BOX SCORES

at NEW ORLEANS PELICANS (W 114-105):

32 MINS | 20 PTS (9/16 FG, 0/1 3PT, 2/4 FT) | 11 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 4 BLK | 4 TO | 2 PF

vs DALLAS MAVERICKS (W 109-98):

37 MINS | 15 PTS (5/7 FG, 5/6 FT) | 7 REB | 1 TO | 3 PF

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (L 107-91):

27 MINS | 7 PTS (3/4 FG, 1/1 FT) | 10 REB | 1 AST | 1 BLK | 4 TO | 3 PF

at SAN ANTONIO SPURS (L 108-94):

34 MINS | 16 PTS (7/13 FG, 2/4 FT) | 12 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PF

vs CHICAGO BULLS (L 128-100):

29 MINS | 8 PTS (3/7 FG, 2/2 FT) | 6 REB | 1 TO | 1 PF

NEXT WEEK

vs MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES, 2.00pm Saturday (NZT)

vs PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS, 9.00am Monday (NZT)

at INDIANA PACERS, 1.00pm Tuesday (NZT)

at NEW ORLEANS PELICANS (W 114-105)

The Pelicans haven’t had the best time of things this season. In Anthony Davis they have a starting All Star (one more than the Thunder do…), but the wins haven’t been coming. Davis got the final frontcourt spot there for the West, what with the league not including a centre position specifically and while Davis does log a few minutes at the five, he’s mostly a power forward. So naturally the Thunder looked to attack him through the bigger Steven Adams who was getting his fingerprints all over that ball in the first few minutes.

But wait there’s more – here he is going at Davis himself and dropping one through over the top of him.

A quality start there with a couple nice buckets and some fine defence… though a few mistakes meant he had to sit with two fouls a few minutes earlier than his coach would have planned. It didn’t turn out to be much of an issue. Enes Kanter picked up where Steve left off (to be fair, Adams missed a couple as well – still looking slightly rusty after his enforced layoff last week).

It was a 15-10 lead when Adams sat, it was a 33-20 lead when the quarter ended. The second quarter went a lot of the same way with OKC 19 points up at the break. More dramatic for this game was that Anthony Davis re-aggravated the thigh strain that had caused him to miss a game earlier in the week. He went to the locker room and would not return to the game.

Ah and without Anthony Davis in there, we saw a clear boost in Steven Adams’ usage… and his performance too, to be fair. Solomon Hill blocked his first shot of the third quarter but Steve got reciprocal six minutes later. By the time he was subbed off with 42 seconds left in the frame, he’d put up one of his best quarters of his entire season. 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks, shooting 6/7 from the field.

That’s 13 of his team’s 28 points that quarter. Problem was they conceded 37 and the Pelicans closed the gap to within shooting distance. Too many turnovers and some sloppy defence, especially around the perimeters, the problem for OKC. Adams would return to the game with 5:33 to play and he’d add a few rebounds and one more dunk, though thankfully for the Thunder the bench was able to trade blows with New Orleans while the Pels couldn’t hit enough shots without their star player on the court. The lead got down to a mere five points, which caused the timeout that Steve was subbed in during, but Oladipo hit a three outta that one and they held on comfortably enough.

Kiwi Steve finished with a mighty polished line of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks, good enough to get him a sideline interview after the game… although being seven feet tall can make those things a little awkward sometimes.

NewsOK: “The third-quarter swoon emerged after a roaring start, a 64-43 halftime lead forged by brilliant pick-and-roll play by Westbrook. Enes Kanter and Steven Adams were the beneficiaries, combining for 21 points before the break. Kanter finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, Adams with 20 points and 11 rebounds, taking advantage of Davis' missed presence.”

Enes Kanter had 17p and 11r off the bench while Alex Abrines also scored 11. Oladipo had 15 points shooting 5/11. For the Pelicans, it was E’Twaun Moore with his 18 points who led the scoring with Tyreke Evans, Solomon Hill and Jrue Holiday all bagging 14.

Steven Adams: “We just kind of went inside. Seeing that it was a bit of a weakness for them, and we managed to get some easy ones and play inside out.”

Daily Thunder: “Steven Adams had a one of the best games of his career tonight. 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks and 1 steal. Remember earlier this season when Adams was barely dunking because of the hand injury? Well, he’s certainly bounced back from that in a huge way. His development on the offensive end is one of the more intriguing upsides of this team. He had his second consecutive game with 4 blocks tonight, he also had 5 offensive rebounds. He’s a humble guy that works as hard as anyone else on the court, it’s really great to see his improvement this year.”

