America having a ball with Adams
Welcome to the new NBA. In case you haven’t been paying attention, things have rather turned upside down. Small has become big, good has become evil and New Zealand’s own Steven Adams has emerged as the most unlikely central figure in the storyline of a captivating Western Conference finals series.
Oh, and over in the East the Toronto Raptors have just won two straight over the Cleveland Cavaliers to at least raise the prospect of LeBron James being shut out of the NBA finals, which just a few days ago seemed about as likely as Donald Trump being made an honorary citizen of Mexico.
But, let’s face it, it’s the Western Conference finals that New Zealand really cares about. First and foremost because our very own Adams has just been kicked in the, er, meat and two vege, not once, but twice in succession by Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
In a sidelight to developments around Adams’ groin area, the sustained attack on it, and the physics of Green’s bodily motion, the Thunder have also taken a 2-1 lead over the Warriors and are just one decent home performance away (today, NZT) from dispatching the 73-win defending champs somewhere between a rock and a very hard place.
It’s been a breakout post-season for Adams who’s averaging a doubledouble for the Thunder and has now encountered double-trouble at the hands of Green.
The first incident, in game two’s 118-91 Warriors victory, was innocent enough as Adams collected Green’s knee right where the sun don’t shine as the Warriors’ do-it-all forward made a layup. Fair cop. Wrong place, wrong time.
But when in game three, in Oklahoma, around the middle of the second quarter Green went dancing through the paint, got the ball knocked loose by Adams, and then planted a right foot fairly and squarely in the, as Kevin Durant put it, ‘‘family jewels’’ of the seven-foot Kiwi, well enough was enough.
Poor Adams crashed to the floor and curled up in the foetal position. Eventually he got to his feet and wiped away the tears to sink a couple of free-throws before heading to the bench to nurse his swollen, er, pride. All well and good to that point. Bit of nastiness. It happens in sport. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
But then a funny thing happened. OKC didn’t just get mad, they got even. Actually, they got one up.
When Adams went down the Thunder had just started a little run that had seen a 40-40 tie morph into a 48-40 lead. By halftime that surge had become 32-7, the lead was 72-47.
The Thunder would go on to win 133-105, though that’s when things really got interesting.
Green protested his innocence, Warriors coach Steve Kerr protested his player’s innocence and Adams just protested. ‘‘It’s happened before. Pretty accurate, that guy,’’ he uttered between clenched teeth, still waiting for the apology that never came.
Remember this is a player whom Adams had already declared had ‘‘peaked in annoyingness’’ through game two with his antics and aggression.
Yesterday the man from Down Under’s stance hadn’t softened any when he said he was considering playing with protection down under due to the ‘‘consistency’’ of the battering he was taking.
Then Adams did something really, really important. He stayed classy. He kept out of the gutter.
He declared he didn’t care whether Green got suspended or not. ‘‘I think we can beat them, with or without him,’’ he said. ‘‘It doesn’t matter if he plays or doesn’t play.’’
Of course the NBA decided not to suspend Green, an All-Star, for today’s pivotal game four back (they upgraded the foul to flagrant 2, and fined Green $US25,000) meaning the Warriors will be at full strength as they battle to avoid going down 3-1.
But something significant has changed in this series. Not only has Adams left behind that ‘‘little monkeys’’ gaffe after game one, he has transformed into an admired figure around the NBA for the manner he has conducted himself through this whole process (he’s actually playing some breakout ball too). And the Warriors have become the bad guys in this piece.
Suddenly the team America loved because of Steph Curry, its revolutionary small-ball basketball and its endless wins has become the villains of this showdown. Snow White has become the Evil Queen.
And OKC, with its stoic, toughminded, pretty darn good Kiwi centre, has morphed into every neutral’s second favourite team. The underdogs who took the low blow, and then aimed high.
If game four has further twists to come, let’s hope they’re not to Adams’ anatomy.