I’m Obsessed With How Steven Adams Plays Basketball.. | Houston Rockets |

I’m Obsessed With How Steven Adams Plays Basketball.. | Houston Rockets |

Steven Adams had, in my opinion, his best game of the season against the Utah Jazz on Sunday. Watch how he just completely took over this basketball game. So, he’s going to step up here and block this shot. And how this happens is just ignoring the corner. You can see as the seconds progress, he gets closer and closer to that restricted area. He’s not even paying attention to the corner. And he just times this perfectly knowing that he’s going up for the dunk and he gets a hand on it and he blocks it off the backboard. And then the Rockets are out and running. And then on this play in transition, Adams is just going to roll to the basket. Durant’s going to loft it up. Adams comes down and he does a jump stop right here, which is the right thing to do. He’s got this Jazz player, of course, up and off his feet, which he was anticipating Adams going up right away, but he ends up catching it reverse slam. And the Rockets bench was just absolutely out of their seats. This was easily the the best highlight of the game. Like, it’s not even close. I mean, just take a look at this replay, man. And I mean, Adams just gets up and over. And now he’s going to roll the basket once again. Kevin Durant finds him. And then Adams has to make a quick decision. Do I go up or do I kick it out? He knows that the help is right here. And Adams is just going to make the right read and it’s going to be an Aaron Holiday corner three. He hit three on the day. There’s one of them right there. This is why Steven Adams has always been one of the more underrated players in NBA history. It might not seem like much, but as a big man to make this split decision, of course, do I go up? Do I dribble in? Like what do I do? and he just immediately recognizes the defense. Corner kick out and it’s right look right to that pocket. Aaron Holidayiday is able to just set it in rhythm and fire it up and in. That ball doesn’t even touch the rim. And then now Adams is he’s got the ball at the top of the key and you see he’s holding it with one hand. He’s about to make a baseball type of pass and he kicks it off to Reed and now he’s going to set an all ball screen for Kevin Durant and now he’s going to roll to the basket and Adams is going to throw up that little touch shot if you want to call it that. So Steven Adams, he just does all of the little things. It doesn’t seem like much. He’s not the flashiest player, but he’s always been one of the more effective players in basketball. Whatever team Adams goes to always gets better as well. I mean, this is a nice little touch shot for the big men, too. But really, where Steven Adams makes his money, it’s always been on this right here. I’ve always liked his defense. Watch how he’s just going to go up here and pin this off the backboard. So Steven Adams did end up finishing the game with 17 minutes, 13 points, nine of 10 free throw shooting. That’s been definitely his biggest growth this season in his second year with the Rockets. 12 rebounds, two assist, four of them being offensive. He had a block and a steal. So, he’s getting active on both sides of the ball. So, in this video, I’m actually not particularly going to talk about the Rockets. I’m more so going to talk about Steven Adams and just my experience of covering him um as a reporter. So, I covered him when he was with the Grizzlies. I covered him when he was with the Pelicans. And I didn’t really I wasn’t that big into basketball when he was with OKC. So, I don’t really remember too much about him then. He’s like a completely different player. But I specifically Memphis is where I remember him the most with his screen setting ability, his offensive rebounding, his passing, and those skills have certainly translated to the Rockets. He’s fit in here flawlessly. He started games this year. He’s come off the bench. I thought he was honestly the most impactful player in the playoffs for the Rockets in the first round against the Warriors because every shot that was missed, he cleaned up. And you know, free throw shooting again has always been his issue cuz late in games the Rockets, they just couldn’t play him because again, if you’re missing two free throws, you’re not scoring in that possession. And you can’t exactly do that in the playoffs. Like you’ve got to be coming away with something late in these games. And but in terms of what we’ve seen out of Adams this season, he just gets better by the game. I mean, he plays his role so well. He doesn’t care about like the numbers. He just he goes after every single rebound. He’s tough. He’s physical. And it’s just it’s helped the rest of the roster because of that just the energy that he’s brought. Like Rockets players feed off of that. Like he ends up blocking a shot and then he dunks on a guy in the other end and the bench is off their feet and now everyone wants to compete and and work even harder. And Stephen Adams, whatever team he’s gone to has just gotten better. Like Adams’s first year with the Rockets last year, what happened, right? They went from a playing team to the second seat. And then in now now of course in year two with the Rockets, the Houston is 13 and4 and they look like a significantly better team than they were last year. The ball’s moving freely. It’s another thing about Adams is you can set a high ball screen with him and then you can roll him to the basket because he’s fast enough to be able to make split quick decisions. He reminds me a little bit of Isaiah Hartinstein from someone who has watched a lot of him with the Rockets. I’ve watched him with the Thunder obviously and the Knicks even you know a couple of years ago is Hartinstein was very similar is he would set an onball screen and he rolled a basket and then the Knicks would either throw it to him or they bounce it to him and then to that point it’s you throw up that runner you drive you kick it to the corner what do you really do and Adams is one of the very few big men that are able to do that at a consistent level and the Rockets the question for them is going to be are they at their best with the starting lineup of Reed Shepard or are they at their best with the starting lineup of of Adams. And I do think it that depends on the matchup. There are going to be certain instances where the Rockets absolutely should go big and get every single rebound and just bully people. There’s also times the Rockets are going to need Reed’s quickness and his shooting ability. And that if anything that benefits the Rockets because it’s not about Reed or or Adams, it’s not about who’s better. It’s about who gives the Rockets the best chance to win that night. And at the end of the day, if Reed comes off the bench, he’s going to drop 20. If if Adams comes off