Kiwi big man Steven Adams notched one of his best games of the NBA season to date to help the Oklahoma City Thunder to a comfortable 114-105 road win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday (NZ time).
The Rotorua-product made his presence felt at both ends of the court on his way to a gaudy double-double of 20 points on an efficient 9 of 16 attempts from the field, 11 rebounds, and for the second consecutive game, four blocks.
Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis was forced to leave the game early after injuring his right quadricep, allowing Adams to capitalise on the extra space in the paint as the hapless hosts were unable to stop his pick and roll combination with point guard terror Russell Westbrook.
"We saw that there was a bit of a weakness with their defence inside and we managed to get some easy ones," said the 24-year-old in his post-game interview.
"It was defense really, I couldn't care less about offense. We've got to get stops."
The visiting Thunder started strongly, racing to a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter and eventually establishing a 64-45 advantage at the halftime interval.
The lowly Pelicans made a run in the third quarter to cut the lead to single digits but were at Westbrook's mercy as the game entered the final stretch, the dynamo point guard posting yet another triple-double with 27 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists to secure victory.
The win rounds out a six-game road swing for the Thunder during which they split the wins and losses evenly, cementing their spot at sixth in the Western Conference standings.
The Thunder will return home to face the Dallas Mavericks on Friday (NZT).
Newshub.
