BOX SCORES

at HOUSTON ROCKETS, GAME 5, (L 105-99):

39 MINS | 7 PTS (3/4 FG, 1/2 FT) | 9 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 4 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PF

EL FINALE

Staring at elimination, there’s really nothing else to do but to play as hard as possible and take a few risks. All the talk between the last game and this one was around Russell Westbrook’s hijacked podium interview, you know, where he took a bullet directed at Steven Adams over the team’s play while Russ sits out. The question was fully legit but then so was Westbrook’s declining to answer it and throw any teammates under the bus. Maybe Stevie woulda had something curious to say but the funny thing is the team isn’t any better when he sits either.

The two man combo of Adams and Russ has seen the floor in 110 of 192 playoff minutes through the first four games and has outscored Houston by an average of 7.1 points per 100 possessions. Both have been staggered and tried with the bench at times, but getting production out of a young bench has been a brutal task for Billy Donovan and it’s pretty much been the defining factor. The net difference in off/def rating when Westbrook is on and off the court is a +51.0. In other words they score 18.9 p/100p more when he’s on than when he’s off and their defence is 32.1 p/100p worse when he sits. Points per hundy isn’t the same as points overall but that’s enormous… though Kiwi Steve’s difference is a +30.7 so despite bringing nowhere near as much offence to the table his diffo is third best in the team, narrowly trailing Taj Gibson (and you’d assume if you took Adams’ poor first game out then he’d shoot up much higher too).

Zach Lowe/ESPN: “Billy Donovan has struck a lot of the right chords since Game 1: more shooting around Russell Westbrook, more Taj Gibson at center, less Enes Kanter, no Semaj Christon. The Thunder lost Game 4, and probably their season, by four points. They were outscored by seven points in 2:19 at the end of the first quarter in which both Westbrook and Victor Oladipo were on the bench. How is this still happening?”

For whatever reason, neither team was getting much offence going early on in game five. It was hard work at both ends for little reward with each team struggling from three point range especially but also each team looking to set a precedent with their interior defence. Part of that was Steven Adams doing what we’ve been waiting for him to do all series and be that premier rim protector he can be on his day. This was the first time he really looked like he was prepared to take on a driving James Harden and he flashed that early with a slick steal from the Other MVP Candidate. Then he showed Patty Beverley’s attempted layup where it could go and although he didn’t even have a shot attempt or a rebound at this stage, he was making himself a factor in the game.

But yeah, there weren’t many points to go around. A triple from Westbrook almost five minutes into the game made it 9-4 to the Thunder, a lead he then extended to seven points with a skip to the bucket. Stevie got stiffed by a poor out of bounds decision which clearly came off Ryan Anderson’s hand not his and despite some protestations to the ref he got no loving. Then again, Andre Roberson got away with a blatant goal-tend as well so they levelled out in the end.

Adams got on the scoreboard with a tip in from an Alex Abrines miss (above), he and Russ both out there with the bench unit late in the 1Q. Andre Roberson as well… so you couldn’t even call it the second unit really. Just Alex Abrines taking some shots as the Thunder took a 22-16 lead into the second. Keeping Houston to a mere 16 points in a quarter is a big win but they maybe didn’t capitalise on that like they could have. OKC has started strong in every game and been hauled back in second halves – they’re +30 at the first quarter break in a series they trail 3-1 midway through the fifth game!

Also of note is that Steven Adams kept on up with the block show, he was halfway to building a lego set with all them blocks the way he was going. Best of all was his denial of Nene after the Brazilian shot a record-tying 12/12 in the last game. Finally, an answer for that bloke. Nene’s folks sure rated it as well:

Obviously this series hasn’t been the best of Steven Adams, like we saw last playoffs against the Spurs, and part of that is a tough matchup personally, part a tough matchup team-wise and whatever. There was a moment late in the first where a missed shot fell pretty close to him and he fumbled it low, tried to get a handle on it as he bounced all crouched over and ended up losing it. It’s moments like that, and there’s been a couple, where you wonder if he isn’t carrying an injury here. Hand and thumb problems affected his regular season and he wore a brace on his right hand for quite a while (that was a theory as to the drop in his free throw shooting from start to season’s end). Then again, we might just be making excuses for bad rebounding.

