Kiwi Steve in the NBA #15: For Fallen Comrades
BOX SCORES
at DETROIT PISTONS (W 121-108)
32 MINS | 13 PTS (6/9 FG, 1/3 FT) | 7 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 5 PF
vs PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (W 122-112)
33 MINS | 20 PTS (10/11 FG) | 13 REB | 2 AST | 3 TO | 3 PF
at WASHINGTON WIZARDS (L 102-96)
38 MINS | 16 PTS (6/11 FG, 4/7 FT) | 12 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 4 PF
NEXT WEEK
at DENVER NUGGETS, Friday at 4.30pm (NZT)
vs NEW ORLEANS PELICANS, Saturday at 3.00pm (NZT)
vs LOS ANGELES LAKERS, Monday at 8.00am (NZT)
at GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS, Wednesday at 4.30pm (NZT)
at LOS ANGELES LAKERS, Friday at 4.30pm (NZT)
at DETROIT PISTONS
Some games get overshadowed by individual incidents. Last-second game-winners tend to clog up the memory, handily erasing the sloppiness that usual precedes the need for a last-second game-winner. Then, on the other side of things, there are injuries. Andre Roberson may not be the most glamorous player on the Thunder, the dude can barely hit the rim from the free throw line, but it became super clear to everyone just how important he is to this team when he spent time out earlier in the year with knee soreness.
So when Dre tumbled down untouched in the third quarter against the Pistons, dragging himself off the court in pain, there was plenty of reason to feel worried. They’d need the medics with the stretcher to help him away and it wasn’t long before the diagnosis came back as a ruptured patellar tendon and he’ll not take the floor again this season. Suuuucks.
For Steven Adams, this wasn’t only a damaging moment for his team’s season but it was a horrible moment for a good mate of his. They’re close and Steve was close by as Roberson contemplated what had just happened to him.
As far as the game goes, it had already been broken open by then. A 16-3 run of scoring in the first quarter gave OKC a handy lead, Adams adding six points in that opening frame. The OK3 all made it splash as well. They kept it up during the second then opened the third on a 15-0 run. Carmelo Anthony scored his 25000th point in the midst of all that and the fourth quarter was just an excuse for the bench to have some fun.
Hence the Thunder didn’t need so much from Steven Adams. When Russ, PG and Melo were all able to get their shots off, Adams’ job was to take care of Andre Drummond and keep him off the boards in particular. It wasn’t exactly a perfectly fulfilled objective, Dre still had 13 rebounds while Steve had an uncharacteristic mere seven, but he did enough to outscore him at the same time. The lead got as high as 27 and briefly got hauled back to nine in the last quarter but OKC got away with that.
The Pistons were headed by 21 points from Tobias Harris (who was traded a few days later in the Blake Griffin deal) with Reggie Bullock adding 16 off the bench. Andre Drummond had 12 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 5/11, with a game-worst -30 plus/minus. Westbrook scored 31 points with 11 rebounds and 13 assists while Paul George scored 26 and Carmelo Anthony added 21 (8/21 FG). Kiwi Steve dropped down to single figure rebounds for the first time in seven games.
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (B+)
“Adams was solid once again this evening. He finished the game with 13 points and 7 rebounds. A matchup with Andre Drummond is a daunting one, but thankfully the Thunder have a center of Adams’ caliber to combat great centers like him.”
Hold up a second, gotta ask you to be a champ and slap an ad for us first. TNC is fully independent, completely untethered to soulless corporations… but we still gotta get paid. Cheer to you.
vs PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
First game of the rest of the season then and the Thunder were at home to the Philadelphia 76ers, whom you may remember they went to triple-OT against earlier in the season. The initial issue, even before the thing about plugging that defensive hole, was who’d start at shooting guard and the answer was the expected one: Terrance Ferguson. But relying on a rookie there might not be the ideal and with Alex Abrines’ own defensive issues dropping him way down the pecking order, it might not be a good idea to ignore the possibility of a trade in the works.
