Kiwi Steve in the NBA #22: Animals > Humans
BOX SCORES
vs MIAMI HEAT (W 105-99):
31 MINS | 24 PTS (9/13 FG, 6/11 FT) | 12 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 4 PF
vs PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (L 108-105):
36 MINS | 18 PTS (8/14 FG, 2/2 FT) | 10 REB | 1 AST | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 2 PF
NEXT WEEK
at SAN ANTONIO SPURS, Friday at 1.00pm (NZT)
vs DENVER NUGGETS, Saturday at 1.00pm (NZT)
at NEW ORLEANS PELICANS, Monday at 10.00am (NZT)
vs GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS, Wednesday at 12.00pm (NZT)
vs MIAMI HEAT
The Thunder had a couple days off to settle on their awful loss to the Celtics (as famously covered in last Kiwi Steve #21, of course) and they put that time to great use… with another visit to the Oklahoma Zoo. Steven Adams even got his own ambassador’s jumper to wander around in. More on that later though because standard procedure is first to tackle these pesky games.
The Heat have crept into the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference over the season thanks largely to the fine play of Goran Dragic and a few mates (Hassan Whiteside, Kelly Olynyk, Bam Adebayo, etc.). Plus Erik Spoelstra remains a brilliant coach. But OKC were expected to win this one at home, their playoff seeding is too important in the West to ease off now after a pretty good month or so of results (10-4 since the All Star Break despite a tough schedule).
That task wasn’t helped by Paul George and Carmelo Anthony throwing up early bricks but it sure was by Steven Adams hauling in those misses for rebounds, going to the free throw line for one outta two the first and then slamming down a dunk on the second. No Hassan Whiteside with a lingering hip issue (Adams can sympathise) and the Big Kiwi was taking full advantage of his size advantage early on and after four quick points for Funaki (including a flawless trip to the charity stripe) the score was soon out to 19-10.
It was 24-18 after 1Q with the Thunder already holding a significant rebounding advantage, no lie to say that Bam Adebayo was getting dominated. He’d end with 0 points shooting 0/5. It was a different story when Patty Patterson stepped in off the bench and stopped boxing out but that was only a second unit issue. Adams soon checked back in and resumed where he left off, grabbing offensive rebounds and chucking down buckets.
In fact he was basically the only Thunder player who seemed able to score. Everyone else was having their dramas and it didn’t take long into the third quarter before Miami had caught right up. It was three and a half minutes before OKC made a second half field goal and that was Steven Adams with the put-back again. Goran Dragic had a little flurry and the Heat were up 53-52. Then this happened…
… but then Tyler Johnson made one from deep and Adams missed back to back free throws. A shame about a few of those missed FTs because he’d have ended with a career high had he made a couple more. 66-64 to the Heat after three and Adams had 20 of those. Superstar Corey Brewer was a non-factor but even worse was what Carmelo Anthony and Paul George were serving up. PG13 only made three field goals all night and two were dunks. Russell Westbrook was rebounding and assisting (or trying to, but dudes kept missing) and generally playing within himself with only 12 points after three and basically if it wasn’t Steven Adams then it wasn’t happening.
Paul George: “Steven's value is extremely important in that sense of when things get stagnant and we need a possession and need a bucket and we need a quick relief, he will always come through. He's very underrated when he's posting up or finishing. He's very underrated.”
Kiwi Steve even came within a nudge of the elusive heat check in the second… but declined to risk the embarrassment. Dunno why, he pops them at training.
Melo and PG then combined for 1/5 shooting in the fourth, so they sure didn’t prove the answer. Steven Adams, after his prior heroics, didn’t do a whole lot in the fourth either so he wasn’t saving them. Brewer scored 4 points in total, Ray Felton had a nice spell to start the fourth and he added 10 off the bench but that wasn’t gonna win the game, only keep them in it. Hmm, seems like we’re forgetting someone here… oh yeah: Rusty Buckets. Old mate with the MVP turned it all the way up in the fourth and completely took over. 17 points on 6/7 shooting in the final frame as the Thunder dropped 41 points and won it by six.