You know what happens next though. Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott and Alex Abrines and Jerami Grant get to play with a little Victor Oladipo on the side and it was 27-all when Russell checked back into the game. That’s 11-5 with him out, in case he’s counting. It was 36-all when Steven Adams gave his name to the scorer’s table.

Funaki added another couple blocks to take his tally to four for the half, continuing on with the first half block-spree that highlighted game four but after putting one in from six-feet for a 43-42 lead, the Thunder then got blitzed to close the half. A three point play for Lou Williams, a running layup from Harden, a Nene dunk and some Harden FTs ensured that Houston closed it on a 9-1 run and the Rockets dropped 35 on them in that second quarter.

It took nearly two and a half minutes for the Thunder to score in the third as well. By then they were down ten and it was Andre Roberson whipping one in for two for what’d be his only field goal of the night. That offensive boost he’d shown? It died a sudden death in the decider, sadly. Can’t help but thing the humiliation of getting intentionally fouled (and laughed at for it on the oppo bench) might have dented the confidence. But the Thunder do have one reliable scorer on their roster and he wasn’t about to go silently.

Russell Westbrook went insane in the third. He started by getting to the free throw line and once he’d eaten into the deficit that way the shots began falling from the field too. Bang for three. Boom, another pull-up. Ka-ching on the put-back under the basket. Straight cash on another three and then flippadeedoodah to Kiwi Steve for with the one-hander, the Thunder back in front!

Erik Horne/NewsOK: “With the Thunder trailing by nine in the third quarter, Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo both stared up at the defensive rebound to come, but no one put a body on Patrick Beverley, who slipped in between them for his fifth offensive rebound. The putback by the smallest guy on the court put the Thunder in an 11-point hole. When shoulders slumped, it's when Westbrook was ignited.”

Two more triples took Westbrook to 20 points for the 3Q and OKC were up 77-70. Not too shabby a place to find themselves in with around 13 minutes left in an elimination game. Adams got burned by a rapid swivel move from Nene for a couple points that left Adams spinning… and also gripping at his hand which got caught on Nene’s jersey as he blew by. That closed out the third, Oklahoma City up five.

There were some rumours that Adams had injured his back in warmups, the commentary team from Houston apparently mentioned it in the broadcast but he didn’t seem to be in any pain that way during the game. However the trainer did have a word with him as he sat on the bench at the beginning of the fourth. Probably more the hand than anything else.

Andre Roberson paired with Abrines/Gibson/Grant/McBuckets to start the final frame. Bring them a little defence at least and trust the shooters to score some points around him. (No Kanter this time, notably). Well, like every other trick Donovan’s tried to get production off the bench it didn’t work. Houston were able to move the ball around and get their shots off all the same and Williams got to the FT line at will. They pulled out a 14-4 run before Russ and Steve were summoned to bring a halt to that and all the brilliant work of the third was gone, now down 86-81 with 9:15 remaining in their season as things stood.

First thing that happened, Russ set up Grant for a thumping dunk. Stevie may have had Clint Capela by the midriff to keep him from contesting, hey you do what you gotta do, bro. Capela got his own back with an even bigger dunk before Westbrook got to the line to bring up 40 points for him personally.

By the way, if you happened to catch this game on the Rockets’ home broadcast then you understand why that team is known as one of the most biased commentary units in the NBA. It must be so horrible supporting a team that never ever gets a single call from the refs, aye?

To be fair though there were a lot of whistles in the middle of the fourth. Westbrook and Beverley picked up double techs for being stroppy buggers while Beverley got a personal for trying to tear Adams’ arm off around a screen. Russ was playing for fouls the whole way and got a few of them called too. Lots of stuff to get dramatic about if you’re that way inclined – the crowd were chanting “refs you suck!” in between free throws. Adams took two tight fouls on Harden driving at the hoop which were fair calls but… you can’t help but foul the bloke there, he’s too good. That meant Roberson, Adams and Westbrook were all at 4 PFs. Robbo sat down during offensive possessions to avoid the hack-a-dre stuff.

