Adams on international travel, scoring surge
MEXICO CITY — Surrounded by a semicircle of reporters, Steven Adams fielded a question Thursday as he took a swig from his bottled water.
He lowered his bottle and considered it a moment.
“Aw, gross,” Adams said. “Bubble gum just went in my drink.”
Ultimately, Adams turned his attention back to the reporters at The American School, where the Thunder held its Thursday morning shootaround in advance of a night game against the Nets at Arena Ciudad De Mexico.
And he went back to his water, too, continuing to sip from the plastic bottle as the gum sank to the bottom. It takes stronger stuff than that to churn Adams’ stomach.
After his media availability, Adams — who entered Thursday averaging 22 points over his past three games — stayed put for a one-on-one interview with The Oklahoman about world travel and his recent play. Some questions and answers have been condensed.
Q:You said you haven’t gotten to explore the city much. I assume you’ve been on a bus. Did you notice the traffic?
A: Yeah. The traffic’s awful, mate. Oh my God. It’s unbelievable. But there’s so much more than just that. I’ve been browsing out the window. But it’s definitely (about) getting amongst it. Some of the boys, they’re a bit weary about the old water here. Is that right? The water here? It’s a bit, eh. I don’t know. I was drinking it.
Q: You were drinking it? A: Yeah. Who cares? Just see how it goes. Gotta explore, mate.
Q: And do you feel OK?
A: Eh. So far so good. I hope it’s not, like, dormant until Memphis (on Saturday).
Q: Have you had any local cuisine?
A: No, we haven’t even tried that. It sucks, because there’s so little time here. Now it’s game day. It’s 9 o’clock at night, the game, but we can’t really walk around. We have to rest. It sucks, but the food looks good. Food does look good, on pictures. I was Googling it. It looks great.
Q: As somebody who’s not a U.S. citizen, do you have an appreciation for just getting out and playing somewhere different?
A: Yeah, yeah. A hundred percent. It’s just one of those things. I like traveling in general. I don’t think it’s an American thing. It’s just an appreciation for another culture, another country, how things work, whatever. The cuisine. I really enjoy that.
Q: How much did you get to do that when you were young?
A: Not at all. Stayed in New Zealand until I moved to Pittsburgh (for college). I went to some camps in USA, but other than that.
Q: What’s been your favorite place to go?
A: Japan, hands down. Japan. Because the food is bomb. The best Mexican food I ever had was in Japan. Best Italian I’ve ever had? Japan. Best anything, in Japan. Hands down.
Q: Billy (Donovan) said the other day that this scoring surge you’re on has a lot to do with Paul George and Carmelo Anthony and the way the floor has opened up for you.
A: Yeah. But the credit is more to the execution of that. I mean, the players can just stand there and it won’t work. The timing of it needs to be very specific for it to work, and the tempo and the pace of it. That’s the whole thing for it to work. For any of our plays. It ain’t just me. To get anything good, highpercentage, that’s what you have to do.
Q: Is that improving as these guys get more comfortable?
A: People know where people are now. Whoever’s driving, they can throw a pass now and they know that that player’s going to be there. Before, they might have drove and then they had to stop, look. It’s extra seconds taken away.
Q: How much further along are you offensively than you were a couple of weeks ago? And how close is that maybe to where you want to be?
A: We have an idea, but it’s not realistic, for a goal. I’m just talking about like, ‘Yeah, we want to make every shot.’ That’s not realistic. But we’re a lot better than what we were. And we’re just gonna continue to progress.