It didn’t matter a whole lot here, to be fair. They’ve got time to figure that out. Nah, against the Sixers there were two head to head battles that really matters: Joel Embiid vs Steven Adams and Joel Embiid vs Russell Westbrook. Particularly the latter, as there was some beef between the two in that 3OT game and neither one of these dudes is much good at letting things go.
Paul George started things off with a wicked finish but it was Embiid’s dunk on Westbrook that really kicked it all into gear. Russ tried to take a charge (on another day, with another set of refs, perhaps…) and Embiid, having rounded the corner past Adams on the perimeter, went all the way up and over... with a few words on the way down. Safe to say that Rusty didn’t appreciate that.
But the battle between Adams and Embiid was almost as good. Two monstrous international centres going big guns against each other. Super physical and particularly entertaining given the proclivities of this particular column for all the dark arts of NBA 5s.
Berry Tramel/The Oklahoman: “Physical intimidation. Mental fortitude. Constant tenacity. That's the Adams you see on the court. Adams plays hard and he hits hard… Adams got into that type of game against Sixer superstar Joel Embiid… Embiid finished with big numbers — 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting, with 10 rebounds. But Stone Cold finished with big numbers himself — 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting, with 13 rebounds, including a career-high-tying 10 offensive boards. And Embiid, so lively and confident in the early going, was dragging by the fourth quarter and turned down several chances to engage offensively.”
Oh yeah, Embiid went hard. Adams went hard. Stevie scored 8 points in the first as the Thunder nursed a shallow lead for most of it but the wear of all that crunching play got him into foul trouble and he didn’t even play three minutes in the second, leading to a 58-57 HT advantage to the Sixers. See, Westbrook had turned on the gas but he only shot 6/20 in that first half – 20 shots! – while Embiid scored 17 in the opening two quarters.
And with Ben Simmons and Dario Saric making buckets, the 76ers were up by seven with 7:33 remaining in the third. What tipped the scales was Westbrook, yet again. After his personal onslaught in the first half, which resulted in a couple killer dunks if also plenty more missed shots, he turned provider in the second half and with it he completely unlocked Steven Adams but even more so Paul George. By the end of the 3Q, OKC were up by nine, having closed the frame on a 24-8 run.
Robert Covington dragged that back and an Embiid three made it a one-point game again. Westbrook scored a couple times to hold on and then Adams chipped in himself. With six minutes left the game was tied at 101-all, then Melo made a three. Steven Adams went on to score eight more points over the rest of the game as Oklahoma City closed on a 21-11 run. Embiid shot 3/3 in the fourth but only getting up three field goals shows you he was gassed. Then Westbrook got the last laugh, running down the clock and all the while staring over at Embiid on the bench.
Carmelo Anthony: “I thought [Steven] just wore him down for the whole game. As the game went on, I thought Embiid got tired. Fatigued. It's tough battling with Steve on the defensive end, then having to come down and score and do the bulk of the work offensively for your team. And also try to keep him off the offensive glass. It's a lot of work.”
No doubt, ten offensive rebounds!
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (A)
“It is starting to sound cliche at this point, but Steven Adams had another great night of basketball. He was a monster in the pick-and-roll with Westbrook and notched his 17th double-double of the season. Adams scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds, 10 of which were on the offensive glass. That has to be one of the most impressive stat-lines of his career season thus far.”
at WASHINGTON WIZARDS
While the Thunder were dealing with their injured starter, the Wizards went on and announced that John Wall needed some clean up surgery on his knee and would miss the next couple months. That got Andre Drummond into the All Star Game (Paul George also got a belated call-up with Boogie Cousins’ injury). It also made this a pretty even game, what with the Wiz missing the guy that Roberson would’ve been defending. Call it even then, let’s do this.
