Grant steps up in Adams’ early exit

Steven Adams could afford to joke around, even if his health was no laughing matter.

Adams was asked to elaborate on what the Thunder called a “left hip contusion,” and Adams pointed to his left side, describing his injury as “australopithecus afarensis,” or Latin for a species of primate which was a direct ancestor of humans.

The Thunder’s 106-101 win over the Kings wasn’t funny. The Thunder slogged through another bad Western Conference team, and Adams definitely wasn’t 100 percent. He was returning from a sprained left ankle suffered against San Antonio, and it showed. The 7-footer wasn’t his active self initially, but warmed up for five rebounds and six points before halftime against Sacramento.

For the second game in a row, however, Adams didn’t make it to the fourth quarter. He played just 23 minutes, and said “we’ll see” on if he’ll play in Atlanta on Tuesday.

But with Adams out, it was the start of some serious influence from Jerami

Grant, who slid into the center spot and closed the game with the starting unit.

“It’s just him being himself,” Adams said. “He’s very good at seeing plays develop and then timing them so he can go be there early to trap. That’s 90 percent of it.

“So, the credit goes to that more so than, ‘ah, he’s a five (center). He did well against a five.’”

The Kings outscored the Thunder 15-6 in secondchance points and had a significant advantage in points in the paint (44-34), but Grant had five key points in the fourth quarter and re-established the Thunder’s interior defense.

Grant scored a key, twisting left-handed layup after the Thunder went nearly two minutes without a basket. His alley-oop dunk from Russell Westbrook on the fast break gave the Thunder a 10-point lead, its biggest of the night.

“He’s been doing a great job all year long,” Westbrook said. “Playing aggressive, being at the basket, using his size, his length and finishing well as well.”

Most important was his defensive presence. After his layup, Grant drew a charge on defense — his team-high 15th of the season — as the Thunder held the Kings to 5-of-14 on 2-point attempts in the fourth quarter.

Tip-ins

Westbrook had his league-leading 20th triple double of the season, the 99th of his career. He has a chance to become the fourth player to reach 100 career triple doubles Tuesday in Atlanta. Westbrook has three career triple doubles against the Hawks . ... Corey Brewer scored 16 points and went 7-of-7 from the line. Brewer is 12-of-12 from the line in five games with the Thunder . ...

Terrance Ferguson played 11 minutes after missing Saturday’s game with a concussion . ... Six Thunder players had six rebounds or more.