Right so there we have it. The regular season is over and the playoffs… well, they’re not quite set yet. Give it another day. The Thunder know that they will play either the Mavericks, Trail Blazers or Grizzlies so not much has changed in the last week. But we do know for certain that they finish the campaign with 55 wins and 27 losses – quite a handy first season for Billy Donovan.

Also a very handy third season for our boy Steve here. Playing in 80 games (he missed two through injury midway in the season), he started every one of them – passing the 2000 minute mark for the first time in his career. With that, a few of his numbers were naturally boosted though he managed fewer turnovers this season that last despite a bigger role in the offence as well.

In terms of field goal attempts his average went down a little this time – which is largely down to Westbrook and Durant playing full seasons, or something close to that in Durant’s case – he had a few niggles in the first half of things. With that his rebounds per game dropped down from 7.5 to 6.7 although his points average upped from 7.7 to 8.0. Assists, blocks and steals were all consistent – while he cut his personal fouls down to 2.8 a game. Two things stand out in that points jump – his two main percentages. First off he took his rubbish free throw shooting of 2014-15 (50.2%) and rocketed that up to 58.2%. Not exactly Steph Curry’s 90% but that is a huge improvement in one season, especially when you consider the mires that certain other NBA big men are stuck in with FTs. The other thing was taking his field goal percentage from 54.4% to 61.3%. Again, an enormous leap.

Few are gonna argue that this was his best season in the NBA. The numbers don’t tell the full story because for the first time he was a full-time starter, playing with those dudes and boxing out so they can rebound, setting screens so they can score, all those things. Next up is the playoffs and don’t forget that the best ball of his rookie season came in the 18 games he appeared in postseason (he shot 68.9% in those playoffs!).

Box Scores

@ POR (L 115-120): 22 MINS, 9 PTS (4/7 FG, 1/2 FT), 12 REB, 1 AST, 1 TO, 2 PF

@ SAC (L 112-114): 25 MINS, 6 PTS (2/4 FG, 2/4 FT), 8 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 4 PF

vs LAL (W 112-79): 25 MINS, 13 PTS (6/9 FG, 1/5 FT), 15 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK, 2 PF

@ SAS (L 102-98 OT): 38 MINS, 17 PTS (7/8 FG, 3/3 FT), 9 REB, 2 BLK, 2 TO, 5 PF

Not really caring about results in this final week – and apparently taking no heed of last week’s Kiwi Steve column saying they oughta target the Trailblazers in the playoffs – Billy Donovan went ahead and rested four of his starters against the Blazers in Portland. Those four starters being Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Andre Roberson and Serge Ibaka. Obviously Steven Adams is never in need of any rest.

It was a little odd since Donovan had hinted just a couple days earlier that he had no intention of resting anybody but that turned out to be a bluff. What that meant was that we were treated to a rare opportunity to see The ‘Stache Brothers start together. It was not what you’d call a standard line-up, that’s for sure. Surprisingly they were really good on offence they just got slaughtered coming other way.

NewsOK: “To start, the twin tower mustached combo of Kanter and Steven Adams struggled to contain Portland’s smaller frontline, particularly Al-Farouq Aminu. He went by Adams easily on a first quarter drive, then hit a 3 while both were caught overhelping, en route to a 27-point night.”

So not the best, the Thunder hit some shots but they couldn’t keep them out. Damian Lillard didn’t do much, 11 points on 2 of 13 shooting but C.J. McCollum picked up that slack with 26 to go with Aminu’s big night. Down 33-26 after one quarter. Down 72-59 at half time. Down 99-83 after three quarters. But then the Thunder started to pull things back, in large part thanks to Enes Kanter. The big Turk had been playing well but he really hammered it home in the fourth, starting it off with a corner three and hauling stats in pretty uncompromisingly from there. It wasn’t enough to salvage the game, they still lost by five, but they won the fourth 32-21 at least. Kanter had an enormous set of numbers. 33 points and 20 rebounds – the first 30-20 game in the history of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Welcome to Loud City: “Steven Adams was alright, but ultimately not intimidating enough around screens. I also hope he gets a jumpshot someday, because having his defender respect him at the top of the key would really expand OKC's offense when he's on the floor.”

Billy Donovan: “I knew it was gonna be a hard matchup but Steven is an athletic guy who can move his feet. On a back-to-back without a lot of time to prepare, I thought he did a pretty good job.”

