Adams back in the groove in Thunder win

Steven Adams looked on course for a career night for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but cooled his hot hand in the second half of a 106-88 home victory over the Detroit Pistons.

The 23-year-old New Zealander still finished with a respectable night’s work to total 16 points on seven-of-nine shooting and grab nine rebounds as the Thunder won their second straight and improved to 10-8 for the season.

But at halftime, when he already had 14 of those 16 points, had made six of eight shots and also hauled in five boards, it had looked like something special was in the works. His career high of 20 points, achieved against the Lakers less than a week ago, certainly looked in grave danger.

However the ball just didn’t come his way as much after the break, and in the end he had to be content with playing a key role in a well-rounded team performance from the Thunder.

OKC were paced by an outstanding, and season-high, 21 points off the bench from Anthony Morrow. The sharpshooter converted eight of his 12 shots and three of his six attempts from distance to underline his case for more minutes in Billy Donovan’s rotation.

Russell Westbrook continued his assault on the triple-double threshold, bringing up his seventh of the season with a relatively restrained 17 points (8/22 FG), 13 rebounds and 15 assists, while Victor Oladipo added 18 points and Enes Kanter 12 off the bench for the Thunder.

Adams, who made just two of five free-throws, also did a useful job defensively in helping to contain Pistons danger man Andre Drummond to just 10 points – five below his season average. Tobias Harris led Detroit with 21 points as all five starters passed the doublefigure mark.

- Marc Hinton