BOX SCORES

vs DETROIT PISTONS (L 98-98):

38 MINS | 12 PTS (6/10 FG) | 12 REB | 2 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PF

at DALLAS MAVERICKS (L 97-81):

27 MINS | 6 PTS (3/8 FG) | 3 REB | 1 STL | 3 TO | 3 PF

at ORLANDO MAGIC (L 121-108):

28 MINS | 6 PTS (3/10 FG, 0/2 FT) | 8 REB | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 4 PF

NEXT WEEK

vs MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES, Saturday at 2.00pm (NZT)

vs SAN ANTONIO SPURS, Monday at 1.00pm (NZT)

vs UTAH JAZZ, Wednesday at 2.00pm (NZT)

at BROOKLYN NETS, Friday at 4.00pm (NZT)

vs DETROIT PISTONS (L 98-98)

Things are sweet as when you beat the champs. That win over the Warriors showed everything that the Thunder had been building towards, it was the antidote to all the blown double-digit leads and sloppy isolation play. They matched it with the Warriors and blew them off the damned court. Now to do the same with Reggie Jackson, who you may remember left more than a little beef in Oklahoma City when he was traded to Detroit back when.

Forget about Reggie for a sec, he’s not exactly in Russell Westbrook’s class even if he does make this Pistons team a lot better when he plays. Fast forward all the way to the end. The Thunder were down by one with five seconds left, coming out of a timeout. Ray Felton has the inbounds pass, he gives it to Russ. The reigning MVP won a lot of games from this exact position last season, he shapes up on Avery Bradley to receive the ball on the turn, fakes to drive to the hoop then pulls up for a three pointer. It hits the rim and bounces clear. Anthony Tolliver claims the rebound and the Pistons win it in Oklahoma City.

Now rewind back again, how did it come to this? How did the Thunder manage to lose at home here just days after the most convincing result of their season so far? They finally beat the Warriors and they lose to the flippin’ Pistons?

First of all, chief, the Pistons are pretty decent this season. Andre Drummond has learned how to shoot a few free throws. Nothing dramatic, he’s no better than Steven Adams there, but enough that teams don’t go out there and foul him. That added confidence has unleashed his full game and he’s scoring and rebounding as easy as he breathes. Stan Van Gundy has shaped this Detroit team into something decent. Avery Bradley is a great defender. They have Tobais Harris playing his best stuff. They’re pretty decent.

As to how the Thunder lost to them? Easy, the same way they’ve been losing to most teams. They started well, led by ten points at half-time, then got swept aside in the second half. Yet another big blown lead. Yet more frustrating stuff at the end of the game. Make that 0-9 in games decided by eight points or less now.

Initially it didn’t look like it was gonna be that kind of game. Steven Adams got the first points of the contest while Detroit missed five of their first six shots. It was Steve with a game-high five rebounds in the first quarter as well. But Adams and Andre Roberson took well earned rests late in that 1Q and suddenly Tolliver and Ish Smith hit three quick threes between them to cut the lead from nine to just one (with Russ scoring nine straight points in reply).

Yet the second was more of the same, a 9-0 run extending things for OKC before Steve came back and threw a couple through the bucket. He had 10 points in the first half… he’d make just one more basket in the rest of the game (and that was less than two minutes into the third). The lead got as high as 15 points… and then Detroit went on a 16-4 run of scoring. Once they finally took the lead with 10:43 left on an Ish Smith layup the Pistons never again trailed.

It was a triple-double for Rusty, 27 points with 11 rebounds and assists each. Melo also logged 20, though he needed 24 shots for them all and George had 16 points (7/17 shooting) which was a bit average but his 5 steals continue his trend of lights out defence. Strong showing from Steve too, the bloke played 38 minutes of this one. He and Andre Roberson were heavily used against a Detroit team better known for its defence.

On the other side of things it was 17p & 14r for Drummond that led the way with all five DET starters scoring in double-figures to go with Smith’s 15 points off the bench. Reggie had 12p/3a shooting 3/9 in his trip back to his old stomping ground. Nothing dramatic here like KD’s couple of returns, though.

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS – B

“Adams collected yet another double-double tonight with 12 points and 12 boards. His defense and presence in the paint is so important for the Thunder, and it was on display once again this evening. He locked down Andre Drummond in the first half, but let him destroy the glass in the second. Not the best performance from the Big Kiwi, but he still had an overall solid game.”

at DALLAS MAVERICKS (L 97-81)

Then there was this game. Oh boy, this game. It started with a missed layup from Steven Adams and quickly got worse from there. Stevie made amends soon after from four feet and the Thunder shot out to a 9-2 lead five mins into this thing, the Mavs barely able to hit a shot which is about right for a team with four wins at that point.

But then Wes Matthews hit a couple threes and this one got weird. Salah Mejri came in and the Tunisian was matching Steve down low. Harrison Barnes hit some shots. OKC were only down by one at the end of the first yet that was before Dirk Nowitzki, yup the one and only, went a little mental with eight quick points. Adams returned to things with a 13-point deficit.