It was Felton that got OKC back in front and then the starters returned and Adams went to the line for the three-point play… which ended up being a four-point play because he missed the FT and Paul George rebounded it and dished to Westbrook for the driving layup. Stevie polished off his own scoring with a critical dunk in the final minute to make it 99-95 and this time the team made their free throws when it mattered. 105-99 the final in Oklahoma.
- Steven Adams: 9 of 13 shooting
- Russell Westbrook: 9 of 15 shooting
- The Bench: 12 of 27 shooting
- Anthony, Brewer & George: 6 of 29 shooting
29 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists for Russell Westbrook. 24 points and 12 rebounds for Steven Adams. The rest isn’t really worth mentioning. For the Heat it was James Johnson whose 23 points led the way with Goran Dragic adding 20 more. Justise Winslow and Wayne Ellington added 14 each off the bench.
Ray Felton: “Steve-O was amazing for us tonight. The things he did — just dominating the paint, timely baskets, timely rebounds he was getting, he was amazing. He was definitely the player of the game tonight, by far.”
Russell Westbrook: “Just a great tool for me. I'm just honoured and thankful [Steve]'s on our team. He plays extremely hard, and my job is to make sure I feed him.”
Brett Dawson/The Oklahoman: “Adams is second in the NBA in screen assists, a screen that leads directly to a made basket. He's the league's second-best best offensive rebounder at 5.1 per game. He contests 13.2 shots per game, sixth most in the league. And Adams gets credit for those little things. But in his fifth NBA season, he's becoming a bigger part of the Thunder's offense — averaging a career-high 13.9 points and shooting a career-best 63.4 percent from the floor — while continuing to be a key to its defense.”
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (A+)
“Steven Adams was the player of the game. He scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, 6 of which were offensive rebounds. Adams shot 69.2 percent from the field in the process, which is pretty great. He also played pretty good defense. He was simply flawless.”
vs PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
The way the seedings are shaping up it’s Portland and Oklahoma City playing off for third in the West which made this one a potential hint of things to come once the playoffs arrive. Although with OKC’s recent record against the Blazers nothing to brag about and with a few successes against the Warriors coupled with Steph Curry’s injury… maybe the Thunder would rather slip down them rankings and face their old nemeses in the first round. It’d be a funny time to start tanking but the Thunder, with 44 wins, are only two wins up on eight place as things stand. Then again they don't wanna risk playing their kryptonite teams: Portland and Houston.
It bloody looked like they were tanking in the first few minutes. Mo Harkless grabbed an offensive rebound on the first possession which he threw back in for points and then Steven Adams repeated the dose but missed his tipper. The Thunder missed their first seven shots and only a couple Steven Adams free throws had them on the board down 14-2 when Billy Donovan called his first timeout. Just a horrible start to this game.
The previous game it was Funaki who carried the side when they were struggling for offensive rhythm. Russell Westbrook has his critics when it comes to his game management but he and his coach knew exactly what to draw up to steady things over. Alley-oop to Steve out of the timeout, followed by a two more Adams baskets, Kiwi Steve with all eight points that OKC scored in the opening six minutes and Westbrook with all three of the assists. There were seven minutes and eight seconds already played before anyone else got on the scoreboard for the Thunder, Carmelo Anthony with a driving layup to make it 24-10. Some late Dame Lillard then pushed it out to 34-17 after 1Q.
Portland have been on fire lately, losing to the Rockets and Celtics right before this one but winning 13 in a row before that and they were killing the Thunder on the three-point line, which then drags Steven Adams away from where he wants to be and leads to Blazers rebounds as well. But OKC’s form ain’t been bad lately either and the comeback soon came hard. Down by 15 points mid-second, they reeled off a 16-0 run (Adams and Westbrook on the court the whole way) to take their first lead. Ray Felton and Jerami Grant got the tires rolling. Portland recovered for a 57-52 HT lead but we had ourselves a game here. Exactly as advertised.
The Thunder’s defence had picked right up, which was the spark. But for whatever reason they were never able to win those rebounds. Adams was down on his usual dominance, his hands full with his old enemy Jusuf Nurkic, with only a single defensive rebound all night. He had nine at the other end so it’s not like he took the game off or anything but that’s pretty stark. The Blazers ended up winning the boards 49 to 39, with 18 of them on the offensive end. Those are bonus possessions you can’t be giving up in the playoffs.
