Kiwi Steve in the NBA #11: Concussion
BOX SCORES
at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (L 96-84):
32 MINS | 4 PTS (2/5 FG) | 5 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 2 TO | 4 PF
at SACRAMENTO KINGS (W 122-118):
20 MINS | 6 PTS (3/6 FG) | 4 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 3 TO | 1 PF
at LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (L 120-98):
DID NOT PLAY - CONCUSSION
at GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (L 121-100):
DID NOT PLAY – CONCUSSION
NEXT WEEK
at UTAH JAZZ, Tuesday 3.00pm (NZT)
at NEW ORLEANS PELICANS, Thursday, 2.00pm (NZT)
at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (L 96-84)
The Wolves were without Zach LaVine for the second straight game with a sore hip but then they were also coming off the back of a couple of fine wins and a period of defence in the New Year much more in keeping with coach Tom Thibodeau’s reputation. Minnesota had a simply abysmal defence early on in the season, very quickly spoiling their (unearned) reputation as a possible breakout team. Still, their young dudes are dominating all the same and Karl-Anthony Towns has proven more than a tricky task for Steven Adams in the past.
Initially this was a bit of a shootout with the score reading 30-28 to Minny after the first quarter. That most definitely did not continue. Of late that Wolves defence has been a lot better and so it showed although it was OKC that kept Minnesota to only 15 points in the second, allowing for a five point lead at the big break. Not nearly enough Kiwi Steve for our liking though. He missed an early hook shot and then picked up an offensive foul. Not quite the hot hand today. Then he picked up a couple more personals late in the second quarter.
The Thunder could only muster 36 points in the second half, which was their downfall. Those great three point games that Russ has been having recently? This was back in the opposite direction as he shot 1/10 from range. He was 7/23 overall and while he did slog his way to a 19th triple-double, this was far from Prime Westbrook. In fact you could almost call it a quadruple-double given he had 10 turnovers as well.
Frustratingly, Adams would only have two field goal attempts in the second half despite the team struggling for offence and neither of those were in the fourth. In fact by the time he checked back in during the last quarter the team had slipped into a 12 point deficit which they wouldn’t be able to chase.
Towns ended with 29 points and 17 rebounds. That is not a stat line that is ever going to flatter his opposing marker. Adams isn’t necessarily a player that needs to boss things on the scoreboard but when the dude he’s primarily guarding scores 25 points and makes 12 rebounds more than him…. yeeouch.
By- the way, this game marked the exact halfway point in the Thunder’s season. 41 games played, 41 more to go with a record of 24-17.
Thunderous Intentions First Half Grades: Steven Adams // A-
“Steven Adams has taken a huge leap this season. He won’t, however, get any sort of recognition for Most Improved Player this season because the scoring isn’t there. In all honesty that isn’t his fault. The Big Kiwi has upped his career scoring average from 7.1 points per game to a solid 12.2 this season. He’s still shooting around 60% even though his field goal attempts have increased by over 3 a game. There lies the problem though: an increase of three shots a game. When [REDACTED] left the Thunder had almost 20 shots a game they had to replace; you’d think the $100 million dollar man would have gotten more than 15% of those shots. Sadly that hasn’t been the case for Adams. He gets the first shot of virtually every game for OKC, and tends to dominate the first quarter. But they slowly drift away from pounding the ball inside as the game progresses. On defense the 23-year old has proven to be one of the best one-on-one post defenders in the league, shutting down Hassan Whiteside twice and Marc Gasol this season. But he hasn’t proven to be the devout rim protector we all imagined. Adams is actually averaging more steals than blocks per game this season (1.2 vs. 1), an ode to his defensive versatility. At the same time, you’d like to see your 7-footer get more than a block per game.”
at SACRAMENTO KINGS (W 122-118)
From Towns to Boogie, as the Thunder road trip continued into Sacramento. DeMarcus Cousins is a player that Adams has tussled with in the past, famously almost being murdered with a refrained haymaker to the back of the head last season. Adams likes the niggle, Boogie doesn’t like to take it. This was definitely going to be a physical one.
But the degree to which that unfolded maybe wasn’t what we were thinking. Boogie struck first by winning the tip-off, which is a mostly irrelevant thing but Stevie usually gets those buggers so yeah. Except he then missed a couple shots and Steve hit back with a seven-footer. Boogie said nah bro and made himself a three pointer, so Adams drilled one from 11 feet. Trading the first seven points in the game between them.
Of course, Russell Westbrook soon took matters into his own hands and with Adams fumbling a turnover and copping an offensive charge call, his day slowly slipped backwards. Although he did flip a nice pass to Russ for a driving dunk and his lone assist of the day.
