BOX SCORES

at CHARLOTTE HORNETS (W 101-91):

31 MINS | 14 PTS (7/11 FG) | 11 REB | 1 AST | 3 STL | 4 BLK | 3 TO | 5 PF

vs SACRAMENTO KINGS (W 95-88):

32 MINS | 13 PTS (5/11 FG, 3/12 FT) | 13 REB | 3 AST | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PF

vs LOS ANGELES LAKERS (W 114-90):

26 MINS | 21 PTS (10/12 FG, 1/2 FT) | 10 REB | 1 AST | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 1 PF

NEXT WEEK

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS, 9.30am on Sunday (NZT)

vs BROOKLYN NETS, 2.00pm on Wednesday (NZT)

vs WASHINGTON WIZARDS, 2.00pm on Friday (NZT)

at CHARLOTTE HORNETS

The Hornets had already won in Oklahoma City once this season. The Thunder were coming in off three straight defeats. Russell Westbrook wasn’t about to see those things become bad habits.

A minute and a half into things, OKC were up 7-2. Steve dunked the third field goal and all three were assisted by Mr Westbrook. Chuck another couple hoops down via offensive rebounds and a Russ-assisted alley-oop - cheers Steve! - and the Thunder were up 25-13. Kemba Walker brought it back with a little streak of his own though, then the bench let things slip to where it was suddenly a back and forth contest.

Steven Adams had eight points in the first quarter. He wasn’t such an offensive factor after that, same old story, but then neither was anyone else for a while there. After scoring 31 points in the first, the Thunder only scored 42 combined in the next two. The third quarter especially was a real defensive scrapper. Points were hard to come by.

But we did get to enjoy Steve going head to head with Dwight Howard which was completely fantastic. Like watching a couple Greek titans hurling rocks at each other. And it wasn’t as if Steve dominated him either. He roughed it up with him and dropped a few points past him early but Howard had 17 rebounds, five of them O-Boards. Scored 11 points shooting 4/9. Yet Adams still got his when he needed them.

Daily Thunder: “Paul George finished with 17 points on 6/14 shooting. Carmelo Anthony was extremely quiet with just 7 points on a 3/14 clip. In their place, Steven Adams stepped up and contributed a double-double — 14 points and 11 rebounds. He threw in four blocks for good measure. Adams created a number of looks on his own, snagging seven of the Thunder’s 19 offensive rebounds on the night. He was his normal efficient self, hitting 7/11 from the floor.”

Charlotte were up 76-73 after three quarters. That final quarter though, that was murder. The Hornets shot 5/21 in the final frame and despite being three points down with 12 to play, OKC went on to win it by 10, outscoring Charlotte 28-15 in the 4Q. Surprisingly it was the bench that gave them massive minutes to start that third, sparking a 20-8 run before Russ/Melo/Steve all checked back in. Westbrook then helped do enough to end it and OKC won 101-91

25p/10r/7a for Westbrook, who shot 10/27. Melo only made 3/13 for 7 points but George scored 17 and Adams ended with 14p & 11r. He really stacked the box score as well, with four clocks and three steals. All five bench players scored as well. Kemba Walker got the best of it for Charlotte with 17 points but he needed 17 shots for them all. Right in time to complete a stretch of five road games in the last six, with four homers from five to follow.

Fred Katz/Norman Transcript: “The Thunder, who recover the highest percentage of their own misses of any team, reeled in 19 offensive rebounds, their second-highest, single-game total of the season. They went for 21 in a November loss to the Orlando Magic. Adams, who leads the NBA in offensive rebound rate, brought down seven and dominated the paint with back taps and putbacks.”

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (B)

“Steven Adams continues to do-it-all. Shooting 7-of-11 from the floor and grabbing 11 rebounds, Adams is displaying his value to OKC night in and night out. Adams finished the game with 14 points, three steals, and three blocked shots. Also, he kept Dwight Howard’s points down to 11. Adams had a +7 on the night.”

