Adams Still out, no Timetable on Roberson and Billy Donovan Still Hasn't Used a Coach's Challenge.
Steven Adams will sit out of his second straight game after suffering a knee contusion in the Thunder's loss to the Rockets. Oklahoma City head coach Billy Donovan will not confirm that Nerlens Noel will start in Adams place, but with Wednesday's 15 points, 14 rebound performance vs. Portland's hard to imagine that Noel will come off the bench.
Noel gives up 55 pounds to the Pelican's Jahlil Okafor, however, on Valentine's day against these same Pelicans Noel dropped 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in just over 21 minutes. Anthony Davis was still with New Orleans at the time, and Okafor was coming off the bench like Noel. Okafor was on the floor for 22 minutes that night, going five and eight.
As for Andre Roberson, Donovan says nothing new is cropping up but the team is trying to get him "to react to the load he has." Donovan also says that Roberson's recovery is not only up to the doctors but to Roberson himself. The Thunder still need to know that Roberson is confident in his body and is able to respond to not only workout's but playing in a game as well.
Billy Donovan is still waiting to take his first coach's challenge of the year. A coach only gets one challenge per game, and in order to take that challenge, you must first call a timeout. If your challenge is successful your timeout is restored, if it's not successful you lose your timeout. You can only challenge when a foul is called on your player, an out of bounds call or a goaltend. Donovan says the biggest issue with the challenge is when you take it. Donovan doesn't want to be caught in a situation where he wins a challenge but the Thunder could benefit from using the challenge at the end of the game.