Welcome to Loud City: “Marking their second consecutive road win in a row, the Thunder used a bruising inside game behind Steven Adams (20-11-3 with 4 blocks) and Russell Westbrook’s triple-double (27-12-10) to hold the Pelicans at arm’s length for most of the night.”

vs DALLAS MAVERICKS (W 109-98)

There must be some kind of retributory luck in action here because with a game the very day after they played the Pelicans mostly without Anthony Davis for the back half, the Thunder hosted a Dallas Mavericks team that chose to rest Dirk Nowitzki (the Mavs, like the Thunder, were also on the wrong end of a back to back) while Deron Williams and Wes Matthews were both injured – 60% of their starting lineup out, another weakened lottery team.

The Mavericks didn’t play like their record or lineup would suggest though, not in the first half. In a first quarter in which Adams missed his only field goal attempt, the Mavs committed just a single turnover and led by three at the end of it. Victor Oladipo hit a three to ensure a half-time lead, but this wasn’t the prettiest from the Thunder.

Dallas’ cause got tougher when Pierre Jackson sat with a hamstring injury, having made a few buckets in that first half looking sharp in his debut NBA start (although at 5 foot 10 he got demolished by a Kanter block one time). Perhaps understandably, and also presumably after some heavy Billy Donovan words at HT, the Thunder came out strong in the third. They’d finally get things together with a 34-18 advantage for the 3Q, Westbrook with 13 points there and Adams not without a couple highlights himself.

Incredibly though, Dallas went on a 13-0 run, scoring the first 11 points of the fourth quarter and hey closed it up to within three points before a big Sabonis triple. Harrison Barnes was constantly chipping in with hoops while OKC had to work to hold them off. The talent did show through, though. Dallas just don’t have the dudes and once Westbrook came back into things it swung back again. Dwight Powell tried to gather some momentum for the Mavs with a thumping dunk but Steven Adams immediately responded with his own, boom.

The Thunder had their own injury worries too. Westbrook hurt his hand in the third, though was able to continue. Not so promising was Enes Kanter smacking his fist on a chair in the first half and damaging his wrist in the process. A little embarrassing how he did it but based on initial reports it didn’t sound like a laughing matter.

Russ must’ve been fine though, he dropped 17 points in the fourth to take his game total to 45 points. No triple double, not even close, but he shot 16 of 29 with 4/8 triples. Oladipo bagged 17 points of his own. Over on the other side it was Barnesy who scored 31 with Justin Anderson scoring 17 as well.  

ESPN: “Kanter, who had slapped the floor in frustration a few minutes earlier, walked to the bench during a second-quarter timeout and slammed his fist into the padded chair. But as he brought his arm down, the folding chair flipped up slightly and Kanter caught his right forearm on the metal edge. He quickly went back to the locker room for X-rays, which confirmed a fractured ulna.”

Not good news, he’ll be re-evaluated in four weeks but could miss up to two months.

Steven Adams: “He didn't mean to do it, obviously. It’s just one of those frustrating times where it just happened to like… he did what he did, you know. He's already hard on himself. No one else can be as hard as he is on himself. He's probably just feeling so under the weather. I feel bad for him.”

CBS Sports: “Despite Kanter's well-documented defensive deficiencies, this is a big blow to the Thunder, who do not have a long list of players who can create their own offense. Kanter is their third-leading scorer, the focal point of their bench unit and an improved passer. This puts even more pressure on Russell Westbrook, Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams to keep the offense afloat. In his absence, reserve bigs Jerami Grant, Joffrey Lauvergne and perhaps Nick Collison will likely battle for increased playing time.”

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (107-91)

First task without Enes… it’s only the defending champs. Having said that, while the Mavericks are on an upswing, the Cavs were the opposite as injuries and salary roofs have robbed them of their bench and left the big three doing more or less everything. But, like, they’re still the big three.

Or big two in this case. Kevin Love only played 12 minutes with a sore back, missing the entire second half and only scoring a single point. He’d been sore before the game and clearly wasn’t well.

Steven Adams had 4 points and 4 rebounds within four minutes, the Thunder managed to sneak out in front by 16-10. Then Steve got tangling with Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert and had to take a seat to cool off. Thompson especially enjoyed that – he’s a strong bugger who sucks in rebound like he breathes and without Adams next to him bringing the physical stuff, it was a little easy for him.

