The OKC Thunder welcomed the New Zealand Breakers into Chesapeake with the Big Kiwi starring in the 110-84 win. Here are the key takeaways from the victory.
For the second consecutive game, the OKC Thunder came away with an easy victory pushing the club to 2-0 in the preseason. Although the W’s are nice the true value of preseason is getting this mostly new squad integrated, implementing the new offense and searching for rotations that have fit and chemistry.
Donovan used a different starting lineup that featured rookie Darius Bazley and Terrance Ferguson in place of Danilo Gallinari and Dennis Schroder.
Big Kiwi delivers:
With the New Zealand Breakers and RJ Hampton in the house, the star of the night fittingly was Steven Adams who posted a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. To no one’s surprise, Adams is cleaning the glass on both ends of the floor this season pulling down defensive boards with the same wild abandon he attacks the offensive glass.
Although there were no 3-pointers from Steven Adams on this night he did show off another offensive gift. Adams played interim point guard bringing the ball the full end of the hardwood finishing with a nifty layup and drew the and one with a Breakers opponent draped all over him.
New Zealand FAST Breaker. @RealStevenAdams 15p/10r in first half pic.twitter.com/QqcPvTv3ap
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) October 11, 2019
Adams was also involved in initiating the play on several occasions and feasted inside all game long. The Thunder dominated the paint scoring 72 points to the Breakers 44 and also held an 8-0 edge on fast break points.
OKC also stayed true to their defensive identity limiting second-chance scoring options for the visiting team and forced 19 turnovers while picking up 13 steals to the New Zealand squads five.