Steven Adams Update
Update: As of 1 pm Central Steven Adams was not listed on the Thunder's injury report.
Billy Donovan would not give an update on Steven during this afternoon's media availability. Donovan would only say, "I think all those guys are doing fine."
"We'll certainly have more of an update tomorrow."..."I think letting those guys get through a day of rest, recovery, and some treatment, we'll have a much much better pulse on where everybody's at physically tomorrow."
Adams suffered a knee contusion late in the fourth quarter, and despite being able to return, Dovonovan kept him on the bench. Without Adams for overtime, the Thunder were forced to go small and play Danilo Gallinari at center. During the extra frame, Oklahoma City outscored Houston 15-3.
Does the success of the Thunder's small lineup have Donavon rethinking how he might approach game four?
"That group played pretty well, in the five minutes I think Houston scored three points."..."Obviously, when you take a guy like James [Harden] off the floor, that's going really really impact any team."
"So, it's really hard to say."..."Chris [Paul] made two tough threes; I don't know if that had anything to do with the lineup."
"The game at the end Harden was off the floor for them Steven [Adams] was off the floor for us, so it's really hard to say in the five minutes what to like or not, it was just going well for that group out there at that point in time."
That's Donvan's polite way of saying probably not. With Harden fouling out less than a minute into overtime, things opened up for the Thunder. Already down Russell Westbrook, the Rockets had to rely on their role players to seal the win.
That task proved to be too daunting as Houston went 1 of 9 from the floor. Don't expect Donavon to veer from what he did in game three. If Adams is healthy, he'll be on the floor.
The Thunder are conceding style of play to Houston, which is fine as long as they continue to play without hesitation. Thunder have to take advantage of any fastbreak opportunities, get back on defense, and go into the paint on the rare occasion the Rockets defense leaves the lane open.
For one game, Oklahoma City proved they can play with Houston. Now it's time to see if it was a fluke or are the Thunder truly back.
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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.
