Kiwi Steve in the NBA #2: Rebounding Claims & Aviation Issues
BOX SCORES
vs INDIANA PACERS (W 114-96):
31 MINS | 17 PTS (8/13 FG, 1/1 FT) | 11 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 1 PF
at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (L 116-109):
32 MINS | 20 PTS (8/10 FG, 4/4 FT) | 8 REB | 1 AST | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PF
at CHICAGO BULLS (W 101-69):
28 MINS | 12 PTS (6/10 FG) | 8 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO
at MILWAUKEE BUCKS (W 110-91):
27 MINS | 14 PTS (7/10 FG) | 11 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 TO | 2 PF
NEXT WEEK
vs BOSTON CELTICS, 2.30pm on Saturday (NZT)
at PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS, 3.00pm on Monday (NZT)
at SACRAMENTO KINGS, 4.00pm on Wednesday (NZT)
vs INDIANA PACERS (W 114-96):
The Melo trade had its reunions last week, this week it was the turn of the PG trade as the Indiana Pacers rolled into town, meaning a dramatic game for Paul George but also for Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo – who, by the way, have each played great so far this season.
Even still, you wouldn’t have old mate Dipo to outplay Georgie, would ya? And yet he did. The reason for that being a couple fouls picked up in the first quarter, then an offensive charge in the second that had him in foul trouble already and he ended up fouling out with 6:15 left in the contest. He was limited to a mere 10 points in his 19 minutes on the court – and even then he missed a few shots too. Rough stuff from PG.
Luckily there’s a quartet of superstars on OKC this season and the others all picked up the slack. It was Steven Adams with the and-one layup that gave the Thunder their first lead and he continued that impact with a block on Thad Young at the rim. Probably not his most eventful start to a game, however, and he sat with the Thunder down a point and returned to a 34-all game in the second. Where upon he missed a couple shots as Russell Westbrook ensured the Thunder hit the sheds with a 54-48 HT lead.
Kiwi Steve came alive in the second half though, mate. Don’t you worry about that. Four quick points and three boards in the spell as OKC began to nurse a double digit lead and then he got back into things right about the time that George fouled out, grabbing a few more rebounds as they put that one to bed. 114-96 the final score.
Adams had himself 17 points and 11 rebounds, a second straight double-double and the second time in his career that he’s scored at least 17 points in back to back games, but it was Melo and Russ that dominated the stats. Each had 28 points and 10 rebounds, with Westbrook also adding 16 assists. Victor Oladipo finished with 35 points while old buddy Domantas Sabonis had a rough one, only scoring 4 points in 19 minutes after foul trouble slowed him down and a 1/9 shooting night pretty much halted him. Had 11 rebounds though, 8 of them at the offensive end. A good reason for that being he’d been pushed into starting at centre with Myles Turner still injured… meaning a head to head with Steven Adams, sorry lad.
Hey, everyone was buddies at the end of the day.
Daily Thunder: “The Pacers were without big man Myles Turner, which meant Domantas Sabonis drew the start at center. As such, he was completely and utterly overpowered by Steven Adams from the opening tip. It was yet another solid performance by the 24-year-old Kiwi, and his second consecutive double-double.
Adams finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and routinely caught the ball in position to score due to the lack of size in the Pacer front court. He baited Sabonis into early foul trouble, and manhandled him defensively, holding the former Thunder power forward to 4 points on 1/9 shooting. All of this led to a monstrous win in the paint for the Thunder, 54-28.”
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS – A
“Steven Adams continued his vastly improved play with another great performance. The Big Kiwi was a force on the pick-and-roll with Russell Westbrook and controlled the paint on defense with regularity. He finished with a double-double, posting 17 points and 11 rebounds in 31 minutes. Aside from those strong numbers he also snagged two steals and blocked two shots. Adams could be in the running for Most Improved Player, and quietly Defensive Player of the Year.”
at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (L 116-109):
Yes, Zach, that much is very hard to argue with. And Steven Adams is going about doing some magical things this season too. It’s very early days but he’s teasing career bests in scoring and rebounding while thriving as much as anybody on the roster for the additions of George and Anthony. The spacing he saw in the old Durant/Ibaka days is back but these days he’s got a much better touch around the rim and he’s truly evolved into a defensive leader on this team.
Welcome to Loud City: “Last season, Adams posted 16 double-doubles. He already has two this season (in the past two games). As always, Adams continues his hard work in the trenches and remains a constant rebounding threat, but as his floating hooks improve combined with the added pick-n-roll opportunities the spacing George and Anthony provide, he gives the Thunder yet another effective avenue to the basket – and you can’t have too many of those. Equally important is Adam’s defensive versatility. Alongside George and Roberson, the Funaki is making life very difficult for opposing teams – especially on the pick and roll. And when the playoffs roll around, the Thunder’s defense should be locked in.”
It’s bloody awesome and this match here against the Wolves, who beat the Thunder on that Andrew Wiggins buzzer-beating banked three last week if you recall, was one of his best performance so far. They lost it… but Steve was pretty fantastic.
