BOX SCORES

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (W 148-124):

29 MINS | 25 PTS (12/13 FG, 1/5 FT) | 10 REB | 1 AST | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 3 PF

vs BROOKLYN NETS (W 109-108):

34 MINS | 6 PTS (3/12 FG, 0/2 FT) | 14 REB | 3 STL | 1 TO | 3 PF

vs WASHINGTON WIZARDS (W 121-112):

36 MINS | 12 PTS (5/7 FG, 2/3 FT) | 10 REB | 3 STL | 1 TO | 3 PF

NEXT WEEK

at DETROIT PISTONS, 11.00am on Sunday (NZT)

vs PHILADELPHIA 76ERS, 12.00pm on Monday (NZT)

at WASHINGTON WIZARDS, 1.00pm on Wednesday (NZT)

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

So what if the Thunder don’t have any All Star starters? Big flippin’ deal, son. OKC have a habit of rising for the big games, their win over the Warriors being the best example, and on another big TV game against a Cavaliers team whose defence is falling to pieces – they were 3-8 coming into this one since Christmas. LeBron? Sure. But the rest of them not so much right now.

Bing, bop, boom. Westbrook on the feed to Adams, two points on the board. Missed two from Russ, up goes Steve to regather and drop it home. The Thunder began against the Cavs like it was game seven of the finals or something.

Nick Gallo/NBA.com: “The Thunder burst out of the gates with an 8-0 lead after its first four offensive possessions and never trailed the rest of the way. The initial burst was fueled by two Paul George free throws and six of Steven Adams’ 25 points, two on dishes from Westbrook and another on a put back. “We were balanced,” Head Coach Billy Donovan said. “We played well offensively because we generated good shots from the paint and behind the line."”

Steven Adams: “A lot of shots were going in. We moved the ball really well. We took advantage of a lot of the stuff from what they were doing defensively. Once you get that sort of lead, you kind of try to ride that out with the same intensity.”

Usually these recap things try to go along with the ins and outs, the ups and down, to recreate the game as authentically as possible to help you either relive it or experience it as it happened. But, like… that was pretty much it. From 8-0 up they were soon 33-14 up. Then 43-24 at the end of the first quarter. Basically they couldn’t miss. The team was in prime rhythm against a side that couldn’t live with that and Oklahoma City cashed in big time. Didn’t help the home team that Kevin Love was only able to play three minutes with illness either.

Steven Adams had 10 points, hitting all his shots, and he was out of there with almost five mins still to play (Billy D playing it safe with a couple fouls and a 14-point lead). He was back early in the second after Dwyane Wade had inspired a 10-0 Cavs run to start the frame to pull within single figures again yet as soon as Paul George and Russell Westbrook joined Steve on court, that quickly changed. A few more swishes and the Thunder had 76 points in the first half, up by 16 at the break.

The story coming in was that LeBron James was only 25 points shy of 30,000 for his career. He fell seven short of that milestone, probably for the best not to do it in such a blowout, really. You know who did score 25 points? Steven Adams. First pints of the 3Q for him and he came out and scored another ten in the fourth. Points kept on rolling – OKC scored 148 in the end and won it easy.

This was some sublime stuff, the Thunder shot an incredible 58% as a team and were 14/30 from deep as well. The only issue was that they missed ten free throws, Steven Adams a guilty party there only going 1/5 from the stripe. Andre Roberson was 0/4 as well. But Adams scored 25 with 10 rebounds, Carmelo Anthony got a season-high 29 with 10 boards, Westbrook dropped 23 points with an eye-popping 20 assists (and 9 rebounds) and Paul George led all scorers with a mean 36p on only 19 shots. For the Cavs, it was Isaiah Thomas with 24 points who topped, LeBron added his 18 and Jae Crowder scored 17.

Do yourself a favour and watch the full highlights, this was one of Kiwis Steve’s best.

Daily Thunder: “In just 29 minutes of action, Steven Adams finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds on 12/13 shooting. The Thunder went to him early and often, as he scored 10 points on 5/5 shooting in the opening frame. In a game that was built up as a collision of superstars, it was the Thunder’s workmanlike big man that perhaps made the biggest impact. He was a team-best +30 and helped set the tone in a 43-point first quarter. The Thunder is 6-3 in the new year and Adams is averaging 15.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and shooting 67 percent from the floor. He’s recorded a double-double in each of the four games in this winning streak and leads the NBA in offensive rebounding at five per game. He won’t make the All-Star game but very few big men are impacting their team like he is. His continued development is massive for the OK3 and Thunder as a whole.”

Maaaate.

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (A+)

“Aquaman (all rights are with DC Comics) was all on his own inside. The Cleveland Cavaliers frontline look like guards next to Adams and he made them pay. The Big Kiwi posted a double-double, posting 25 points (12-13 From the field, 1-5 FT) and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. My biggest gripe I have with Adams is his inconsistency at the free throw line. He shows flashes of being a consistently good free throw shooter, but then reverts back to being poor. If he can find a happy medium AND stay away from his own bad fouls, the Thunder can do some real damage in the playoffs.”