The troops were all back to face Sacramento though. The Kings’ last home game of the year and their last ever game at Sleep Train Arena – formerly known as Arco Arena – so they had a bunch of former players there ceremonially. Good fun, while the Thunder were relishing the chance to play in a difficult road situation and find some playoff rhythm. But why explain it when Steve can say it all himself:

Yeah so the Thunder got off to a hot start too. Westbrook was gunning for that next triple-double and before too long they were up 26-15. But Seth Curry was doing his best impersonation of his brother with 15 first half points and the Kings were up 56-52 at the break. Here is a thing that happened:

Also, dig this freakin’ pass. So slick:

You may remember the last time these two teams played that DeMarcus Cousins nearly slugged Steve in the back of the head. Well that battle was a great one once more, with Adams doing some really fine things on him in defence. Additionally he picked his moments to attack him with the ball too, he turned an offensive board into a nice spin move early in the third to draw Cousins’ fourth. To be fair, Adams drew a fourth foul of his own very soon after that, though it was hard to say what for. He and Roberson got tangled in the paint with Boogie and a whistle blew. Two big fellas who don’t ever back down (except for when withdrawing punches). It was definitely a doozy…

Hey and how about the outlet pass here? Fired that thing like a Clayton Kershaw fastball.

This was a crazy game where two teams that struggle with turnovers did their best to pass up every opportunity they could. Surprisingly Adams didn’t check back in for his final stint until a bit over four minutes remaining in the fourth – probably foul precaution as much as anything. His Steve vs Boogie thing didn’t really start up again, a rebound off a Cousins miss was all we got as Russell Westbrook ran straight at DeMarcus and got the lad fouled out. 15 points and 7 rebounds for Boogie, he shot a pretty dismal 7 of 24. He’s a brilliant and misunderstood player, old Mr Cousins, but Adams and Ibaka really went to work on him this game. Elsewhere, Darren Collison hit a couple 4Q threes to have the Kings up 104-101 with two to play.

The Thunder went small then, Adams stepping out while Ibaka took over at the five as the Thunder trailed 104-101. Roberson closed that gap but then Collison and Rudy Gay wrestled it back. With 11 seconds left on the clock the Kings were up by three points and Russell Westbrook had the ball. Russ is Russ, so Russ did something awesome in drawing a shooting foul on a three pointer. That he got it called a shooting foul was more than a little lucky but he made all three to tie it up at 112. Ah, but Rudy Gay drew a foul of his own and won the game at the line. 114-112, Durant scored 31 while Westbrook was five boards short of his TD. Collison (27), Gay (24) and Curry (20) combined for 71 points. This loss made it four dropped in six games since their eight game winning streak but to be fair there were rested blokes in there.

Daily Thunder: “Great sequence to illustrate how aggravating the Thunder can be: Under four minutes left, OKC gets a stop, Adams outlets to Durant in a little bit of traffic, Durant loses it, the Thunder stand around and don’t close out at all on Darren Collison, and Collison makes a go-ahead 3.”

OKC’s final home game was never a contest. But it was a spectacle, as it so happened to be Kobe Bryant’s final road game in the NBA. Kiwi Steve a part of (contrived) league history, aye? Kobe got gifts from all over but a hug from Steven Adams was surely atop the list. Or at least in the top 100.

Kobe started fairly strong – well, not really, but he took a lot of shots – yet even in this sentimental situation Byron Scott didn’t bother with the garbage time minutes so much. It’s been strange watching Kobe go from city to city and get these adoring cheers despite throwing up, like, 6 of 19 each game. He had 35 in a duel against the Houston Rockets in his previous game but that was a loss (James Harden had 40+) and here he would eventually settle for 13 points. Same as Steven Adams scored. Even in Oklahoma City the crowd was chanting for Kobe to return. The Mamba had his fun, though.

For the game the Lakers shot an abysmal 28.4% from the field. Couple that with some Russell Westbrook heroics and this one was over before half time. Not even joking here, Russ had that 18th triple double – the one that ties him with Magic Johnson for most in a season since the ABL merger – within TWO QUARTERS. To be fair, the Lakers were actually only down 10 at HT – though it hardly felt surmountable. It sure wasn’t after the Thunder won the third 31-13. It’d finish 112-79 and Steven Adams was lucky enough to dine out on a rubbish LAL team – bagging 13 points and 15 rebounds in one of the best box scores of his career.

Serge Ibaka had a shocker with 1/12 shooting. Meanwhile Durant his six threes on his way to 34 points and Russ’ 13p/10r/14a came in 28 minutes – the TD officially took him 17 minutes and 35 seconds. Kobe’s 13 points all came in the first quarter. Also, this was the 64th game in a row that Kevin Durant has scored 20 or more points in.

Kobe Bryant: “I haven't seen anybody get triple-doubles as much as [Westbrook] has in a season. He's probably the most athletic player I've ever played against.”

ESPN & Elias: “Prior to Westbrook, the last player to register a triple-double by halftime of a game was the Suns’ Kevin Johnson on February 12, 1997. The Thunder have won each of the 18 games in which Westbrook has produced a triple-double this season. That is the longest winning streak by a player in games in which he had a triple-double in a single season in NBA history and it is the longest such streak overall since the Lakers’ won 24 consecutive games when Magic Johnson had a triple-double from November 1984 to November 1987.”

