BOX SCORES

vs NEW YORK KNICKS (W 116-105):

31 MINS | 11 PTS (4/9 FG, 3/4 FT) | 8 REB | 1 AST | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 1 PF

vs NEW YORK KNICKS (W 116-105)

One last game before All Stars give most of these guys a break that they could probably use. Steven Adams will get himself the chance to put those feet up, maybe catch a couple movies and get the odd charity event in under his belt. Not Russell Westbrook though, he’s representing the Western Conference alongside his ex-amigo Kevin Durant and not Carmelo Anthony either who was called up on the morning of this game to replace the injured Kevin Love in the East. Nice for Melo, some argued with his case up against ignored fellas like, oh say Bradley Beal who just tore the Thunder apart the other day, but a tenth ASG showing is nothing to smirk at.

And Melo must’ve been listening because he seemed to have a point to prove in the first quarter in Oklahoma. The bugger came out and he just couldn’t miss, dropping jumper after spot-up jumper just like he used to do in the old days. Meanwhile Steven Adams coulda used some advice because he fluffed on his first four field goals. It’s a tricky task for him versus the Knicks, up against a handy young international centre in Willy Hernangomez (starting in place of the perennially injured Joakim Noah) but especially with the unicorn Kristaps Porzingis at PF as well. Yeah… he learned that lesson in amidst those four field goal misses with a block that might have sent Stevie back to college ball.

The Knicks scored 39 points in the first quarter and Anthony had 19 of them on 7/8 shooting. After giving up 38 in the first against the Wizards previously, that’s two straight up awful opening defensive frames for the Thunder in a row, something to work on in the break no doubt. A Porzingis three meant that the Knicks were up 16-2 after only four minutes. Stunningly though what was a 12 points deficit after 1Q became a two point lead after 2Qs. A 26-4 run to close the half, Adams didn’t have too much to do with the points there but he did make 3 of 4 free throws in the middle of it. Mostly it was the usual suspects Russ and Dipo doing the scoring.

Royce Young/ESPN: “The Knicks led by 17 in the second quarter, but OKC roared back to take a 62-60 lead into halftime. It was mostly Russell Westbrook who did the roaring, with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists.”

Adams was 1/6 from the field in the first half. But made all three of his FGs in the second half. Yup, that’s the one lad. Not a game where his offence needed to be a difference though, instead he was about those little things, the screens and the defensive pressures and all that. Meanwhile Westbrook completed his triple-double midway through the third quarter and while the lead was never more than nine points in the quarter, OKC were on top for the full 12 minutes and Victor Oladipo put the icing on the cake with a buzzer beating triple to make it 88-80.

Checking in for his final stint, Adams entered a 94-87 contest with 7:50 left on the clock. He almost immediately picked up an offensive board from a Jerami Grant miss and put it back in for cash and a layup a minute later took his personal tally to 11 points. Didn’t add to that number, nor did he grab a couple more rebounds to get to double figures there. No worries, he did dish one out to Russ with a complimentary screen in place for three and Westbrook pretty much closed it out with his scoring from there.

38 points for Russ, with 14 rebounds and 12 assists. After 19 in the first, Melo ended with 30 all up shooting 3/12 in the last three quarters – a theme that followed the rest of his team as well with 39 points in the first and then 41 combined in the second and third. Derrick Rose had 25 points while Porzingis was kept to 11 shooting 4/13 and Hernangomez had 8p/10r, fairly consistent with what Adams did opposite him. Oladipo scored a tidy 21 and Grant added 13 off the bench.

Daily Thunder: “Hernangomez has a similar style to Steven Adams on the court. He’s a physical big man who plays solid defense.   He played pretty well defensively against Adams and was able to make a few things happen on the offensive end finishing with 8 points and 10 rebounds.  I think this guy has huge upside and could be a solid player in the league.”

Ooh and guess who happened to be in attendance at the game. Not only at the game but also at shoot-around that morning. The one and only cupcake-calling Silverback Kendrick Perkins!

