Kiwi Steve in the NBA #8: Lord of the Range
And here we are. A week after the trade deadline passed with the Oklahoma City Thunder choosing to sit comfortably back in their seats with no knockout offers forthcoming, they now roll into the great big period of rest and recalibration that is the All Star Break. Chris Paul is off to Chicago to represent the franchise. The rest of the fellas get a few days off... something that Steven Adams could very obviously use considering how his season so far has been plagued by pesky little injuries.
Which means it’s a perfect time to take stock of things. When this Thunder team was blown out by the Portland Trail Blazers in late November, they slumped to a 6-11 record to begin their season. Then a switch was flicked. Since then they have surged to a 33-22 record at the break, going 27-11 since that poor start to be sitting in the sixth seed ahead of their week off. This team was supposed to be in rebuild mode but here they are now having not lost three games in a row at any stage since November.
This has already been a topic of discussion in previous editions of this column but basically once Chris Paul settled into his role, once Billy Donovan began stretching his wings in the post-Westbrook era, once Steven Adams got a bit of fitness in his injured legs... this team began looking like a genuine playoff threat and the kind of side that even those top sides wouldn’t really wanna face. It’s been going on for more than two months now as well, you can’t call this a fluke or a fortuitous run. Keeping Gallinari and all the rest of them past trade deadline means we’re gonna get to see what this team can do over a full season too – even if it might be the only season we get of this team in this incarnation (Chris Paul becomes more tradeable the more time he takes off that contract, while Gallinari will be a free agent after this season and even Steven Adams will have a decision to make about extending his deal or not).
Every team has spells like the Thunder’s first 20-odd games. An NBA season is a long time and injuries do happen. As do bad form and tricky road trips and the like. If OKC can carry on at the rate they have done since December started then we’re talking somewhere in the range of 50-52 wins which would be incredible. That’d be potentially even threatening a fourth seed and home court in the first round. However there are a couple things to ponder about with that. For one thing, the Thunder’s record against winning teams is 8-16. They’ve been excellent at beating the ones they should but against fellow playoff calibre teams that’s not so much the case. Against the Lakers, Nuggets, Clippers, and Jazz (their most likely first round opponents) OKC has gone 2-6... not really ideal, that. Most of those losses came early on and they’re a better team now than they were back then but that only suggests that they’re a little untested against the best – a theory backed up by the fact that they have a tougher remaining strength of schedule than any team above them in the Western Conference standings other than the Nuggets. But they’re winning a lot of road games and that’s always a good sign.
As for Steven Adams, it hasn’t been a pretty picture on the stats sheet recently. Since he missed his most recent games he’s been hovering in the single figures for points most every night. A couple times he’s had something extra to offer, like the win over Detroit recently, but in a starting five that includes three guys averaging around 20pts per night in CP3, SGA, and Danny G... he’s not played at his capacity often enough to have established himself as a reliable scorer. None of those three were on this roster with him last season, remember. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. The break’s coming at a great time for him. Here’s Sixth Man of the Year candidate Denny talking after Adams’ game versus Detroit...
Dennis Schröder: “He handled it very well. We need him to be aggressive to be successful going forward. He’s a hell of a player. On the defensive end he’s helping us a lot, so we’ve gotta reward him a little bit on the offensive end. He did it tonight, showed that he makes something happen.”
The injuries have made the numbers tough to gauge as he’s only briefly gotten a roll on... so perhaps it’s best to split them into segments. The start and the end of it all so far has been a hobbling old time but the version of Steven Adams that we saw in the middle there for a month or two was exactly what this team will be begging for if they’re gonna do anything in the playoffs.
First 11 Games (Playing Thru Knee Contusion):
26.3 MIN | 7.8 PTS (50.6% FG & 29.6% FT) | 9.1 REB (2.8 OFF) | 2.6 AST | 0.7 BLK | 1.7 PF
Next 26 Games (Getting Into The Groove):
29.1 MIN | 13.8 PTS (65.3% FG & 64.4% FT) | 10.7 REB (4.0 OFF) | 2.8 AST | 1.4 BLK | 1.9 PF
Most Recent 9 Games (Another Knee Contusion):
27.2 MIN | 8.0 PTS (57.7% FG & 78.6% FT) | 7.4 REB (2.6 OFF) | 2.2 AST | 1.3 BLK | 3.3 PF
That’s ignoring a run of a three games between the second and third phases by the way, mostly because in two of those games he only played in the first quarter before leaving with injury so the numbers would be too skewed. He also missed three games around then, same as he missed during the first phase. He’s missed six all up and in four different runs, never absent for more than two games in a row despite the ongoing issues – although Billy Donovan has been especially careful with his minutes. So it goes. That’s all why the All Star Break is such a welcome arrival right now.