The Wolves welcomed back Jimmy Butler who’d missed two games through illness (both heavy losses for Minny). Butters missed his first shot, Adams with the rebound, but then proceeded to be rather brilliant for the rest of the game. It was quite the game too; featuring 31 lead changes. Defence led the show early on – like Adams blocking old buddy with the smile Taj Gibson’s layup – before Kiwi Steve was able to drop six quick points, including 2/2 at the free throw line, for a slight Thunder advantage.
The Thunder led by as many as 11 in this one, Carmelo Anthony looking damn near flawless in the second quarter. He and the bench lads kept that difference at nine points before George and Adams checked back in with 6:47 left in the 2Q. Jeff Teague then mauled into that lead with a quick streak – he’d get his first double-double of the season here - and while Stevie put OKC back up with 46 seconds left in the half, he then fouled Butler for two and we were all tied up at the break.
Then some really fun stuff. Adams and Karl-Anthony Towns basically went head to head for a few minutes as Adams scored the first eight points of the quarter for OKC and Towns matched him for a couple hoops. It was back and forth and all over the show for the rest of the quarter and then Gorgui Dieng hit from 16 feet to make it 90-89 to the Wolves after three.
Adams, at this point, was staring down one of the best games of his career. Through three quarters he’d scored 20 points on 8/8 shooting with 4 rebounds. It was damned near perfect, four more buckets and he’d tie Serge Ibaka’s Thunder record for most shots without a miss in a game.
But that didn’t happen. He was benched for a chunk of the fourth before coming back in and missing two second-chance shots (one blocked by Wiggins). He added four more boards in the fourth but they never looked to get him involved in the offence despite his effectiveness earlier in the game. That’s not uncommon with OKC, Russ tends to get others involved first before taking over late in games, but it was annoying on this occasion.
Towns was unstoppable and Butler took over in the last frame for 12 of his 25 points. From a 109-107 lead with 4:23 left, Oklahoma City leaked seven straight points and were forced into catchup ball from there. Melo had a late three that could’ve forced extra time but it didn’t go in.
Adams gets destroyed here by Towns, take a peek:
What’s crazy is that four starters all scored 20+ for OKC. Westbrook led the way with 27, Melo and PG had 23 each, Adams got within four of his personal best with 20… and then Andre Roberson had 4. In only 10 mins too, he went off to change his shoes and never returned. Defensively that was a problem as Jimmy Butler scorched it up late on but with Dre’s offensive woes as bad as ever right now you can see why Billy Donovan was happy to roll with Josh Heustis and Jerami Grant more often. Not to any great success but at least neither air-balled a free throw, right?
No triple-double for Russ, who had 9 assists and 8 rebounds. On the other side Towns led with 33 points (12/24 FG) and 19 rebounds. He feasted, basically. Teague had 17p/10a, Butler had 25p/5r/7a and Wiggins added 14 points on a relatively poor shooting night for him.
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS – A+
“He has been the best player overall for Oklahoma City this season and he had another cracking game. Adams once again dominated inside finishing with 20 points (8-10 FG, 4-4 FT) and 8 rebounds. His rim running has become a weapon for OKC and I like the chemistry he is developing with PG. However, the most frustrating aspect of the game was that OKC went away from Adams after his 3rd quarter binge. He got two shots in the last quarter and one in the last minute that was a little strong. He needs to either call his own number or demand to be included in the final plays. Adams had another exceptional game.”
at CHICAGO BULLS (W 101-69):
The tales aren’t so fascinating from this one. The Thunder travelled to Chicago to take on the beleaguered Bulls and they pumped them. 42 points, bro. Complete and utter annihilation - the Bulls couldn’t even get to 70 points.
OKC shot out to a 15-3 lead, with the Big Four all getting on the board. Adams dished the opening assist to Paul George (one more time: that combo is very promising) before whipping one in from six-feet a couple minutes later. Kiwi Steve would score six in the first quarter but the bench let it slip a bit to only be up three at the buzzer. So the Thunder came out strong in the second and limited the Bulls to a mere eight points in the entire frame and it was never again a contest.
By the way, the Bulls were the only team in the NBA left that Russell Westbrook hadn’t had a triple-double against (other than OKC, obvs). Well, that anomaly is no longer as he booked his 12p/13r/13a, completing the TD with a lobbed pass to Steven Adams midway through the third quarter. Yup, it was that kinda game. Carmelo Anthony was the only Thunder starter to play in the fourth.
Record time on that recap, aye? Stevie still logged 12 points and 8 boards despite a couple minutes fewer than usual. Only shot at 60% which is a down night for him lately, he was twice blocked around the rim – once by Lauri Markkanen and once by Robin Lopez. Markkanen was the one Bulls player who did quite well, scoring 15 points with three triples and 8 rebounds. Meanwhile Melo had 21 and PG13 another 20 points. Ray Felton had another dozen off the bench. The Bulls shot 28.2% from the field for the game, turned the ball over 20 times and never held a lead.
Kiwi Steve: “I think it was more aggressive and more direct. We were directing them to really funneling all their passes to where the helpside defense was. It led to better deflections and where loose balls were easier to pick up.”