The biffo came in the third quarter. Terrance Ferguson and Ed Davis clashed as Davis fell down on Fergo’s back and a bit of shoving ensued. Evan Turner and Russell Westbrook, predictably, were in there in a flash. All four got techs for that (Russ is only three shy of a one-game ban now) although Turner later offered to pay Fergo’s fine, feeling kinda stink for picking on a 19 year old. Hey, he mighta done worse had he not been literally carried outta there by you know who…
Right, now flash forward to the latter stages of an entertaining game. Lead changes back and forth, four of Steve’s offensive boards came in the last five minutes of the contest – although he wasn’t able to bank any points for them, shooting 1/6 in the second half after going 7/8 in the first. And at the other end it was Nurkic slipping away and grabbing a CJ McCollum miss with 2:11 left to put back for the 102-101 lead. Each team missed shots before Westbrook hit a tough pull-up to get OKC back in front only for Mo Harkless to grab another McCollum miss and dish to Lillard who hit from three. 105-103 to POR with 40 seconds left and the rebounds again at fault. McCollum had thrown it up from deep as the shot clock expired so it took a huge bounce but the trend was long since established.
Westbrook tied it up with a blistering layup but then McCollum answered back with a tough one just inside the perimeter line. Carmelo Anthony got the ball double-teamed in the corner and lost it trying to sneak forward for the shot. Westbrook fouled out with seven seconds left. Al-Farouq Aminu missed one free throw however Melo missed a decent look from three to tie as the clock expired.
CJ McCollum was great, scoring 34 points with five triples. Nurkic also had 17p & 12r while Lillard added 24 points. Westbrook was the best of the bunch for OKC with 23p/8r/9a and Adams added 18p & 10r. Grant scored 17 off the bench too, fast becoming a difference maker for this team. Unofortunately the biggest difference was made by Paul George and Carmelo Anthony shooting a combined 0/12 from deep. Melo was 3/13 overall for 6 points and George 4/15 for 16 points. Remember when George stunk it up at the three-point contest? Before then he was shooting 43.3% from deep. Since then he’s shooting 27.4%. Meanwhile Melo’s shooting career-lows pretty much across the board. This is a significant problem with the playoffs on the horizon.
Daily Thunder: “Steven Adams was the only thing working for OKC in that brutal first quarter and finished his night with a nice stat line of 18 points and 10 rebounds — 9 of which were of the offensive variety. However, after going 8-of-12 from the floor in the first three quarters, he got just two shots in the fourth. No sense.”
Thunderous Intentions Player Grades: STEVEN ADAMS (B+)
“In what is one of the few bright spots from tonight’s disappointing result is the continued dominance that is Steven Adams. The Big Kiwi notched another double-double with a solid 18 point and 10 rebound performance. A big problem for him tonight (along with the rest of the team) was his inability to corral defensive boards. Other than that, it is nice to see Adams get more shots up.”
OKC Goes to the Zoo
The Thunder had a couple days off earlier in the week and they spent a few hours of one of them making sure that a certain kiwi centre’s heart was content. Basically, they took Steven Adams to the zoo. Last time they were there made for some Peak Steve, dropping lines all over as he exuded sheer joy at all the pretty animals. This time was no different.
NBA.com: “Thunder center and newly christened ambassador Steven Adams was already giddy about his official Oklahoma City Zoo name badge. Like putting on a Thunder uniform for the first time, a grinning Adams proudly put on his “Go Wild” OKC Zoo shirt. Adams howled in delight after Russell Westbrook unsheathed his phone to take a photo of the back of the shirt to show the Big Kiwi what it said. ADAMS. AMBASSADOR.”
Nick Newby, OKC Zoo assistant curator: “The relationship we’ve built with Steven is awesome. He has come to the zoo several times and seen the animals, see how we take care of them and see the commitment we have to them. He’s fallen in love with the zoo and we’ve fallen in love him as well.”
SLAM DUNKS
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