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Steven Adams mentioned at the start of the season that his biggest challenge wasn't scoring or rebounding, but rather closing out on 3-point shooters from the center position. On Tuesday night, that played a critical role when up two points in the dying seconds of the game, when a capable Marcus Morris pump-faked a flying Paul George, side-stepped him, and drained the long-range bomb for the win over Adams' outstretched arm.
Following a gut-wrenching loss, the Kiwi center took it all upon himself.
“It was crap. It wasn't even a good contest, to be honest. It was rubbish,” said Adams after the game. “I was thinking too much about (Al) Horford. I was seeing (Jayson) Tatum drive middle, so I just leave Horford and I see PG jump. I should've just went and jumped, just fully committed.”
Steven Adams on his contest on Marcus Morris: “It was crap. It wasn’t even a good contest, to be honest. It was rubbish.” pic.twitter.com/JcysrZCOqf
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) March 21, 2018
Adams' closeout was predicated in not fouling the jump-shooter and going to his side, but the mere distance generated by the side step was enough for Morris to get a clean look and drain the long-range shot, leaving only 1.2 seconds left on the clock.
The New Zealander was as alert as possible in hopes to rotate, but in instances like this one, it's a shot that the Thunder has to tip a cap to and move on to the next game in hopes to garner the best spot possible in a tight Western Conference race.
Adams will have plenty more of these opportunities to make a difference in games, as he's done for most of the year for Oklahoma City.
