Adams needs more votes to make Star cast
Steven Adams is set to need plenty of votes from NBA players, coaches and media to make the cut for this year’s All Star game following the latest update on the fan voting process.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s ‘‘Big Kiwi’’ did not feature in the top 10 for front-court players in the western conference when the NBA released the second returns of its fan vote yesterday.
The vote, where fans use a specific hashtag on various forms of social media to push the case of their favourite players, accounts for 50 percent of the process by which the 10 starting All Stars are chosen.
More than 21 million votes had been cast so far, with the fan ballot set to close at midnight on Monday (Tuesday NZ time).
Adams’ former superstar teammate and now Golden State Warriors power forward Kevin Durant led the way in the Western Conference frontcourt category, closely followed by his Georgian team-mate, veteran centre Zaz Pachulia.
The leaders of the other categories were the Warriors’ Stephen Curry (Western Conference guards), Cavaliers talisman LeBron James (Eastern Conference front-court) and Cleveland side-kick Kyrie Irving (Eastern Conference guards).
Re-signed by the Thunder in November on a highly lucrative fouryear contract, Adams has had a strong 2016-17 so far for the 24-16 OKC outfit.
The 23-year-old is averaging 12.4 points and 7.7 rebounds in more than 30 minutes per game this season.
Meanwhile, Adams was hardly in All Star form yesterday, scoring four points and securing five rebounds as the Thunder lost 96-86 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
It was the Timberwolves’ thirdstraight victory with Karl-Anthony Towns and Ricky Rubio starring.
Towns scored 29 points and rebounds, while Rubio points and 14 assists.
It was Towns’ 30th double-double in 40 games this season.
The Thunder led 50-45 at halftime, added before the Timberwolves took control, locking down the Thunder on defence and limiting them to five third-quarter field goals and forcing regular turnovers.