Maaate, smack an ad for the team. The Niche Cache is fully independent, fully kiwi, fully legit. Support the hustle with the old tick tock on a flashy banner.

vs BROOKLYN NETS

Look at it as a sign that Sean Marks’ work continues to come good in Brooklyn, as the Nets and Thunder entered the fourth quarter of this game it was the Nets who led it 85-74. Eleven points up and having led by as many as 15. How the hell did we get here!?

Well, let’s start at the beginning of an up and down kinda clash. Seven lead changes in the first quarter, might’ve been a few more as well if Kiwi Steve was making his shots. Brace yourself now, maybe take a sobering drink of water and a comfortable seat somewhere… Steven Adams shot at 25% in this one. Missed a six footer on the first possession then got jammed by Tyler Zeller thirty seconds later (although he saved it with an offensive rebound and Paul George was able to pop the opening points of the game). Then a couple missed putbacks, then a missed layup. Bloody four minutes into the game and Adams was already 0/5. Then he missed a couple free throws.

The one thing you can always rely on is that Adams will get his offensive rebounds though. He finally got a hook shot to stick late in the first after hauling in a miss from PG13 (who also found out this day that he’d missed the All Stars – Russ did not rate that decision). That guy scored 16 points in the first, including a late flurry as the Thunder took the lead again.

But then the Nets outdid them 33-17 in the second, Joe Harris hitting shots before Spencer Dinwiddie got down to business. The Nets aren’t much on the defensive end but they play a fun style of basketball and when they click they’ve got some points in them. And they’d just won a couple games in a row before this too. Kenny Atkinson’s boys have got some game.

It’s hard to say what was slowing Adams down, the Nets have some size in guys like Jarrett Allen, Tyler Zeller, DeMarre Carroll and Jhalil Okafor but nothing like he hasn’t gotten the best of elsewhere, like he doesn’t get the best of most nights. He scored 12 points on 5/13 shooting last time he played the Nets (in December) so it was a similar story then. Heaps of offensive boards but he was guarded well and sometimes the shots just don’t go in. And it doesn’t exactly help when you’re a big guy who often gets switched to the perimeter and the Nets are shooting 10/18 from deep in the first half.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson made a pair of FTs to extend the lead to 68-53 early in the third. Suddenly Russell Westbrook goes on a tear and the Thunder score 12 straight. Almost enough to get them back on top, almost… but then Harris and D’Angelo Russell hit threes and soon enough they’re down 15 and soon enough after that we come to the fourth quarter.

OKC began the 4Q with a lineup of Felton/Ferguson/Heustis/Patterson/Grant. Ray Felton hit a bucket or two and Adams was in for Grant within two minutes. Felton ends up with the first 10 points of the fourth for the Thunder and then Patty Patterson goes swish on a couple threes. Suddenly we’re going back and forth like the first quarter all over. Adams dunked for the lead with 1:31 to play and Jarrett Allen threw one down in response. Then Russ did this…

Spencer Dinwiddie missed a prayer shot at the buzzer, guarded by Roberson of course, and OKC won 109-108. OKC were 2/17 from deep in quarters 1-3… they were 5/8 in the fourth. Russ scored 32 with 6 assists and 5 rebounds, Paul George added 28 points. It was a poor 6 points for Steve but he made up for some of that with 14 rebounds, nine of them offensive. Joe Harris topped for Brookie with 19 points.

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (B)

“Adams struggled to hit shots for one of the few times this season. The Big Kiwi shot only 3-12 from the floor and scored 6 points, which is pretty uncharacteristic for him. He made up for things by owning the glass once again with 14 rebounds (9 offensive) and playing rugged defense.”

vs WASHINGTON WIZARDS

OKC were back on TV when they hosted the Wizards, a team at the end of a gruelling road trip which has taken them from Charlotte to Detroit to Dallas to Oklahoma City. So no surprises when they quickly found themselves 8-0 down, just as the Cavs a few days before them against this Thunder team. And just like that game, Steven Adams was involved early as the grind was established. 

Of course that didn’t last. Bradley Beal finally got the Wiz on the board after more than four minutes of basketball and Washington then went on a bit of a run after John Wall’s insane block on Paul George, chasing him down the court to slap the layup away from behind. Exactly the kind of thing that inspires a team and they outscored the Thunder 18-12 over almost the rest of the quarter right up until Paul George drilled a three on the buzzer. OKC up 25-20.

Typically for the Wizards, they then struggled without their best blokes on the floor and OKC went on a 9-0 with second unit against second unit. They started the first quarter on a 10-0 run, they started the second on an 11-2 run and that was the difference in that first half. Russ was in scoring mode and PG and Dre were playing some wicked defence, only Beal seemed able to score while the WAS team were 3/13 from deep in the opening two quarter. Quiet from Adams in the second, he flipped in an offensive rebound for points and split a pair of free throws but he did continue on with all those boards, seven off the offensive ones in one half. Unfortunately that free throw shooting’s becoming a bit of a thing again though – he was at 78.3% after ten games, 69.0% after 20, 66.0% after 30 and prior to this one, after 42 games played, he was down at 59.0% for the season. His previous six games he made 9 of 28 at 32.1%... although being Steven Adams, he still offensively rebounded his miss here. 54-40 at HT.

