Adams embraces privilege of NBA playoffs
Steven Adams does not take appearing in the NBA playoffs lightly, even if the big Kiwi is about to make his fourth postseason appearance in five seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Adams’ Thunder will meet the Utah Jazz of Aussie star Joe Ingles in a best-of-seven first-round Western Conference matchup that begins on Monday (10.30am NZT) in Oklahoma City. And the 24-yearold Kiwi has emphasised what a ‘‘privilege’’ it is to be part of the playoffs experience.
The Thunder are the higher seed – fourth in the West, against the Jazz’s fifth – but, as befits a matchup between two teams that finished with identical regular season records, most pundits have the series going the distance, with OKC the slightest of favourites.
The Thunder take a three-game win streak into the playoffs, with Thursday’s (NZT) 137-123 home victory over the tanking Memphis Grizzlies enabling them to secure the all-important home advantage for the first-round series.
But Adams, who had 24 points and seven rebounds against the undersized Grizz, does not credit the Thunder’s timely end-of-season surge as a key confidence-booster.
‘‘I think it’s high,’’ Adams said of the Thunder’s confidence. ‘‘I wouldn’t credit it to the win streak though. It’s credit more to how the playoffs work and getting that privilege to play in the post-season after all the hard work you’ve done over the whole regular season.
‘‘The confidence comes from that, more than anything.’’
Star point guard Russell Westbrook has led the way, becoming the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double for two straight seasons when he racked up six points, 20 rebounds and 19 assists in the win over the Grizz.
As he goes, so too will the Thunder. But Adams has been a vital part of the formula in 2017-18, with some pundits tagging him OKC’s second most important performer behind Westbrook. That might be unfair on the capabilities of AllStar Paul George, but Adams has certainly been a model of consistency in a campaign where the team’s form has fluctuated wildly.
Adams finished the regular season with career-best numbers of 13.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and 1.2 steals and was an important physical presence, rim protector, hard-nosed defender and offensive rebounding machine for the Thunder.
Several respected NBA pundits, including ESPN’s Zach Lowe, have him ranked just behind former OKC team-mate Victor Oladipo in the running for the league’s Most Improved Player award.
Some other numbers reflect the season he has had: Adams ranks second in the entire league for screen assists (362); fourth for offensive rebound percentage (16.2); fifth for second-chance points per game (4.1); sixth for effective field goal percentage (62.9); and eighth for points in the paint a game (11.7).
He also led the league (alongside Andre Drummond) with 5.1 offensive rebounds per game.
In essence Adams plays hard every night, knows his strengths, more importantly understands his weaknesses, is well aware what his team needs from him and has zero ego.
The Thunder will need Adams up somewhere near his best against one of the premier centres in the league in Utah’s Rudy Gobert.
The Jazz have been a different team since Gobert, favoured to win defensive player of the year, has returned from injury. Only the Houston Rockets have won more since January 24, with Utah going 30-8 since the big Frenchman came back into the lineup.
Gobert’s steely defensive presence was intrinsic to that turnaround, closely followed by the stellar play of rookie of the year candidate Donovan Mitchell. Ingles, Derrick Favors and Ricky Rubio round out a quality starting five.