That didn’t make things any easier for Adams, of course. Bradley Beal probably had a thing or two to prove after the kick in the bollocks last week and Marcin Gortat loves a wrestle as much as Stevie does. Not only did Gortat win the tip-off (one of Funaki’s specialities) but he also grabbed two offensive rebounds on the first possession to score the opening points. That’s what Steve’s supposed to be doing! So instead Adams went and replied with a badass one-handed assist to Melo in the corner. One day Kiwi Steve will get the credit he deserves for his passing too. Gotta start throwing these more often before anyone will notice but he’s definitely capable.
Gortat brought it early and Adams wasn’t able to get close enough to the basket to be a factor. His first two shots were from 12-feet, going 1/2. He dropped one in after a Melo miss but then threes to Otto Porter and Bradley Beal had Washington up 18-10. Then Ian Mahinmi subbed in for Gortat and he was doing the same old stuff as his European comrade. Adams started this thing with four offensive rebounds in the first quarter but he only shot 2/7. Made three free throws though, plus Paul George had a couple flourishes and it was 30-25 after one to WAS.
The OKC bench brought it back and then the starters returned to do their thing. Adams added five points in the second quarter but it should’ve been more. He missed two free throws as well as turning down a wide open pass to hit his man in the corner (then copping a three second violation). Seems he didn’t realise how open he was. Whoops.
It was missed shots from the likes of Russ and Melo that were the issue for OKC, that was why this game stayed so close. Steven Adams could’ve done more at times but he still played pretty well. Can’t say he was especially enamoured with the refs when he took a tech in the third though, can’t say any of the Thunder players were much enamoured with the refs. Then again it wasn’t the refs who shot 28% from deep in this contest.
This was a back and forth thing all the way to the wire, sixteen lead changes and thirteen ties. Trading buckets, nobody able to get beyond a single possession lead. Westbrook hit Adams for his tenth assist (six of them to Steve) on the roll and he flipped it in from about 2-3 feet (would still prefer he tried to dunk those though). Then he almost got caught up on a clear path foul in intentionally taking down Bradley Beal after a turnover… what do you reckon, a foul then?
Russ put OKC back on top but that didn’t last and then Josh Heustis, playing some late minutes, turned it over trying to find Adams under pressure before Melo took a poor shot in no space and free throws made it 100-96 to Washington with thirty seconds left. Melo missed long from the corner – not sure if he’s the best option at that stage when he shot 2/12 from deep for the game – and after eight straight wins, the Thunder finally tasted defeat again, 102-96.
Average games for Melo and Russ. Anthony shot 7/21 for 19 points (+ 6r/3a/3b) while Westbrook was 5/18 for 13p/10a/6r with seven turnovers. Can’t really take those two doing and still beat a playoff team, although Paul George did add 28 points and 6 rebounds on 8/14 FG. Adams had his 16p & 12r as well. For Washington, Otto Porter stepped up with 25 points and Beal added 21. Gortat only scored 11 points with 7 rebounds, shooting 4/12. Markieff Morris did have 18p/6r/4a in a good one from him. Although…
SLAM DUNKS
Nylon Calculus: “Steven Adams is truly an outlier. Relative to league averages, he has one of the best offensive rebound rates ever, yet his defensive rebound rate is near the league average. That’s downright bizarre for a center with his skillset. The only other outliers of that magnitude on that graph are Dennis Rodman, of course, and Bill Walton, who would crush the boards on one end of the court and operate as a high-post center on the other.
Naturally, Steven has had some unique conditions. This was only made possible by Russell Westbrook’s extraordinary ability to, well, steal rebounds, especially the easy ones to grab after free throws. Steven’s defensive rebound percentage with Russell on the court is a mere 12 percent, which is something you’d see from a guard often. Without him? It shoots up to a respectable 17 percent. This isn’t a value judgement; the ball is best in his hands anyway. But for a historically unique event, you need a historically unique cause.”