But when OKC needed points, they couldn’t find them. Westbrook missed a three to make him 0/5 from the field in the fourth and Grant and Oladipo couldn’t do any better after Steve got tough with consecutive offensive boards for three straight attempts. Can’t get it done there with three tries and you’ll struggle any other time. Westbrook took personal foul numero five to keep Nene from dunking and Adams went to the line after Nene returned the favour on him. He made the first.

Perhaps do a lil better than this on the help, mate.

Once it came down to free throws, there wasn’t much chance left for the Thunder. Shots continued to miss and Westbrook was in middle of it. Houston though, they kept leaving the door open. Instead of taking a foul there was a pass thrown down court where Steven Adams did his best infield fly impersonation and Westbrook was able to steal one under the Rockets’ hoop after a defensive board. Silly things but the Thunder didn’t have the talent to match what Nene (14 pts) and Lou Williams (22 pts) were doing and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 2016-17 season came to a conclusion there in Texas. Outscored 33-22 in the fourth quarter, going down 105-99 overall. They put up one hell of an effort but it wasn’t enough and when things got desperate they were a scorer short, really. With such a young roster you’d assume they come back stronger next time around.

They did good things here in limiting Houston to 6/37 from deep. That’s the stuff you can’t afford to waste, however the Rockets also banked 33/39 from the free throw line. In contrast OKC were 10/38 from 3pt range and 19/29 from the stripe. Russell Westbrook scored 47 points with 11 boards and 9 assists. He missed the fourth straight playoff TD but it wasn’t his fault. Victor Oladipo was 4/17 from the field, Roberson was 1/7. The bench added 22 points which Lou Williams matches on his own. Obviously this column wants to see Steven Adams putting up more than four FGAs and with that outside deficiency perhaps more of an interior offence, some in and out stuff, might have helped. It’s easy to make judgements in hindsight, though. Adams was really good for the most part in this game and he might not get the credit for that with 7p/9r/4b on the board but it wasn’t his fault this game slipped away in the last quarter.

OKC’s 4th Quarter Shooting in G5:

• Oladipo: 1/5 (0/2)
• Grant: 3/5 (0/1)
• Abrines: 1/2
• Westbrook: 2/11 (0/5)
• Roberson: 0/2 (0/1)

*FG (3PT)

Before you lump blame on Westbrook there, remember that he played 42 minutes of intense ball here. He was surely exhausted by the end and you could sorta see that where he fluffed a sitter or two just not going up as hard as usually. This is all very relevant:

Berry Tramel/NewsOK: “OKC outscored Houston 90-80 during Westbrook's almost 42 minutes, but Westbrook can't go all 48 minutes. At least not and play the way he needs to play. And we saw that down the stretch, when the Thunder was hard-pressed to score — just eight points in the final five minutes. Steven Adams (39 minutes) was wore out. Andre Roberson (37 minutes) was wore out. Victor Oladipo (33-1/2 minutes) was wore out. All, like Westbrook, worn out not just from a frenetic game Tuesday night, but a series in which the opponent has more good players.”

Royce Young/ESPN: “Steven Adams, Alex Abrines, Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson, Jerami Grant, Enes Kanter, Domantas Sabonis and Doug McDermott are all under the age of 25. While so much focus was on Westbrook's surrounding help -- and if it was any good or not -- it was often lost that he was leading one of the youngest groups in the NBA. Those pieces can either be part of the core that supports Westbrook or as assets to deal in the future.”

ODDS & ENDS

Game Four Personal Highlights:

The season may be over for him but there'll be plenty more Steven Adams on the Nichey Niche. So if you wanna encourage all that reckless behaviour then give a whack on one of those page ads and help us out, chur.