Significant. Very significant.

What happened is the Cavs scored ten straight points and shot out in front. With 2:54 to go in the half, a Domantas Sabonis layup tied the game back up at 43-all. Fast forward those last 174 second and the Cavaliers went into the sheds leading by 13, having closed the 2Q on a 15-2 run. No surprises that LeBron James was a big part of that.

And from there the back pair of stanzas were kinda by the numbers. Every time that OKC made a run, there was LeBron or Kyrie Irving with some silky skills to hold them back. Irving would top score with 29 points while LeBron was even more brilliant with 25p & 14r. Thompson had 19p & 12r.

Yeah, it’s fairly frustrating when the two starting Thunder guards shoot 13 of 44 and Adams hits at 75% for the game yet only gets four shots. 10 rebounds though, keeping up a slight boost in his board numbers lately. Russ had a 20p/12r/10a triple-double just so you know.

Thunder Digest: “They out rebounded Cleveland but still couldn’t get a whole lot going from offensive boards. Steven Adams finished the game with only seven points. They also allowed 19 points to Tristan Thompson.”

Daily Thunder: “Adams and Oladipo are respectively the second and third best players for OKC, that’s certainly no hot take. It’s debatable about who’s considered to be the better player, but either way both guys are going to need step up in Kanter’s absence. That didn’t happen tonight. Adams had a disappointing night with 7 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block. Oladipo had his usual 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on 6-of-18 from the field. That simply won’t cut it against a championship quality roster like Cleveland.”

at SAN ANTONIO SPURS (108-94)

If you’ve watched a lot of the Spurs this season, then you’ve probably been amazed at yet another year in which the Spurs do what the Spurs do… but you’re probably also seeing it through a tinge of melancholy what with the complete lack of Tim Duncan on show. You’re not the only one:

Oh man, this was sloppy. Initially it was a game full of scrap, both teams not really hitting their shots. Steven Adams was amongst the worst, he had a shocking first quarter where he missed all four of his shots and two free throws as well. Pretty awful, though when he sat they were at least within five points. Kawhi Leonard and Patty Mills started scoring and a Manu Ginobili triple to close the 1Q scoring made for a 9-0 Spurs run and a 31-17 lead. The Spurs scored 20 in the paint while the Thunder had 8 turnovers. Not the best start.

With Dewayne Dedmon starting at the five for SAS, Adams had a natural mismatch. In the second quarter they figured that out and started exploiting that. For the rest of the game Stevie shot 7/9 scoring 16 points with 10 rebounds. Yup, that’ll do. Played some great stuff, a shame that the deficit was what it was already.

Good to see a bit of this as well, it’s been said before but the lack of Serge Ibaka and Kevin Durant this season has really collapsed the space that Adams has to work in and so the big alley-oop hasn’t been an option with the crowded painted area. Kapow.

Stunningly, Westbrook helped lead a 23-4 run in the third quarter that hauled the Thunder all the way back and into the lead at 69-68. However after bagging 14 points in the third he then got blanked, zipped, ducked in the fourth. A fat egg, zero points from four shots. Danny Green did a magnificent job on him and in the end it was a 14 point win.

Adams had a very strong game overall, particularly in the second and third quarters, but he did also get himself posterised by Kawhi Leonard. Aaaaand kerplunk…

Kawhi scored 36 points shooting 13 of 26. The man is insane and LaMarcus Aldridge added 25 more points doing more or less whatever he wanted. Westbrook had 27 with 14 assists and Adams was the next top scorer with 16.

Daily Thunder: “The position Adams is able to get in the paint as he’s running down the floor while the Thunder are setting up their offense is incredible.  I mentioned it in my last recap, but it allows Russ to make the long entry pass and the defender’s only real choice is to foul or give Adams an easy bucket.  Shaq used to be great at this, it’s really fun to watch.”

vs CHICAGO BULLS (L 128-100)

The Kanter-less era hasn’t started too well in OKC. The Bulls have had their own hard times, check out Rajon Rondo’s Instagram for the lowdown on all that, but when team morale is sketchy, the best antidote is usually wins.

Yeah, this one got ugly. Initially it didn’t seem that way as the Thunder kept it close for the first quarter but there were signs to worry about. Adams didn’t get a shot up for four and a half minutes and even then he got himself blocked by Robin Lopez. He then missed a couple more but at least got involved in the offence with the ball in his hands, banking a trio of good ones before he sat down with OKC down 18-13.