It was 52-37 at half-time. It was 78-55 after three. There wasn’t even any need for Adams in the fourth quarter as the Thunder got blown out in Dallas. This was as poor as the team has played all season and it hasn’t exactly looked like a championship campaign to date. Adams had just 6 points and 3 rebounds, all offensive boards. Russ got 28p/9a/12r with four triples, he was decent. But Melo’s 16 points were offset by 4 turnovers and 4 fouls, while Paul George… yikes. 10 assists so it wasn’t all bad but he shot 1/12 for 2 points. Meanwhile old man Dirk shot 19 points and Dallas had four other blokes in double figures.

Thing is, Russ had 16 points in the first quarter. He only had 12 afterwards for the rest of it. And Melo sure didn’t do a lot outside of his three triples in the third. OKC only scored 13 points in the second quarter, their worst of the season. Again, this was against a team that were 3-15 that morning.

And as for this bloody guy…

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS - D

“The big kiwi had one of his worst outings this season with Mavericks Salah Mejri specifically making him look a step slow and exposing his fatigue. The other noticeable takeaway was in Adams mechanics. When Adams catches the ball he needs to make a point of keeping the ball up high and dunking it. Again, this may be a factor of fatigue, but several times last night he pulled the ball back down after receiving it leading to steals or blocks. And, on other occasions Adams was soft at the basket instead of dunking.”

at ORLANDO MAGIC (L 121-108)

It turns out Paul George was a bit sick, which might have helped explain his wetting the bed against Dallas, but no worries he was good to go in Orlando. Road games haven’t been much fun for OKC lately, six away ones lost in a row. But then the Magic were nursing a nine-game losing streak themselves so something had to give. Like Rusty’s ankles, perhaps?

Yeeeeeah… except Russ stepped on Steve’s foot here so he didn’t actually get crossed over like that. Made for a pretty replay though. And also while Elfrid Payton had a pretty handy start to this one, it was Aaron Gordon who did the majority of the damage. He was doing a little of everything as the Magic surged ten points up mid-first quarter. Tricky stuff, although Paul George helped haul that back and Westbrook did a few things to keep it at only 58-57 at the half.

However while George had 15 points and 4 assists in that half, Gordon bagged 20p & 3a (with 5 boards and a fair dose of free throws) in the opening two quarters. It didn’t help that Adams, after going to work in the first, only played 55 seconds in the 2Q. Came in, fouled Aaron Gordon, and sat back down. His third foul already.

Gordy didn’t slow down in the third either, the bugger. Payton had to chill with a few fouls and Nikola Vucevic wasn’t as flash once Adams came back in but Gordy added another 12 in the third as the Thunder only shot 6/27 from the field that frame. What kept them in it was some strong offensive rebounding (OKC ended with 20 compared to the home side who had exactly zero until the fourth quarter, and a mere 2 overall) and a fair few free throws. When Kiwi Steve is missing double FTs then they’re not so flash but Russ is a little better than that.

By the way, not a great shooting night for Steve. It’s not completely uncharacteristic of him to miss tip-ins and put-backs here and there, it’s just that this season he’s been so good around that rim. He’d go 3/10 for the game, which even then still counts this hoop which was tipped back in on the extra go by Vucevic but Adams gets credited with it as the closest OKC player to it all.

Umm, and those missed shots in the third? Ended up being a 1/18 run until Russ hit a three with around eight mins left in the game. By then OKC were down 20 points. One positive was that this was a great game by Andre Roberson. With 11 points and 9 rebounds, he was able to stay effective while he was also the only one who seemed capable of slowing down Gordon. This game wasn’t over quite yet, however. Not until Russell Westbrook had gone crazy with 20 points in the fourth, shooting 5/6… but the Magic were hitting at 59.2% from the field this game so even that was too little.

Michael Cage on the Fox Sports OK broadcast was pretty certain that this game swung when Steven Adams had to sit with those three fouls, leaving the Thunder without their defensive anchor for extended minutes. Possibly, although the Magic weren’t much worse in the second half while Steve was out there.

37p/11r/5a/5s for Westbrook. Big numbers there, including seven triples. Paul George cooled off for 22 points while Anthony scored 16 on 16 shots. Elfrid Payton ended with 19 points on 8/10 shooting, Evan Fournier scored 16, Vucevic had 15p & 7r. But it was Aaron Gordon who bossed this one with 40 points and 15 rebounds, shooting 13/23 with 6/12 from deep and adding 4 assists and 4 steals to that in 44 monstrous minutes. Billy Donovan’s got some questions to answer now, by the looks of Thunder Twitter.

SLAM DUNKS

Erik Horne/The Oklahoman: “Adams has developed into one of the best in the NBA at the unsung aspects of offense. For example, he's among the league leaders in screen assists per game, or the number of times an offensive player or team sets a screen for a teammate which directly leads to a made field goal by that teammate, per NBA.com. Adams is seventh with 69.”

Hey, you read all the way to the end! Good for you, champ. If you enjoyed all that then you can give a little thanks by simply slapping an ad somewhere on the page. Appreciate it.