Kiwi Steve in the NBA #10: The Indefinite Hiatus
Little were we to know what was to come so soon after.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances the game has been postponed.”
That was the line from the PA announcer at Chesapeake Energy Arena, roughly half an hour after the Oklahoma City Thunder were supposed to have tipped off against the Utah Jazz. As far as fans all knew, they turned up expecting a game. Same as every other game. But while the players had been through most of their warmups and were all out there waiting for tip-off, there was, looking back on it all, an element of distraction about it all as if they were aware of what might be about to happen. Chris Paul never even tucked in his game shirt, dammit. He of all people you wouldn’t expect to simply forget to do that, not after that memorable incident earlier in the season (although he did cop a karmic retribution tech for the same thing a few games later after refs began taking more notice).
There had been some rumours prior to the game, albeit mostly of the joking social media variety. Rudy Gobert had done the microphone-fondling thing a few days earlier in some kind of weirdly off-tone protest against reporters being forced to stand six feet away from him at his press conference... then for this game he was ruled out with illness. There’s an obvious connection to make there. As it turned out, that was the correct one... although blaming Rudy’s pretty rough, we don’t know when or where he contracted the disease and he’s actually done a lot of good to create awareness of the situation around COVID-19 and to get the American public to start taking it more seriously ever since. Gobert wasn’t at the arena however he had travelled to Oklahoma with the team. By all accounts he was feeling fine and wanted to play. But then tests came back positive for the coronavirus and all manner of chaos broke loose.
Except, that is, for in the arena in OKC where fans sat frustrated with minimal information being fed to them. A Thunder staffer rushed out to talk to the three game officials in a little huddle to which OKC’s assistant GM and the two head coaches were added. Then the players were told to leave the court, the officials soon followed... and booing began as fans were told only that the game had been delayed and that they were in no danger themselves, just hang in there. Pretty soon the twitterings spread through the crowd and people came to realise the gravity of the situation. Them’s the times we live in.
Over the previous day or two the NBA had been busy with contingency plans regarding the virus and the Golden State Warriors had already made the call to proceed that arvo with an empty arena. However once it was confirmed that an active player had been infected it was time to launch what had clearly been their predetermined course of action. A fair and reasonable course of action too, albeit a sudden and shocking one.
Both OKC players and Jazz players had been escorted back to their locker rooms where they remained until they could be assessed by medical staff. The Jazz forced to wait for close to six hours until they, their staff, and any travelling journalists they may have come in contact with could be checked for the virus. The Thunder were at least allowed to leave a couple hours after the game was supposed to begin – they weren’t initially given proper tests, they were only checked for symptoms and given the actual tests at some unconfirmed time later after the Thunder had been able to buy a bunch of test kits through ‘alternative means’ (so as not to take a hit out of the state’s public preparedness)... and all the players were told to go into a two-week quarantine immediately afterwards. That, friends, is where they remain.
Just a day before this game Adams was asked about the prospect of playing with empty stands all around... then before he had time to grab his next tip-off the entire league was on hiatus. Kinda crazy, considering that Steven Adams was really frontline of all this and especially considering that once the NBA took the call to postpone things it really began a domino effect of other sporting leagues and organisations around the world doing the same. Up until then most of the postponements had been in countries such as Italy where the crisis was known to have already been a serious issue. The NBA’s postponement, in many ways, shifted the global focus from ‘them’ to ‘all of us’.
As with everything else right now it’s all a matter of taking it easy and minimising risk for others. Basketball will be back eventually, same as all sports. It sounds increasingly like the best case scenario for the NBA would be a June resumption but that depends on the USA being able to get the pandemic under control and considering how poorly prepared they were for it (shout out to the people who thought electing a narcissistic oversized oompa-loompa would somehow make their country ‘great’)... safe to say that feels optimistic right now. But you never know. Like I say, this is a one-day-at-a-time situation and basketball is not the priority right now.
Here’s some good news though...
A Snapshot Of The Season As It Stands
Now ain’t the time to speculate on how the season might be resurrected but you can see from the standings why the game against the Jazz was going to be such a crucial one. A home playoff seeding could potentially have been on the line, particularly with the season series split 1-1 between the teams. OKC still clings to that fifth seed though. If the league is able to resume but goes straight into playoff mode then that’s kinda crucial considering they’d edged ahead of their fellow 40-win Rockets and Mavericks.
That 40-24 record is even more impressive considering they started 11-14... which means they’ve gone 29-10 since mid-December, a rate of wins that woulda been on target for 60 to 61 over a full season. Obviously they didn’t have a full season to do that with since you can’t erase the sluggish start... but that’s an indication of the level they’ve gotten themselves to and the threat they could be if the playoffs do in fact go ahead eventually.
The Thunder have 18 games unplayed in their regular season campaign. Some of those fixtures are pretty tough, there’s games against both LA teams plus a couple more versus Denver to get through. Away to Miami. A pair of games against the Jazz. We don’t know what will or what would have happened. But it’s been a pretty bloody solid term to this point for a team that traded away its two all star calibre players in the offseason.
As for the main man of the piece, here’s where we’re at for 2019-20:
27 MIN | 10.9 PTS (59.1 FG%, 59.0 FT%) | 9.4 REB (3.4 OFF) | 2.4 AST | 0.9 STL | 1.1 BLK | 1.5 TO | 1.9 TO
Those are per game numbers, by the way.
There have been injuries along the way. There have been minutes restrictions because of those injuries. There have been games where he’s looked incredible and games where he’s looked laboured or hurt. His free throw numbers have improved with each passing month (other than four relatively poor games from the charity stripe in March). His assist total is already a career high despite having only played 58 games. He made a three pointer, the first of his career (and it was from deep in his own half). The fluctuating nature of his stats make his averages a big misleading however some of the advanced statties tell a deeper tale...
Adams is third in the NBA in offensive rebound percentage (13.0%)
Adams is fourth in total screen assists (289) and fifth in screen assists per game (5.0)
Adams is eighth in total box outs (290) and seventh in box outs per game (5.0) – note how crazily similar those last two numbers are
His field goal percentage is at 59.1%, opponents field goal percentage when he guards them is 48.8%
And here are a couple shot charts...
Time Is Broken
BOX SCORES
vs LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (L 109-94):
27 MIN | 4 PTS (2/6 FG, 0/2 FT) | 10 REB (5 OFF) | 2 AST | 1 TO | 5 PF
at DETROIT PISTONS (W 114-107):
32 MIN | 8 PTS (4/5 FG, 0/3 FT) | 7 REB (0 OFF) | 3 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 5 TO | 1 PF
at NEW YORK KNICKS (W 126-103):
24 MIN | 12 PTS (5/8 FG, 2/2 FT) | 11 REB (6 OFF) | 1 AST | 2 BLK
at BOSTON CELTICS (W 105-104):
26 MIN | 4 PTS (1/2 FG, 4/8 FT) | 6 REB (0 OFF) | 1 AST | 3 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 1 PF
THE SCHEDULE
Postponed for at least 30 days, probably longer, time to chill
SLAM DUNKS
If you appreciate the yarns on TNC then support us on Patreon so we can keep on truckin’
Also whack an ad whenever you read a goodie and spread the love however you can
Keep cool but care