OKC ended the first quarter on a 14-6 scoring run and by the end of the second quarter they led 59-46, not too shabby at all. After playing most of the first and scoring all of his points in that frame, Adams sat out half of the second quarter to catch his breath, the rotations a little stretched, but he did get some good time in playing alongside Enes Kanter who was having a fine game himself.
This is where the physicality came in though. Tussling for a rebound, Cousins and Adams got tangled up and Adams leaned back a bit much, losing his balance. Boogie probably gave him a bit of help on the way down but it was the whiplash of the landing that got him, cracking his head against the hardcourt. Ouch.
Kanter would come straight back in for Adams, who wouldn’t return. A suspected concussion.
Billy Donovan: “We will evaluate him (Adams) some with testing to find out where’s he’s at.”
Without him the Kings came back pretty strong, though Russell Westbrook was able to keep them at arm’s length with his 20th triple-double of the season. 36 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. 25 of those points came in the second half, 13 of them in the fourth quarter. He shot over 50% from the field as well. Speaking of, Kanter threw one up for his injured Stache Bro with 29 points and 12 rebounds. He was a monstrous +19 when on the court, not always Kanter’s best stat.
When Oladipo finished one in close after a Cousins turnover, the Thunder were up 12 with 2:03 left. Darren Collison scored five quick points, Boogie and Russ shared a double tech, Oladipo fouled Cousins on a three and while the Kings got within two points, there was just enough time run off the clock that Dipo could close it at the free throw line and the Thunder escaped one that never shoulda been as close as it was. A win’s a win, though.
More Billy D: “We played really well on defense outside of the final minute and a half of the fourth quarter,” Donovan said. “We allowed 39 points in the fourth quarter. We were fortunate we won. The things we did at the end of the game will get you beat.”
Cousins had 31 points, 11 rebound and 7 assists, although he scored 14 of them at the free throw line shooting 8/20 from the field. Rudy Gay scored 22 and Collison 21 but Kanter outscored the entire Kings bench singlehandedly.
Enes Kanter: “Coach told me that I had to guard (Cousins), but definitely Steven is a big part of our family, man. Hopefully he’s gonna get well soon and then get back….”
Here’s a bit of stuff from Thunderous Intentions about the Concussion Protocol.
at LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (L 120-98)
It’s often said that the Thunder would be stranded without Russell Westbrook, that if he got injured or suspended there wouldn’t be much left. It’s probably true as well. But with the news that Steven Adams would miss the game against the Clippers at the Staples Centre thanks to that concussion we got a chance instead to see how they look without Kiwi Steve, who has without a doubt been the team’s second best player this season (Victor Oladipo’s time out injured has aided that cause, to be fair).
The results weren’t all that pretty. Despite the form of Enes Kanter and also having King Joffrey Lauvergne on the bench, it was Jerami Grant that was pegged to start in place of Adams, a very undersized centre coming up against DeAndre Jordan. No surprises that he lost the tip-off.
And that was about the way things went. Grant and Westbrook were the only Thunder players to make field goals in the first quarter, the team finished with only 18 assists all game (a number that Russ can match on his own some nights) and it was generally all sorta… stale. The Clippers built an early lead and they kept it throughout.
There was a slight reprieve in the second quarter when Chris Paul sprained his thumb and would leave the match, though ‘slight’ is the operative word there. OKC went into the break down by 17 points and then ended the game down by 22, having been outscored in every quarter. Russ scored 24 points but shot only 7/19 and it’s probably not the best indication that Mo Speights topped for the Clippers with 23 points off the bench.
DeAndre Jordan had 19 points and 15 rebounds, shooting 7/8. There was no stopping him without Adams on the court, the only dude on the Thunder who can guard that guy (although how well he can score on him is another matter – Stevie shot 7 of 13 combined in three games vs LAC this season, scoring 11, 6 and 2). Although DeAndre does famously have one severe weakness…
But compared to the damage he and his buddies did, that was nothing. They outscored OKC 62-34 in the paint with OKC shooting only 41.9% from the field compared to 54.9% from the Clips, who also had a more than comfortable lead in the rebounding stakes (47-36). This was without Blake Griffin too, and largely without Chris Paul (although that lad started fantastically with 8 points and 6 assists in less than a half of ball).
NewsOK: “Adams, who suffered a concussion in Sunday’s win at Sacramento, is a critical piece of the Thunder’s defense against Jordan in pick-and-roll, and the Clippers center roamed free much of the night, finishing with 19 points and 15 rebounds on 7-of-8 shooting.”
Billy Donovan: “Regardless of who’s out or who’s playing, you have a standard that you want to play to, and I just didn’t feel like we played to that standard.”
