OKC lose but team-mate talks up Adams
Steven Adams couldn’t live up to his team-mate’s lofty billing as the Oklahoma City Thunder blew a 16-point halftime lead against the Boston Celtics and crashed to their fourth straight defeat of the new NBA season.
The Thunder’s Kiwi centre contributed 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and a block as the Thunder stalled late to sink to a 101-95 defeat to the Celtics at their home Chesapeake Energy Arena. They had led 50-34 at the half.
The loss puts the Thunder at 0-4, and still searching for their first victory of the season, while the Celtics improved to 3-2.
Before the game, Thunder star Paul George had talked up the offensive upside of the 25-year-old Adams who is averaging 14.7 points and 14.3 rebounds for the new season, and had three straight double-doubles before the Boston game.
George said Adams had the potential to be a 20-point/10-rebound player in the NBA.
‘‘He brings that toughness to this team,’’ said George who has been carrying the offensive load for OKC early on with Russell Westbrook absent from the first two games. ‘‘[But] I think Steve-O has a lot of game that he has yet to tap. He has a lot of untapped potential from an offensive standpoint.
‘‘He could really be a 20/10 guy. I think he defers to Russ and myself, the guys who are the ‘scorers’ in this team.
"Steve can be one of the best scoring bigs in this league. He’s special for us regardless, but there’s a lot more to him than he thinks he has.’’
The Thunder would be disappointed with their second half against the Celtics, after looking in control at halftime. They were outscored 40-23 in the third quarter and simply could not make enough shots down the stretch to put the pressure back on the Celtics late.
OKC had led 92-85 on back-to-back Alex Abrines triples with just under 5 minutes to play, but were outscored 16-3 from that point.
George paced the Thunder with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Westbrook, in his second game back after off-season knee surgery, had just 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting, to go with 15 rebounds and 8 assists.
Jayson Tatum led the visitors with 24 points, while Marcus Morris contributed 21 off the bench, including a dagger late triple. Al Horford chipped in with 19 points and 9 rebounds for the Celtics, while Kyrie Irving had 15 points, 5 boards and 5 assists.