Way Downtown
Well, you can’t say it happened the way any coach on the planet would have designed it but after 515 and a half NBA games our dude Steve-o has finally nailed his first made three pointer. He’d previously attempted nine in six seasons plus this one, all but one of them buzzer-beating heaves like this. The kind of shots that barely even count, which nobody even bothers to remember... until you hit one. Then when you do, you give it the shoulder shimmy, of course. By God what a moment. Incredible.
And this... yeah this is the angle right here...
It’s funny because you remember at the start of the season how Steven Adams was supposedly gonna get the green light to shoot triples now? He’d been working on them his whole career but not confidently enough to embrace it in games and Sam Presti even poured cold water on the idea at exit interviews after last season. Centres around the league might be embracing the deep bomb but Presti reckoned it was more valuable, and he’s right to be fair, for Stevie to focus on fixing that pesky free throw percentage. But then coming into this season, Billy Donovan hinted at it being an option and Adams said he was cool with whatever the coach asked for as long as it’s a good shot. The seeds were sewn and then first play of preseason they spotted him up in the corner and he made it splash.
But then that turned out to be a bit of a decoy. Adams has spent a lot of time hanging out on the perimeter at the top of the key but usually with his back to the basket looking for those cutting and slicing passes or the big hand-offs to his guards. A facilitator of sorts but definitely not a shooter. With two-thirds of the NBA’s regular season in the books he’d attempted just two triples since that preseason highlight – one a similar corner spot up that he missed against Minnesota back in December, the other was a heave at the buzzer a couple games earlier against the Celtics.
That Celtics prayer ball might just have been a harbinger of things to come though. With the ball in his hands as time expired, he did what everybody does and he threw it up there. Stopped sharp like Damian Lillard and popped a sweetly orthodox jump shot which was seemingly on target... but then fell at least a metre short. Dropped out of the sky like it’d been shot, dammit. Things is, Chris Paul had some pointers for the big fella as they went into the locker room and, what do you know, considering what happened a few days later it must’ve worked. See, that’s why that man’s an all star.
Ahh, one more look at it, why not?
And another of these for good luck...
Old Mate
Ah yes, beautiful. Enes Kanter back in Oklahoma City, even just for a single night, visiting with his Boston Celtics. A reminder of the good old times of The Stache Bros. Adams and Kanter seem to have remained good mates even as Enes moved east and every now and then they get to scrap it out on the court as their paths align. Which is funky on a couple levels, not only because they’re mates but also because Adams they play the same position and have shared plenty in their respective developments. Plus of course... the trash talk.
Enes Kanter’s had an odd career, falling out pretty badly with the Utah Jazz on his way to OKC and getting clowned for his poor defence for a lot of that time. Since then he’s had decent but unspectacular stints with the Trail Blazers, Knicks, and now the Celtics but the connection he has with Oklahoma City is something else. He’s still beloved by Thunder fans despite playing only a few years there, despite being a Swiss-born Turkish national and a devoted Muslim in the middle of the bible belt. To sum up how he’s adored in OKC... even the mayor turned up at his hotel to say g’day while he was in town.
Steven Adams: “One thing that kind of aligns well with Oklahomans and a thing that they kind of relate to is that real gritty, physical kind of nature. They really enjoy that, and Enes is very much that. So I think they liked him for his game play first but then found out the dude’s actually a really nice guy and is really passionate about his voice and wants to do a lot with his life while he’s here on this earth. It’s pretty impressive. You’ve got to be quite brave to take that path.”
Lovely. As for the game itself, nothing much. The Thunder had a big surge late in the first half but were their own worst enemies in the fourth quarter, unable to make the most of their opportunities and going down by a single point. Could’ve been a massive scalp but oh well. Here’s some more Enes Kanter stuff...
BOX SCORES
vs DETROIT PISTONS (W 108-101):
29 MIN | 16 PTS (7/10 FG, 2/2 FT) | 8 REB (2 OFF) | 3 AST | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 3 PF
vs BOSTON CELTICS (L 112-111):
30 MIN | 4 PTS (2/10 FG) | 11 REB (5 OFF) | 2 AST | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 3 PF
vs SAN ANTONIO SPURS (L 114-106):
32 MIN | 10 PTS (4/9 FG, 2/2 FT) | 10 REB (3 OFF) | 2 AST | 4 STL | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 5 PF
at NEW ORLEANS PELICANS (W 123-118):
28 MIN | 11 PTS (5/10 FG, 1/1 3PT, 0/1 FT) | 11 REB (3 OFF) | 2 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PF
THE SCHEDULE
< ALL STAR BREAK >
vs DENVER NUGGETS, Saturday 22 Feb at 2pm (NZT)
vs SAN ANTONIO SPURS, Monday 24 Feb at 1pm (NZT)
at CHICAGO BULLS, Wednesday 26 Feb at 2pm (NZT)
vs SACRAMENTO KINGS, Friday 28 Feb at 2pm (NZT)
SLAM DUNKS
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