Adams nets career-high haul
For a while there Steven Adams could do no wrong as the giant Kiwi rolled past his NBA career-best in points at the Oklahoma City Thunder’s raucous home arena.
But then his coach seemingly forgot all about him, sitting his inform centre for all but the last 17 seconds of the final quarter as Adams was left as a spectator for most of the tail end of yesterday’s 102-99 home loss to the Houston Rockets that snapped the Thunder’s win streak at six.
Adams did finish with a careerhigh 24 points and 10 rebounds and his Thunder team-mate Russell Westbrook did bring up his seventh straight triple-double, equalling the marks set by Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson, with Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA-best nine in his sights now.
But in the end neither were enough to get OKC over the line, as the Rockets surged to a 13-point lead late in the third quarter and held off a furious final-period comeback by the home team to scrape out a fifth consecutive victory.
The Thunder drop to 14-9, and 9-5 at home, while the Rockets secured their 10th road win of the season as they improved to 16-7.
Adams was on fire early as he scored eight points in the first quarter and nine in the second to finish the first half with 17 points and nine rebounds, with OKC trailing 55-49. He made six of seven field goal attempts and five of six free-throws.
The 23-year-old Kiwi was finishing with an array of interior moves and putbacks, with both the left and right hand, and ended the half with two powerful alley-oop dunks off aerial Westbrook feeds.
He kept things rolling early in the third with a nice three-point play matching his career high of 20 points, set at the Lakers last month, then a power move to the hoop and a pair of free-throws taking him to the 24-point mark.
But when Adams left the game late in the third period, that was the last meaningful action he was to see with Thunder coach Billy Donovan electing to go with his small lineup over the run home.
Westbrook had a mixed night, keeping that triple-double streak alive with a haul of 27 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals. But he also had eight turnovers, was eight of 25 from the floor, zero of seven from beyond the arc, and missed a layup and airballed a three-point attempt late with his team down 100-99.
It is the NBA’s longest triple-double streak since the great Michael Jordan went for seven straight in 1989. The most is the nine trotted up by Philadelphia’s Chamberlain in March of 1968.
It was Westbrook’s 12th tripledouble of this remarkable season he is having and 49th of his career. He is the NBA’s active leader in the category and is now sixth all-time.
The Thunder did a good job of containing Rockets danger man James Harden to 21 points (on six of 23 shooting), nine boards and 12 assists, though he received excellent support from Eric Gordon off the bench (17 points), Ryan Anderson (14 points, eight rebounds) and Clint Capela (13 points, six boards). Patrick Beverley also played some stellar defence on Westbrook throughout, and especially at the end.
The Thunder’s next game is at home against the Celtics on Monday.