Adams cops third low blow
NO pain, no gain. Steven Adams shrugged off another eyewatering low blow to play a prominent role in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s third straight NBA victory on the back of more late-game heroics from Russell Westbrook.
Adams posted his 10th doubledouble of the season with 16 points (on 6 of 9 shooting), 10 rebounds and two steals as the Thunder survived a withering comeback to eke out a 120-117 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Chesapeake Energy Arena yesterday.
The big Kiwi was in the thick of action down the finishing stretch, too, making a huge tap-in of a Carmelo Anthony miss with 43 seconds left that put the Thunder up 116-112.
Just five seconds later he took a painful inadvertent blow below the belt as he attempted to stop a corner three-pointer from Hawks forward Ersan Ilyasova.
Adams was left writhing on the floor in agony, and to add to his misery Ilyasova made the shot to close the deficit to just a single point. But the Thunder were spared potential overtime when, with the scores tied at 117-117, Westbrook netted a pull-up threepointer to secure a ninth victory in the last 12 for the resurgent franchise who are now two games over .500 at 17-15.
Adams is no stranger to being hit where he doesn’t want to be – he was famously kicked there by Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green in 2016, and punched there by Aussie Joe Ingles earlier this season.
Atlanta, in last place in the Southeast Division, made the Thunder work for their win, rallying after falling behind by 16 points in the first half, and again by seven in the final minutes. Marco Belinelli scored 30 points to lead Atlanta. llyasova added 22 points for the Hawks, who went 15 of 32 from 3-point range.
The Hawks led 92-88 with 8:49 left after a basket by Kent Bazemore. Westbrook re-entered the game and led the Thunder on a 16-5 run. Anthony’s 3-pointer AP with 5:34 left gave Oklahoma City a 104-97 lead.
The Hawks came back again, eventually tying the game at 117 on two free throws by Ilyasova with 11.1 seconds left. After a timeout, George inbounded to Westbrook, who made the final shot over Atlanta’s Taurean Prince. Without a timeout, the Hawks could manage only a desperation heave at the buzzer.
‘‘We put ourselves in position to (win) the basketball game with the last shot and it went down,’’ a hoarse Westbrook said.
The Thunder dominated the second quarter. They broke a 28-28 tie with a 14-2 run to start the quarter, with Raymond Felton and George each hitting two 3-pointers. After the Hawks pulled within 51-43, Oklahoma City went on a 13-5 run and led 64-50 at halftime.
Atlanta scored 11 straight points to cut the Thunder lead to 74-70 midway through the third quarter. Oklahoma City made only 19 of 31 free throws. - Stuff, AP