Nah, the most eventful thing of the trip was probably this madness. Look at that plane!
Yikes, yeah. What the hell? They reckon it must’ve been a bird that struck the nose of it, presumably the last surviving haast eagle by the look of that dent. Anyway, the flight was apparently a bit bumpy but it landed fine and on schedule and has been fixed up since, ready to go again.
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS – A+
“Adams is dominating right now. The Big Kiwi continues to bully his way inside and beat teams up on the glass. Tonight, Adams secured 5 offensive boards and finished two beautiful alley-oop passes off Russell Westbrook. He does all the dirty work down low and never bats an eye. He finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in 28 minutes.”
at MILWAUKEE BUCKS (W 110-91):
Which brings us to the final game of KS in the NBA #2 and it was against those pesky Milwaukee Bucks. The team that does the world the favour of supplying Giannis Antetokounmpo highlights every other day. It’s not only Greek Freak that gets them rolling but prior to this game he was the clear early MVP frontrunner, averaging a mean 34.7 ppg while shooting at 63% and with 10.7 reb & 5.5 ast to go with that main dish.
Speaking of assists, by the way:
It was Halloween night in Milwaukee and nobody woulda been more frightened than the rims at right before Steven Adams thumped down consecutive dunks to tie this game up at 8-all in its nascent stages. Both of them on the end of offensive rebounds too… although strangely those O-boards which he’s among the league leaders at getting, they’d dry up as the game went on. So would Giannis’ foul count but a couple early ones had him sitting down sooner than Jason Kidd had hoped for. Granted not for too long, because nobody else was making plays without him it seemed.
This happened too. Ferocious, mate. No other word for it.
Oi, prick!
Mate, that was Kris Middleton trying to start something there. Didn’t like the niggle under the basket and he threw the ball square at Stevie’s chest and, bro, Kiwi Steve ain’t about that kinda discourtesy. Why always him? Anyway, Middleton had other reasons to be frustrated: that lad went 3/13 from the field for a mere 9 points in this game. Double techs for that instance.
OKC managed to work a decent lead thanks to a 16-0 run in the first and then outscored Milwaukee 29-19 in the second so that at half-time the Thunder were up by 18 points, 60-42, with four of their starters already in double figures for scoring. You can guess which one was the odd one out there… meanwhile Giannis was the only Buck in dubs with 12 points and he’d already gotten three fouls. OKC were hitting over 50% from the field. This was supposed to be a bloody road game!
Steven wouldn’t actually score another point. He’d done his damage. Instead he dished a couple assists to Dre and a weird thing happened where Andre Roberson not only hit them but he made some free throws too! Having said that, soon after he threw up a triple that landed on the top of the backboard so… yeah. Feel bad for that dude. Safe to say he got subbed soon after.
Then again it’s not like the Bucks were draining much either, at least other than Antetokounmpo who was keeping them on the verge of being able to make a run with some timely shots. He sunk a three that led to a Billy Donovan timeout late in the third to cut it to 77-58 before the Thunder bench came in and Ray Felton hit a three of his own. Giannis stayed in to do some work against the depth lads but by the end of the third quarter it was 85-64 despite 28 points for the Greek guy.
OKC then pushed it out to a game-high 28 point lead and there wasn’t much point in bringing the starters back after that. Except for Melo, that is, who was enjoying being the main man with the second unit. Adams only logged 27 minutes in the end which was his shortest stint of the season.
He still ended with 14p & 11r though, while Paul George scored 20, Melo 17 and Russ was an assist shy of a TD with 12p/10r/9a. Jerami Grant dropped 17 from the bench while for the others it was obviously 28 points and 8 boards for Giannis that led it – nobody else got into double figures. In fact take Greek Freak’s numbers out of it and the rest of them shot 23/62 for the game with 7/28 from deep. They’re far from a one man show but there was only one man that showed up to this one.
ESPN: “George, Anthony, Adams and Westbrook combined for 48 first-half points. The quartet alone outscored the Bucks in the half, who trailed 60-42 at halftime.”
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS – A+
“He manhandled the Bucks down low. He moved Henson and Maker like they were made of feathers and punished the rim on multiple possessions. Westbrook and Adams two man game is beautiful to watch with the Big Kiwi finally taking that step we thought was coming last year. He out-rebounded both Milwaukee’s big men by himself en-route to his second double-double of the season.”
SLAM DUNKS
This is the NSFW evidence, if you want a good laugh:
Zach Lowe: “The Thunder's real issue: finding the fifth guy to play alongside their core four. No defender is ever going to be in Andre Roberson's ZIP code; dude is air-balling free throws. His minutes are down. There will be no place to hide Alex Abrines on defense against good teams. Jerami Grant has played zero seconds alongside the Westbrook-George-Anthony-Steven Adams quartet, and Billy Donovan may consider any lineup with George as the nominal shooting guard a little too big. I'd try it -- with Grant or Patrick Patterson. Raymond Felton is ... Raymond Felton.”
Yeah, g’day chief. Here’s your usual reminder that TNC is out here orchestrating the takeover and you can help by smacking an ad, sharing stuff about, all that stuff. Get involved.