Surprisingly, the bench was able to put up some points after their whiff of an effort last game. Jerami Grant was the main man, he’d score 15 by the end of it. In fact they were up 26-24 when Adams re-entered in the second. To cut the story short for censorship reasons, at HT the Bulls led by 8 and Steven Adams, having had 6 points in the first quarter, wouldn’t make another field goal all game (only a pair of free throws).

It’s a problem when you get to the fourth quarter with only Westbrook having scored 10 points or more. It’s a problem when you let the other buggers shoot 68% from the field in the second half. It’s a problem when your own team is around half that number. It’s a problem when your team combines for 37 three point attempts and only hit 10 of them – 27%... which is actually their best team number across the three game losing streak. It’s a problem when the third quarter begins with a 17-4 run against you.

Westbrook played about a minute in the fourth quarter, Steven Adams didn’t play a second.

Dwyane Wade: “We just try to pack the paint and make them make shots. We were able to get them to miss some and go down and not see their defense all night and score a little in transition.”

Adams was a pretty abysmal -30 for the game, the worst of any player in the game. Gives you a bit of a glimpse as to how this one went. The Bulls aren’t a big three point shooting team, they got busy inside with all of their scorers. Russ had 28 points, but so did Jimmy Butler. Worse for Stevie was that Robin Lopez with 14 points, shooting 7/8. Cristiano Felicio didn’t miss a shot either from his three pops off the bench.

By the way, Jerami Grant was playing against his brother Jerian Grant, who scored 12 points. Their dad is Harvey Grant the former NBA lad himself. Dad was there to watch the lads play.

Daily Thunder: “Robin Lopez looked like Steven Adams tonight with his 14 points. His mid-range jumper gives me hope that Adams will eventually shoot the occasional shot outside of the paint.”

WTLC: “Furthermore, Oklahoma City’s ball movement was stagnant as the team registered a sub-par 17 assists on 38 made baskets. Westbrook and Adams struggled to establish their patented two-man game —with Adams netting eight points on eight shot attempts.”

ODDS & ENDS

F-f-f-f-f-fashion…

Bleacher Report did a NBA Big Man Power Rankings thang although, sorry to break it to ya, Steven Adams didn’t crack the top 20. He came in 22nd, one of five honourable mentions: Lucas Nogueira (25), Pau Gasol (24), Gorgui Deng (23), Steven Adams (22), Serge Ibaka (21). Just behind his old teammate, aye? Bit of a weird one there, rumour has it the Magic are looking to trade Ibaka now having given up two young prospects for him in the offseason. Yikes. Here are the top ten on the list, aka the targets for Kiwi Steve:

• (10) Al Horford – Boston Celtics
• (9) Nikola Jokic – Denver Nuggets
• (8) Rudy Gobert – Utah Jazz
• (7) Joel Embiid – Philadelphia 76ers
• (6) Paul Millsap – Atlanta Hawks
• (5) Karl-Anthony Towns - Minnesota Timberwolves
• (4) Marc Gasol – Memphis Grizzlies
• (3) Draymond Green – Golden State Warriors
• (2) DeMarcus Cousins – Sacramento Kings
• (1) Anthony Davis – New Orleans Pelicans

An anecdote from Steven Adams, as quoted in a monstrous (and awesome) New York Times feature on Russell Westbrook:

On the court, what looks like madness is often deliberate. Westbrook is obsessive about studying film. He insists on knowing every play from every position. Steven Adams told me that Westbrook occasionally wakes him up in the middle of the night, on the team plane, to show him an angle he might have missed. “I ain’t gonna lie, bud,” Adams said. “Watching video, especially after a game, at like 2 in the morning — it’s rather hard to stay up. He maintains the same focus. It’s amazing.”

NewsOK: In Steven Adams, the Thunder has not just an imposing post presence, but a player comfortable running the court. Adams averages 1.7 points per game in transition. Guard Russell Westbrook is a one-man fast break who scores 6.9 transition points per game, second in the NBA only to the Cavs' LeBron James.

“When we can get out in transition, that's obviously the best thing for us,” Adams told reporters in San Antonio. “Obviously (for) the defense, it's a much harder job to match up. Teams obviously do better (in the half court) because they've scouted with this player guarding this player. But in transition, you get mismatched so much, you can find little loopholes in the defense.”