NBA Finals 2012: Russell Westbrook Must Defer to Teammates for Thunder to Win

For the Oklahoma City Thunder to win Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Russell Westbrook needs to be a better point guard.

The league's fifth-leading scorer needs to be a leader on this young team, and sometimes that means giving up the ball.

Oklahoma City is a team of role players, and so far in the series they are not filling their roles.

James Harden has spent the entire season providing instant offense off the bench, averaging 16.8 points per game. In this series, he has failed to break double-digits in two of the three games.

Big men Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins have formed a formidable low-post combo throughout the season. Unfortunately, they have allowed the team to be out-rebounded by the Heat in the last two games. The second-chance points have been vital for Miami's victories in Games 2 and 3.

Even defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha has not been doing his job. Guarding All-Star Dwyane Wade is a tall order, but the guard is averaging more points, rebounds and assists in the finals than he did during the regular season. The Thunder were minus-11 in Game 3 when Sefolosha was on the floor.

Westbrook is a great scorer, but his primary role is a point guard. His job is to make sure the offense runs smoothly. Sometimes that means making a play himself, but other times it means deferring to others on the team.

Kevin Durant has been incredibly efficient in the finals. He is shooting 57.4 percent from the floor and over 40 percent from behind the arc. With these numbers, he needs to get the ball more often.

There is no excuse for Westbrook taking more shots throughout the series than the superstar small forward.

In reality, the Thunder need the point guard's scoring in order to succeed in the finals. However, chucking up ill-advised shots at key moments is not the way to get it done.

Oklahoma City pulled away in Game 1 because Westbrook got the ball to his teammates and finished with 11 assists. He was only able to match that number in the next two games combined. Unsurprisingly, they were both Thunder losses.

If Westbrook plays within himself and gets the rest of his team involved, the Thunder have a very good chance at evening the series.