NewsOK: “Former Thunder center Kendrick Perkins was at Thunder shootaround Wednesday morning. He made his way to the game, as well, with his wife, Vanity. The 32-year-old is a free agent, currently living in Houston. In between the first and second quarters, Perkins – sitting in section 105 – received a standing ovation from Thunder fans as he was introduced. Perkins was even put on the Kiss Cam during a second-quarter timeout. After Roberson's 3-pointer polished off an 18-4 Thunder run for OKC to take a 60-58 lead, Perkins was clapping along with the Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd.”

Safe to say that Steven Adams was rather enamoured to see his old mentor…

Taking Statistical Stock

The All Star Break is hardly the halfway point anything – OKC have played 57 of 82 games already – but it is the last chance to take stock before things pick up speed downhill on the way to the playoffs. The trade deadline is coming up soon (Adams is a 0% chance to be traded, btw) and suddenly seedings really start to matter. With the Thunder sitting seventh at 32-25, there’s room to trend back upwards too. Right now they’d be looking at the Spurs in the first round.

In 55 games played (he missed two for concussion, remember), Adams is well above his career bests in most major stat lines. 12.2 points per game is well up on the 8.0 of last season, while he’s averaging more than a block, assist and steal every game – not to mention 3.5 offensive boards a pop which is sixth best in the league (Dwight Howard leads with 4.3). Given that he’s averaged 7.0 off. boards in his last seven games, there’s reason to think he can slide that number up a notch or two as well.

One thing to keep an eye on is that Steven Adams has notably improved after the All Stars in every season of his career. Specifically in his points output, which is already at a career high, and that field goal percentage. As for his minutes, they're already on the climb while Kanter's out injured (which has been a big reason why his rebounds are climbing as well, he's playing more with - and especially against - the second units).

Adams’ 57.4% shooting is good for seventh in the league and just a shade ahead of Enes Kanter in eighth. DeAndre Jordan, king of the alley-oop, leads the NBA with 69.5% shooting and the fellas after him are all big blokes. Nikola Jokic is the only man ahead of Adams who has attempted more than two threes. The free throw numbers have dropped off for Steve, he’s back at 67.4% for the season so two of every three attempts. Not the 80+ percentage he started off with but then that was never sustainable. He’d never shot better than 58.2% before in a season so he’s well ahead of the curve. A run of five games in mid-February where he only made 9/23 has dragged the number down but he’s 8/10 in his two games since at the line. Despite almost never being intentionally fouled this season, he’s also getting to the line a career best 3.2 times per game which shows an extra level of aggression around the basket from the chap.

As for the bro Russell Westbrook, well he hits the All Stars with his season averages at an absolutely staggering 31.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 10.1 assists. Those are averages. That’s what you can expect from him every… single… game. He’s got 25 more opportunities to keep those numbers above their benchmarks.

ODDS & ENDS

ESPN have been running one of those panel ranking things that they do now and then and this latest one is the best players under the age of 25. Three Thunder players made the cut, with Victor Oladipo at 24, Enes Kanter at 22 and Steven Adams at 14, nestled one spot behind Devin Booker and one ahead of Jonas Valanciunas. Two spots ahead of Ben Simmons, who has never played a minute in the NBA. Can’t hardly argue with anyone ahead of him except possibly for Myles Turner (who is younger with more upside, just maybe not quite ahead in the current moment) but he’s come in higher than such talents as Harrison Barnes, Zach LaVine, Marcus Smart and Dario Saric.

Also ahead of Andre Drummond, who was inexplicably left off the list entirely. Whoops. UPDATE: they’ve actually updated the list now and placed Drummond at 14, dropping Kiwi Steve down a spot, the bastards.

ESPN: “Over half of Adams' made field goals this season have been assisted by Russell Westbrook. Adams is shooting 66 percent off passes from Westbrook and 51 percent on all other attempts this season.”

Hey the New York Post referred to Adams as the “burly Thunder center”. Haha.