Beal sunk a couple from three to kick off the third, naturally, and this time it was the Wizards starting hot. Seven straight makes and a 9-0 run in the middle of it and we had ourselves a contest once more. Funny what can happen when a few shots start to fall.

Then a strange one as Adams was wrangled by Marcin Gortat going for a rebound and as he fell his flailing leg caught Bradley Beal right in the bollocks. Beal hunched over a bit and Adams, from the ground, was able to grab the ball away and take a foul as he tried to stand up with it and dunk. They took a big long look at it and ended up calling a tech on Steve, but also the personal foul on Gortat for the loose ball. Beal hit his freebie to tie it, then Adams went to the line for a couple and he heroically made one of them. Reggie Miller on the telly decided it was intentional after watching the replays, though if anyone would know the pain of getting kicked in the nads then it’s Steven Adams so that concept is hard to fathom, particularly when he’s horizontal and falling backwards, sorta hard to coordinate yourself in that position.

The Wiz were within one, with possession, looking for the go-ahead basket. OKC were able to trap John Wall and turn him around. Somebody got a hand in there, George probably, and the ball landed in Adams’ lap for the steal. Russ goes down the other way and scores, Melo hits a three next up. Massive little momentum switch and the Thunder, from 69-68 up, were able to take an 82-74 lead into the fourth.

Gortat’s ultra-physical approach to keeping Adams off the glass limited his numbers but with the fouls ticking up it couldn’t last. He finally grabbed down his tenth rebound in the middle of the fourth as the Thunder once more survived a push or two from the visitors to find some breathing room. There was no stopping Bradley Beal, however. He went wild in the fourth, single-handedly keeping the Wizards in it. Six triples in the second half, 18 points in the fourth quarter. He scored 41 all up and spent less than two full minutes on the bench. Enormous effort… but OKC won it 121-112.

John Wall had 21p/12a for the Wizards, Markieff Morris scored 20p/9r. The star of the show was Russell Westbrook. A late flurry took Rusty Buckets to 46 points on 19/29 shooting, with 6r/6a to go with it. 12/10r for Steve while PG13 had 18p/4s and Melo scored 13. Ferguson hit three threes as well.

Erik Horne/NewsOK: “Steven Adams will be the first to tell you when he's had a bad game. He said he sucked against the Nets on Tuesday. He doesn't have many in a row. Against the Wizards on Thursday, Adams was all over. Stepping forward on ballhandlers on defense to let Andre Roberson get back into position, then dropping back quickly and deflecting a low pass. Yet, it's been Adams' offensive rebounding that's taken a seat right next to his defense this season. It was ever present in the Thunder's 121-112 win against Washington, the Thunder's sixth in a row.”

Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (A-)

“The box score for Adams doesn’t leap off the page, but that isn’t unusual. His quiet double-double of 12 and 10 also went with three steals, 5-7 shooting, and several big hustle plays. Seven of his rebounds came on the offensive end and he continues to lead the entire NBA in that category. Gortat just couldn’t handle him. He picked up a tech tonight for kicking Brad Beal below the belt, but we know it was surely an accident… right?”

SLAM DUNKS

So… about those All Star votes. TNC went pretty hard at it, so did you by the looks. And all those votes took a toll, with Steven Adams finishing with 360,822 fan votes in total, eleventh in the Western Conference frontcourt standings. He cracked the top ten in the West FC with 27 player votes too, although none of those pesky media jokers gave him anything – they all settled for Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, LaMarcus Aldridge, etc. You know, the most deserving guys (the first three there were named the starters). Weighted up that left Adams tied for tenth in his category with Kyle Kuzma of the LA Lakers.

The players who finished ahead of Adams: Durant, Davis, Cousins, Green, George, Aldridge, Towns, Leonard & Anthony.

A few notables who didn’t: Capela, Griffin, Jordan, Jokic, Gasol x2, Gobert, Ingles, Lopez, Nurkic, Barnes, Iguodala, Ariza, Nowitzki, Randolph, etc.

He was never much likely to get an actual All Star selection but getting more votes than Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan combined is something to be bloody proud of. Nice work, Oklahoma and Aotearoa. (Oh and by the way, he wasn’t snubbed. Please don’t say that).

Brett Dawson/The Oklahoman: “The 7-foot, 255-pound Adams is averaging 5.1 offensive rebounds per game this season, the most in the NBA. He rebounds 17 percent of Oklahoma City's misses, also tops in the league. For all the physical gifts that requires, those numbers also owe something to Adams' mentality. As Thunder coach Billy Donovan noted on Wednesday, for Adams to put up those numbers, he has to consistently crash the glass thanklessly.

“More often than not,” Donovan said, circumstance will deny Adams will an offensive rebounding opportunity. “The ball may go in the basket, it may not bounce in his vicinity. But I think the effort and the persistence to keep going is what's really made him dominant the last week or so.””

Hitting ads helps us get by, becoming a patron on Patreon does that times a hundred. If you’re that way inclined/capable, why not flip a few our way?