Kiwi Steve in the NBA Playoffs: First Round vs Utah Jazz, Game 2
BOX SCORE
vs UTAH JAZZ (L 102-95):
22 MINS | 9 PTS (4/5 FG, 1/2 FT) | 7 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 2 TO | 6 PF
NEXT UP
GAME THREE @ UTAH JAZZ, Sunday at 2.00pm (NZT)
GAME FOUR @ UTAH JAZZ, Tuesday at 2.30pm (NZT)
GAME TWO vs UTAH JAZZ
The good news was that both Paul George and Donovan Mitchell were all good to play here. Exactly as you’d figure in a playoff game but yeah, always wanna see the best out there. That includes Adams as well who banged his wrist on a dunk in game one (read about game one here) but carried on playing through the pain and was never in doubt to play here. Although he did have that arm wrapped up, so precautions were taken.
In game one the Thunder had the rebounding advantage by four, very decent against a big team like the Jazz who gave up the second fewest rebounds in the regular season. That led to a 19-10 lead in second chance points, a speciality of the Thunder’s and, based on the scoreline, potentially a decisive factor in the game. Also helping was a quality defensive shape that was able to keep the Jazz ball-handlers from getting around their blokes, penetrating to the rim or kicking it out for open threes.
Steven Adams: “All that comes down to is stopping them from getting middle and then just straight line drives to the rim. The less rotations we can make, the better. That obviously comes with their swing, swing, what they really want to do.”
Couple examples there of Steven Adams having a big influence beyond his minimal scoring, which is probably going to be the point of what he’s doing this series. If he can cancel out Rudy Gobert, no easy task, then he’s done his job. That head to head was a fun one in the first game. It could be decisive in the next three to six.
Early days and it was all Gobert. The Stifle Tower got his tally going with a tipped shot from a Derrick Favors miss before dunking to make it 9-0 after two minutes and change. Carmelo Anthony hit from three and Russell Westbrook did a couple things to bring it back to 9-9 but then a pair of quick fouls meant an early seat on the bench for Adams. It was a trend for the whole game and, just like his scoring, he preferred to do it in twos.
Rudy Gobert soon followed with his own second PF after catching Russell Westbrook under the basket and he had to take a seat as well. Jay Crowder also had three before the end of the first. Foul trouble affecting both coaches. The difference is that Quinn Snyder could chuck in Derrick Favors at the five while Billy Donovan went with the undersized Jerami Grant. Grant gives you quality on the offensive end with some length and range but he and Melo couldn’t go with Favors off the boards.
Favors absolutely feasted. The big fella had no worries sliding up a spot, scoring 9 points in the opening quarter but even more importantly bagging 5 offensive rebounds. Those are some man against boys numbers. Donovan Mitchell made a couple shots too yet Paul George was able to chip in with a couple triples and Utah only led 26-25 after one thanks to Dante Exum’s acrobatic late layup (taking out a referee in the process).
For obvious reasons Adams came back in earlier than he usually would and ended up playing most of the final eight minutes of the 2Q. He stepped into a 34-all game and Rudy Gobert immediately followed him. Both teams had issues with turnovers but a few too many Westbrook mid-rangers trying to counter threes from Ricky Rubio and Joe Ingles allowed the Jazz to pop out by a little margin.
Westbrook didn’t score in the entire second frame. Ricky Rubio didn’t have that issue, 12 points at the half, while Steven Adams had only 1 point (but 6 rebounds) in 12 minutes of action. The fouls clearly limited him but even still he only had one shot attempt, a miss from an off board which he then grabbed again and was fouled for his lone trip to the line. Wasn’t a huge factor as Rudy Gobert shut it down inside but you sure noticed when he wasn’t out there. Utah up 53-46 at HT.
Steve finally bagged one early in the third but he also added a third foul, a deliberate one to send Gobert to the line rather than giving up an easy dunk. Clever in the moment, as Gobert missed both FTs… but not so clever pretty soon after when he was whistled for his fourth PF going up to challenge the Frenchman at the rim. He thought it was a fair attempt. The ref disagreed. They two had a big old yarn about it as the players walked off for a timeout and that was the last we saw of Adams for the quarter.
Speaking of dealing with refs…
Which left the Thunder with their starting centre in foul trouble as Derrick Favors and Ricky Rubio played like All Stars, OKC getting out-rebounded and playing sloppy with the ball in hand… but they were somehow only down by single figures. Soon enough they weren’t even down at all. Westbrook got going. Carmelo hit another triple. Paul George drained one from deep and, there ya go, OKC had the lead back thanks to a 19-0 run spanning almost six minutes. Nine straight misses from Utah. That, as they say, escalated quickly.
Donovan Mitchell went on a flurry with 7 points in the last minute of the 3Q to make it 79-75 with twelve mins to play and single-handedly arrested some of that momentum. OKC still outscored ‘em 33-21 in the third.
You know what they say though: easy come and easy go. The Thunder slipped up late in the third and they really slipped up early in the fourth, their bench getting tricked on for a 9-1 run to start the final quarter. Between Abrines, George, Westbrook, Grant, Patterson and Felton they missed eight shots in a row. Nine if you include PG’s late heave in the third (which you probably shouldn’t). Ray Felton brought it back with a slick three and there was no choice but to hurl Steven Adams out there, playing with four fouls, to do a little of his usual and tie it up again at 87-all. Then he tied it up again at 89-89 for Rusty’s 12th assist. Rubio hit a three… so Adams scored again through contact. Three points in three quarters and then six in about a minute.
Stevie took his fifth personal to send Gobert to the line again, a risky one with 3:13 still to play but Rudy missed one of two to keep in interesting. But he’s a smart bugger, that Rudy Gobert, and he called for the ball on the very next play, put it on the floor and backed straight into Adams on repeat. Adams did his best to stay upright but the whistle went all the same and that was that for the kiwi. Down the tunnel towards the locker room with 2:48 remaining.
He was not a happy chappy. Almost certainly playing at less than a hundy with that wrist thing but safe to say he didn’t agree with a few of those foul calls. Neither did the home crowd, predictably. The boos did echo.
Melo missed a three down 99-95 with a minute left and then another at the same score with 21.1 secs remaining. Their three point shooting just evaporated in the second half for some reason, missing 12 of their final 13 attempts. Mitchell did what he had to do and Gobert made some free throws. We’re all tied up now, folks. 1-1 heading to Utah in a couple days.
Utah won it 102-95 thanks largely to a big time performance from Donovan Mitchell with 28 points (although he did miss all seven 3pt attempts). Gobert had a decent 13p/15r while Favors had 20p/16r and Rubio added 22p/7r/9a with five triples. That’s a lot to deal with, even as Joe Ingles did the square root of bugger all. Not a single OKC player got to 20 points. Westbrook had 19p/9r/13a but shot 7/19 while George was 6 of 21 for 18 pts and Melo 6 of 18 for 17 pts. Sure looked like they got gassed by the end of it.
The Oklahoman: “The Jazz responded from its Game 1 loss on Sunday by attacking the interior and limiting Thunder center Steven Adams to just 22 minutes with foul trouble. Adams finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Utah big men Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert took advantage, combining for 33 points and 31 rebounds.”
Meanwhile…
SLAM DUNKS
Billy Donovan: “If they're looking at what the floor and how the floor is balanced as they're going into a pick-and-roll, they're generally gonna have an idea of where (defensive) rotations are coming from and they have an idea of where they need to roll, what may be open in some (passing) pockets. I thought Jerami did a good job several times of finding Alex for some 3s. Steven has gotten, I think, much, much better from my first year to now of doing that, of catching it.”
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