down to the time of year when the team on the other end is often just as talented and coached by a Rivers or a Popovich or a Spoelstra.

Blaming Brooks for the Thunder's shortcomings is sometimes an easy fallback for fans, but you don't have to be an OKC fan or have a rooting interest to be frustrated by what you saw on Sunday afternoon. While the Clippers' defense threw a curveball at the Thunder, Brooks' team continued to operate in the same stagnant, unimaginative offense that sometimes makes it seem as though no actual sets are being run.

Most frustrating of all - and the blame here falls on Durant himself, Russell Westbrook at times, other Thunder players on the floor and the whole coaching staff - was OKC's inability to get Durant the ball in more advantageous spots with such a smaller defender on him.

When the nearly seven-foot scoring champion and MVP has a barely six-foot guard on him, the obvious choice would be to get the ball in the MVP's hands as close to the basket as possible. But between the Thunder not running many plays and Durant refusing to actually work his way into the post off the ball, this didn't happen in that fourth quarter.

In the play below, Westbrook takes too long to give KD the ball after the Durant screen. Instead, by the time Russ goes through the legs and flips the ball to Durant, Jamal Crawford has already rotated to help on Durant. Paul also recovers back to Durant, and the resulting double-team leads to an awkward off balance shot:

If Westbrook gives up the ball around here instead (The excellent Paul/Collison pick-and-roll defense here also makes Russ think twice about making this pass), look how much more space and time Durant would have to operate and get to where he wants:

On this next play, Durant actually has Paul down in the low post on the weak side:

Only a screen is run to get Durant the ball in the high post instead:

The play works out, but it's interesting that one of the few times Durant actually had Paul where you would assume he wants him, he still gets the ball elsewhere.

Here's another example. The Thunder are all just kind of standing around, Durant wants the ball around the right elbow for some reason instead of bodying Paul deeper, Westbrook obliges, Blake Griffin times his help perfectly and Durant throws the ball away with nowhere to go:

In our last example below, instead of the bigger Durant forcing Paul into the spot KD wants to be in, Paul somehow pushes Durant out to nearly the perimeter. Again faced with an aggressive double-team and his stagnant teammates all on the other side of the floor, Durant commits a turnover that leads to a Darren Collison bucket and  the Clippers cutting the deficit to one:

The fourth quarter of Sunday's Game 4 was exciting, but as much as this game was about a great Clippers season-saving rally, it was about a Thunder collapse that once again exposed their inability to make adjustments on the fly. It was about Paul's defensive stand and Durant's rare offensive confusion. It was about one coach's willingness to try new things in an attempt to adapt and survive and another who seems hellbent on avoiding such adaptations.

If the Thunder can't win two out of their next three games, it will be interesting to see whether oft-praised General Manager Sam Presti makes an adjustment of his own when it comes to his coaching situation.

"Adapt or die," Erik Spoelstra was quoted as saying in a recent column on the Heat's post play. With seasons and perhaps jobs on the line, that sentiment has never rung more true for Brooks and the Thunder.