the bench, he’s gonna get 12 rebounds and he’s gonna do what he’s been doing, right? So, the Rockets, they’ve just established a bunch of depth and they don’t need Kevin Durant to score 25 every night. He’s going to do it anyway. But that’s kind of the thing is the Rockets, they don’t need anyone to do anything because they’ve got so many different players that can beat you. And they’re doing this without Tari. Uh I mean, a lot of people, including myself, forget that Dorian Finey Smith is even on this team because he hasn’t played. Like, he’s currently injured. So, the Rockets are going to be getting back one of the best bench pieces in Tar Een and they’re going to be getting back Dorian Finny Smith. Really, two of the best bench pieces. Dorian Finny Smith, lethal shooter, lethal perimeter defender, three and D wing, the Rockets, the fact they were able to get him and Clink Capella is pretty remarkable. They also got Josh Kogi. Looking at the current team, am I missing anyone? That’s that’s kind of it. I mean, they did pick up JD Davis who they like a lot as well. I know Rocket fans are high in him. Kevin Durant obviously. Yeah, the Rockets last year, I didn’t see them as a championship team. I saw them as a team that was was a probably like one or two pieces away. And specifically, they needed someone in the half court to be able to go out there and to to score. And that’s what Kevin Durant does at best, you know, better than almost just about anyone in the history of basketball. They also did need another 3D wing cuz if you want to go up against the Thunder, the Nuggets, like you need wings that can defend and that can shoot and can stay ready and that don’t really need the ball and that that’s DFS, right? And in Clinkapella is just more depth next to the two bigs that they already have in Shenun and Adams. And Clinkapella has played very well. Like 14 minutes, four rebounds, two blocks, three offensive rebounds. You know, this video is about Adams. Like obviously Adams plays more and he’s a more I’m not going to say like player. You know, Capella is very beloved, but Adams is just he’s always been a fan favorite. Like it’s I don’t I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that dislikes Stephen Adams. And when I I ran a Grizzlies channel, um I don’t know why to this day I did that, but I I ran a Grizzly channel for a year and I gained a couple of thousands of subs and my most viewed video, which the channel was took taken down by the NBA, but the most viewed video was Stephen Adams. I think got like 25K and it was just all Stephen Adams fans, which he’s from New Zealand. Correct me if I’m wrong here. I should probably know that, but I think he’s from New Zealand. Yeah. Yeah. No, Steven Adams is Yeah, he’s from New Zealand, but he’s got like the coolest accent, tough dude. I’m pretty sure he only eats meat, which is just kind of insane to think about. And I’d say he’s pretty easily the strongest player in basketball. And Adams, he’s just he just looks like, bro, he kind of look I’m sure he gets this all the time, but he looks like Aquaman. like he just looks like he doesn’t look like a basketball player, but then you actually like watch him and like that’s why you can’t judge a book by its cover because you watch Stephen Adams and then you realize like dude he’s actually got like good instincts on his rebounding ability because dude you don’t you can’t just be a good rebounder like you have to know where the ball is going to land and you have to be in position. You got to be jacked right to be able to and then also when Adams gets the rebounds he’s getting hit every single time. His teams aren’t just going to let him go up and dunk it. they’re going to make him earn it at the free throw line and then again he’s an approved free throw shooter. So Steven Adams has become a very dangerous piece. Like he’s become a championship level piece and you know had he been able to knock down free throws more consistently the Rockets probably would have beat the Warriors and Adams would for sure be a starter. But just knowing that he is working on that and you can go to that if you if you have to like there’s going to be plenty of times this season especially in big playoff moments where the Rockets do roll with Shenun Durant and Steven Adams and they have in you know man and Jabari like they’re just have pure seven foot wingspans or more out there and we’ve seen success but I will say this the Rockets statistically this season haven’t been at their best when they play the double big but again it’s because they have to know when to use it like if there’s a time where you don’t you shouldn’t do it you don’t just want to use it right like against the Warriors. The Rockets did not shoot the ball well to say the least. They had a horrific first half, but they won that game because of their offensive rebounding and their defense. And they like both of those kind of go hand in hand here is defensively you’re piecing the other stops and then offensively you get your shots off, but you’re getting second chance opportunities. And that’s what Stephen Adams provides is good defense and elite level rebounding. And he’s also a guy again, you can roll him to the basket like we showed in the tape and the film and he can make quick decisions. and that’s why he’s always been a very underrated player and it’s just kind of insane how the Rockets were able to get him back cuz that was their main priority. Like I remember reading about that in the offseason Rafal Stone the main priority was resigning Stephen Adams and I didn’t I didn’t think he was going to be able to do that. I didn’t think there was a a chance that Adams would be back. I thought he was going to get a bag somewhere but he did come back to the Rockets and they’re thankful to have him. like the Rockets would not, in my opinion, would not be able to win the championship without Stephen Adams because it’s hard enough to win one, but if you just lose a piece like that, you’re not going to be able to overcome it. And the fact that the Rockets resigned him and they brought in KD and they brought in DFS and they brought in Joshi, Reed Shepard’s taking a leap, like all of a sudden the Rockets were good last year and I think they’re great right now. Absolutely. They’ve got to beat the Spurs, the Thunder. They the Pistons, they, you know, they have not beaten those teams, but again, I mean, it’s November 30th right now. Like it, yeah, I mean, I’d like to see a win here and there, but you know, the Knicks last season, for example, they were what, over 10, over 11 against the Thunder, Cavs, and Celtics, and they beat the Celtics in the playoffs. like that does not the regular season it it matters but it’s like you know the Rockets they’re going to only elevate their play when the playoffs

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