As for Chris Paul, it turned out to be a pretty serious thing, which really sucks for the Clippers with Blake Griffin nearing a return but now this.
Daily Thunder: “No Adams, big problems. In the third quarter of the Sunday’s game against the Kings, Steven Adams tumbled and knocked his head against the playing surface, suffering a concussion. As a result, Adams entered the league’s concussion protocol and missed Monday’s tilt against the Clippers. The Thunder sorely missed Adams. DeAndre Jordan, Marreese Speights (say what?) and the Clippers absolutely destroyed the Thunder inside, as OKC gave up 62 points in the paint, 10 offensive rebounds, and 14 second-chance points. For good measure, Jordan also swatted four shots as the Clippers took the Thunder behind the woodshed en route to a 22-point victory.”
Norman Transcript/Fred Katz: “They say you can’t see something that isn’t there. But the Thunder intently stared at a void for 48 straight minutes Monday night. The L.A. Clippers ran all over Oklahoma City during a 120-98 win. It was a game they led by as many as 27 with OKC center Steven Adams sitting because of a concussion he suffered the previous night in Sacramento. And the Thunder couldn’t recover without their most important defensive player. “We had made some significant strides over the last five to seven games, but I didn’t think it was one of our better defensive games,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Regardless of who’s out or who’s playing, you have a standard that you want to play to, and I just didn’t feel like we played to that standard tonight.”
at GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (L 121-100)
Aw, goddammit.
The Thunder travelled for the last game in this gruelling couple weeks of games for a big one against the Warriors, another Kevin Durant vs The Lads battle (keep an eye out next month for when he returns to Oklahoma City) but there was no Steven Adams, ruled out the day before as he was still in the NBA’s Concussion Protocol and not yet cleared to play.
NewsOK: “The return to action requires multiple steps of increasing exertion once Adams is symptom-free, including riding a stationary bike, jogging, agility work and non-contact team drills. Adams will have to advance to each stage without exhibiting concussion symptoms. If symptoms occur, he’ll return to the previous stage of the protocol until he completes it without symptoms.”
More from that NewsOK article, courtesy of Brett Dawson (@BDawsonWrites):
“In three regular-season games against the Warriors last season, the Thunder allowed 104.6 points per 100 possessions with Adams on the floor and 122.4 with him off it. In the teams’ meeting earlier this season, Oklahoma City gave up 114.7 points per 100 possessions in Adams’ 24 minutes and 132.1 in the 24 minutes he was on the bench. And the Thunder struggled against the Clippers on Monday in Adams absence. L.A. scored 62 points in the paint, finding open looks in the paint in pick-and-rolls and drives to the rim.”
After this one there are a couple more away games dragging them all over the country but at least there’s a bit of a break for Adams to well and truly recover. They have four days off before playing in Utah against the Jazz on Tuesday.
As for the rest of them without Adams? Well clearly there was some drama with Kevin Durant up against his former teammates, highlighted by him shanking a dunk in the first half while trying to make it as emphatic as possible (to be fair, it was as glorious a miss as you’ll ever see – the ball bounced clear off the rim almost to halfway!).
And in the initial stages Enes Kanter was able to carry on some hot work from Oladipo for points, ensuring a surprisingly close half, ending at 56-56 (remember they got destroyed last time the Thunder played the Dubs). But then in the second half they were outscored by 21 points and that was that. Kevin Durant scored 40 points shooting an insane 13 of 16 (considering he missed a dunk too) with 12 rebounds. Steph Curry scored 24. Naturally there was a triple double for Russ (27p/15r/13a) but he was 8 of 23 from the field and missed his last five three pointers. Enes got 22 off the bench, Dipo had 20. Also, Zaza Pachulia picked up a tech for demolishing Russell Westbrook on a screen (a lot like Draymond’s on LeBron the other day). Safe to say he was emboldened by the lack of kiwi opposite him.
Time for a few days off.
ODDS & ENDS
NewsOK: Kanter said his work with Adams has led to a growing awareness of what's happening around him and how to react to it.
“It's normal — I have good nights (and) sometimes I have bad nights, but (Adams is) always the same,” Kanter said. “He always stays the same and (says) ‘Just try to do your best.' One thing about defense is about the trust. You cannot always do perfect. You're not gonna be perfect 100 percent. But you can always try to be perfect.”
ESPN/Ben Alamar: “The Thunder get 35 percent of their shots within 3 feet of the basket -- far more than the league average of 29 percent. Out of 100 shots, the Thunder get six more within 3 feet of the basket than an average team. If they made those shots at the league average of 62 percent, the Thunder would score about eight points more than an average team from that distance.”