Adams quiet but Westbrook finds his groove
Steven Adams had a relatively quiet night as Russell Westbrook powered the Oklahoma City Thunder to a win over the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA.
The Kiwi big man had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes of action as the Thunder won 109-104 at their Chesapeake Energy Arena home.
Westbrook had 30 points, 12 boards and eight assists, while fellow guard Dennis Schroder scored 23 points in a rare start and Paul George had 19.
Adams’ 13 points were his third-fewest in 12 games this month, more than only the 11 he had against the Sacramento Kings last week and the five had against the Hornets at the start of the month. Guard Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 25 points, but missed a three-point attempt that would have tied the game in the dying seconds.
The Thunder led by 13 at the start of the fourth quarter but the Hornets came back, pulling within one on a couple of occasions in the final period.
They move to 12-6 for the season with the win and are next in action today when they host the Denver Nuggets.
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant scored 32 points, Klay Thompson had 31 and the Golden State Warriors snapped their worst losing streak since early 2013 at four games, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 125-97.
Durant was 13 of 21 from the field, dished out eight assists, had seven rebounds and three of his team’s 11 blocks. Thompson hit five of his first seven shots and grabbed a season-high eight boards for the undermanned twotime defending champions.
Two-time MVP Stephen Curry, in a car accident earlier in the day that left him uninjured, sat out again with a strained left groin and fellow All-Star Draymond Green also remained sidelined.
Jusuf Nurkic had 22 points and eight rebounds for Portland on a night Damian Lillard shot just nine of 24 for 23 points and eight assists. CJ McCollum added 19 points and five assists.
In Los Angeles, LeBron James had 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and he seized control of an ugly game with nine points in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ seventh win in eight games,
Utah Jazz.
Brandon Ingram scored 24 points while the Lakers struggled in their first game back from a road trip, committing 24 turnovers and managing just 10 assists all night.
Neither team took a commanding lead in the second half until James hit a layup and a threepointer with 3:15 to play.
James then blocked a shot by Alec Burks in the final seconds as Los Angeles held on to snap their seven-game skid against Utah. Donovan Mitchell scored four points before he bruised his ribs and didn’t return, depriving the Jazz of their top scorer.
– Stuff/AP 90-83 over the