Quick interlude to humbly request a cheeky stab on an ad from your fine self. Gotta pump up the TNC revenue somehow, right? Cheers to you.

vs SACRAMENTO KINGS

There was nothing pretty to be seen here. The 13-win Kings were coming off four straight defeats but if we skip forward to three minutes remaining in the first half then we’d see that those Kings were leading by 15 points. Very ugly stuff from the Thunder, who were playing within themselves and allowing the SAC guard duo of De’Aaron Fox and George Hill to run a few plays. Even worse, they were allowing Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to get locked out of this thing.

Of course, that still leaves Rusty Buckets to do some damage. He scored 17 points in the opening half, eight of those coming in the last three minutes as OKC closed to within six at the break, down 52-46. As for Steven Adams, yeah she was a mixed bag, chief. Rebounds were flowing against young Willie Cauley-Stein but the shooting touch was a little off. Still managed five points in the 1Q but he clunked a couple putbacks and he missed three of his four initial free throws.

Those free throws… they were an issue. Adams has done heaps of work to become a decent shooter from the stripe but, as PG and Melo got it going for a fired up Thunder in the third quarter, Adams continued to brick ‘em. He missed five more in that third frame and a couple more second-chance looks went begging too. Yet he was involved. He was getting shots up and you throw down a few dunks, you’ll get your numbers. Steve at least did that. Took a few blows to the season percentages but still came out of it with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists.

Billy Donovan: “They were up on screening actions and pick and rolls. They were very aggressive and up the lane line. Russell did a really good job of at times recognizing that and getting some easy baskets for some of our guys.”

'Some of our guys' largely referring to Steven Adams, who was the main beneficiary. With a little more space to work in as the Kings tried to press up, he was able to muscle into position down low even more and Westbrook’s probably gonna find you if you’re open.

The big 3Q had OKC leading 77-68 going into the last 12 mins. It’d be over three full minutes before anyone scored, the bench units stumbling a tad, but a couple Patrick Patterson triples and another from Alex Abrines seemed to have killed this off. 16 points up with six mins to play. Buddy Hield drove to the hoop and Adams was back in a minute later.

And then the controversy. Westbrook goes hard to the hoop and cops one in the face. When he doesn’t get a foul called, he lets the ref know about it and took two techs and an ejection. Billy Donovan also got a tech. Buddy Hield went to the line and made all three, concluding a run of six straight points for that dude. Then Steve fouled WCS and the lead was down to seven points. But Paul George came through to deny Hield at the rim and then close this one out on offence. 95-88 in the end.

Hield ended with 16 off the bench, while WCS had 15p/7r and Bogdan Bogdanovic hit three triples for his 13 points. Westbrook scored 19 all up and added 16 rebounds and 9 assists but also had 10 turnovers. So… still got the triple double? George ha 18 points with 5 steals and Melo 20 points with 9 boards. Adams’ 13p/13r was dead solid but shooting 5/11 from the field and 3/12 from the line meant he coulda done so much more. Ah well, so it goes. The Kings played rough and made him work for it.

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (A)

“I’ve never loved a seven-foot behemoth as much as I love Steven Adams (sorry Perk). The Big Kiwi is just too large for most current NBA centers to handle, and Willie Cauley-Stein experienced that tonight. Adams controlled the paint en route to 13 rebounds (8 offensive); Oklahoma City out-rebounded Sacramento 58-37 in total. The big black mark for Adams, like it’s been for the Thunder all season, was his performance at the line. His 3-12 night is a scary sight for a team that already relies on a guard who can’t make their own free throws. Other then that, it was a perfect game.”

Aside from all that though, this game also took place on Martin Luther King Day. Pretty special stuff for everyone involved.

vs LOS ANGELES LAKERS

After eight games out with that knee injury, Andre Roberson was officially upgraded to ‘questionable’ for this game. In case you thought Coach Billy was being a tease with that, come tip-off there was Dre all ready to go against the Lakers, who welcomed back Brandon Ingram but were still without Lonzo Ball. There was a scare in warm-ups when Westbrook appeared to injure his hand but he got the strapping out and was all good to go. Phew.

