The Oklahoma City Thunder forced their opening round against the Houston Rockets in a crucial game 7 thanks to the exploits of Chris Paul.
Paul was from his unstoppable best when he scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to seal the win and keep the series in limbo.
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As well as Paul brought charges against the team he played for last season, another Thunder star didn’t come to the party.
The great Kiwi man Steven Adams was designated as the key to the series for the Thunder against the Rockets’ perennial small ball tactics.
But Adams hasn’t had much of an impact on the series, despite towering over every single opponent he’s faced and getting under the skin of Ryen Russillo of The Ringer.
When Russillo rattled off a number of problems to plague the thunder, the flamethrower came out when he got to Adams.
“Steven Adams’ usage rate, and sometimes it’s lineups, but he gets a few touches early and then they never go to him,” Russillo said The Bill Simmons Podcast
“But he’s deviously disappointing because he forgets how big he is. Sometimes he plays small.
“He’s this big New Zealander with this huge family and he attacked an ox while quarantined in New Zealand. We’re like the great badass Steven Adams and no one would ever fight like him.
“Then play like this. He plays softly. “
“He’s one of those guys, you almost need him for the show where the other team has a great center and Adams can just hit body with him,” added Bill Simmons.
“For a show like this, I just don’t know what his role is.”
Russillo wasn’t finished there, however, and couldn’t believe how badly the thunder had failed to take advantage of the height advantage Adams brought to the table.
“PJ Tucker got his third foul and we know he didn’t like the call because he denied it and PJ left the game and next possession after a dead ball. Go from block to block on a screen to let him gets a deeper catch, ”said Russillo.
“Just take another action to test it now that PJ is out of the game and there takes a three.
“These are all moderate expectations of what the thunder could be. I don’t think they are that great basketball team. But I thought they were smarter than that.
“You can’t do what they did in game five… I’m amazed. I sat in silence for about 10 minutes after the game and said, “What the hell did you just let yourself be?”
During the six games played in the series to date, the Rockets have started each game with PJ Tucker and Robert Covington as their starting place.
Adams towers over both men with an advantage of 12 cm over Covington and 17 cm over Tucker, but the tall man failed to get his prints on the series.
The man of thunder in the middle averages 10.16 points per game and 12 rebounds per game throughout the series.
While these numbers may be above his career averages, it delves deeper into the numbers where the problems for Adams arise.
The thunder was better at either end of the floor than Adams sitting on the bench rather than in the square.
Adams did not impose himself on the series as the small ball rockets dominate the color, leaving the Thunder 248-220 behind in six games.
Of his 72 rebounds, Adams brought 30 on the offensive. But defensively he fights to his name with only 1 block.
The Thunder still have a chance to get into the second round when Game 7 starts at 11 a.m. (AEST) on Thursday, but Adams finally has to play like he’s the biggest, toughest man on the floor if they want the job done.
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