Daily Thunder: “Weird thing: Steven Adams got flagrantly fouled on an and-1 and because of quirk, had two free throws to make his and-1. He, of course, missed them both.”

Welcome to Loud City: “Steven Adams was next level awesome tonight. Just some really great defense in the paint and at the rim. Solid hands with the flip shot on offense as always.”

The San Antonio Spurs lost their unbeaten home record in the second to last game earlier in the week. The Golden State Warriors dropped by and it turns out they wanted 73-9 more than the Spurs wanted 41-0. So in their final home game, against this Thunder side, there really wasn’t much to play for. Time to rest players before the playoffs then, right?

For OKC it was. No Kevin Durant, no Russell Westbrook and no Serge Ibaka. But the Spurs weren’t about losing back to back at home and they played close to a full strength side with only Manu Ginobili and Boris Diaw out of the rotation.

Gregg Popovich’s troll game is right up there with Russell Westbrook playing from behind a screen, ya know. But hey, the way they were making their shots in the first you’d have thought it was the OKC starters against the SAS bench. Steven Adams did his bit with a few offensive boards and the odd one of these too:

Enes Kanter was playing off the bench, but that hasn’t stopped him all season. He chimed in with seven 1Q points – same as Cam Payne – while Steve had 6p & 6r all in the first quarter. OKC led 32-21. They rebounded so well, getting a little lucky with some missed free throws by SAS, and they kept on pushing that lead out in the second. Well, until they didn’t, but we’ll get back to that.

Cameron Payne, the rookie, made his first NBA start in this one. He’s been in and out of the rotation but is clearly a player worth watching. Young and raw but always exciting. It also helped that LaMarcus Aldridge, who had been nursing a sore finger, didn’t play for the majority of the second half and looked hampered by that hand in the first.

This was a highly involved game for Steven Adams but perhaps no moment was better than this one. Late in the shot clock and he whips up this sucker off of one leg. Keep this up and nobody’s even gonna notice that Kobe retired. Damn son, that really is what they drafted you for, aye?

The thing about the Spurs, though, is that you never felt they were going away. No team sticks to what makes them great better than those dudes in San Antonio and after being down as many as 18 they slowly pegged that back and after a steal on defence they took the lead, finally, with 8 seconds left in the third – Big Boban with the tip in. Marjanovic had 9 points and 8 rebounds and with his enormous size his playing big second half minutes was a crucial coaching decision by Pop that helped swing this one back.

Generally Westbrook and Durant are taking over late in close games. In this case it was Dion Waiters. He came up with a thunderous dunk (no pun intended) to close the gap and then a generous continuation call got him an and-one that he made the most of to tie it at 93 with one possession left. That possession saw Kawhi Leonard battle for a baseline jumper that would have won it but Andre Roberson (probably now the most underrated guy on the OKC team now that Adams is getting more global love) did a top job of guarding him and Waiters did a bit of disrupting too. Off to overtime – the first time San Antonio had gone to OT all season.

Adams had played with five fouls since 1:52 left in the fourth. He certainly walked the tightrope as he got physical with Boban. At one point early in OT he bumped him down in transition, turning to see if he was okay briefly. He rose high to win the overtime tip-off too, though it was then parried to Tim Duncan. But walk that tightrope he did, playing the entirety of OT.

Adams tied his career high for points with 17 as he hit a floater to tie the game at 98 but they would be the last points OKC scored. Leonard put SAS straight back on top and Payne and Waiters missed their chances to reply. A turnover down four with nine seconds remaining decided it. The Thunder finish their season with a 102-98 OT loss to the Spurs. Should they each win their first rounders then the Thunder and Spurs will do it all again in a best of seven in the second round. That, dear reader, is bound to be a lot of fun.

Also, Adams was in a four-way tie for top scorer. Cam Payne also had a career high 17, while Kanter and Waiters did as well but it wasn’t a career high for either. Lovely.

Daily Thunder: “Steven Adams was an absolute defensive monster. So was Andre Roberson. Probably not a coincidence than one of the Thunder’s best defensive games of the season featured Roberson and Adams playing 65 minutes combined.”

Hey look, more fuel to the Kanter + Adams = Wonderful fire:

Thunder Digest: “The Stache Bros lineup (Kanter and Adams) emerged in this one as they played some serious minutes out there together and that included the entire overtime. The duo beat the San Antonio bigs up and combined for a total of 34 points and 25 rebounds. I think this has to be a lineup that the Thunder should look to utilize in the playoffs.”

Daily Thunder: “The Kanter/Adams frontline could be effective in a playoff series. The Spurs like to play with size themselves, and with Kanter and Adams the Thunder can dominate the glass. Except the Spurs might have an X-factor that revealed itself in the second half: Boban. He owned the interior on both ends.”

“I was really proud of the boys,” Steven Adams said. “We played with a lot of heart.”

Chur.