The game began with Russ driving to the hoop for the first bucket. He then whips a ball inside to Adams, who had it tipped and stolen by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope… but soon enough it was Andre Roberson making himself known with a couple sweet slices to the hoop and Carmelo Anthony with some jumpers. Melo was all over this one, shooting 6/8 in the first half, and OKC were quickly up by ten points.

Except they couldn’t keep that up. Russ missed a lot of shots and Paul George didn’t seem to wanna take many. Still, shooting wasn’t the issue. It was their defence allowing the Lakers to make 22/40 from the field in the first half, Julius Randle going on a tear with a 14-point third quarter which briefly tied things up at 54-al before Russ hit a treble and a free throw. He missed the second FT but his mate Steve was there to clean it up and put it back in for a couple. 60-54 up at the big break.

Adams though, he was getting it done. After missing a few second-chancers last time, he made all four of his first half tips and putbacks on his way to 14 points in the first half. Eight in the first, six in the second. Brook Lopez couldn’t hang with him and it was even less likely when they went smaller – Randle enjoyed himself most when he was being guarded by Melo, understandably. Come to think of it, Kiwi Steve dominating the offensive boards against the Lakers isn’t a huge stretch.

It didn’t end there. Funaki dropped the hammer on a one-handed dunk and rose up for an alley-oop early in the third. Got to the line and split his shots as well. KCP hit a triple to open the half but the Thunder followed it with a 19-8 run to rip it open again. Numbers 18 and 19 coming from a mean reverse putback from Steve – timeout LAL.

Get on up, Kiwi!

And then they didn’t even need the starters in the fourth! A comfortable win, gotta love one of those. Especially when Steven Adams is logging his third straight double-double of the week. He finished with 21 points in only 26 minutes, enough to get himself a live interview with Michelle Beadle, Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce on ESPN’s telly coverage (this was a televised game, so yeah). Dropping MMA analogies and asking if stuff made sense… good fun.

Oddly Randle only had one shot in the second half, barely even playing. Still topped the Lakers with 16 points though. KCP was the only other LAL with double digits, Luke Walton taking the opportunity to give twelve different players at least 10 mins out there. 21p & 10r for Steve, Anthony topped with 27 points though and Westbrook had 19p/6r/7a. He was better after he ripped the tape from his thumb off, having started out 1/8 shooting.

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (A+)

“The MVP of tonight’s game was Steven Adams. He was an absolute beast, snagging 10 rebounds (7 of them on the offensive glass) and scoring 21 points. Adams is the X-factor for this OKC Thunder team. When he dominates in the way he did tonight, he takes this team to the next level. Fantastic game from the Big Kiwi.”

SLAM DUNKS

Bleacher Report – Top 15 Centers for Season’s 2nd Half: STEVEN ADAMS (#11)

“Dirty-work guru Steven Adams is an uncelebrated—albeit not underpaid—heartbeat for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He's shooting better than 65 percent out of the pick-and-roll and ranks fourth among all centers in screen assists. His rim protection is spotty, and he ducks defensive rebounds by design, but he stamps out enemy rim-runners.

Adams can also hold his own when trundling into space. He forces turnovers almost 10 percent of the time when defending isolations—fifth best among every player to guard 60 or more one-on-one situations. It should come as minimal surprise that NBA Math's TPA rates him as Oklahoma City's second-most valuable player, behind only Russell Westbrook.”

Erik Horne/NewsOK Mid-Season Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (B+)

“Second in the league in offensive rebounds (180), third in field goal percentage (63.4), but 57th out of 60 qualified centers in defensive rebounding rate (13.3 percent) as the Thunder's defensive switches have pulled him away from the rim.”