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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v WARRIORSMay 23, 2016Steven AdamsOklahoma City, Oklahoma: Practice Day Q. How you feeling today? STEVEN ADAMS: I feel fine, mate. Not bad, but sore. Q. Have you talked to [Thunder head athletic trainer] Joe Sharpe at all about getting some special equipment down there for the next game? STEVEN ADAMS: Not yet. Probably going to consider it, though, due to the consistency of the hits. Q. Have you worn anything like that before in your career? STEVEN ADAMS: No, not at all. Q. Have you seen any replays of it since last night, and has that changed your opinion on if you thought it was intentional? STEVEN ADAMS: Yeah, I saw the replay when I got home. I can't say much about it really. Q. Did it look even worse than you thought it would? STEVEN ADAMS: Yeah, from what I had in my mind, it kind of confirmed it almost. Q. Did you ever go through anything like this playing rugby? STEVEN ADAMS: Oh, yeah, all the time. There are some really brutal ones. Because they have cleats. I'll leave the rest to the imagination of what actually happened. But they still play. That's amazing, those guys. Q. Anybody ever get suspended in rugby? STEVEN ADAMS: No, it's a different sport. You could be in a full-out fistfight and you'll just get a sin bin, which is 10 minutes, and you'll be back in. I guess they encourage it almost. Q. Would it matter to you at all if Draymond apologized? STEVEN ADAMS: No, it doesn't matter. Q. In Game 1, your three best lineups were all big lineups -- you, Serge [Ibaka], Enes [Kanter] on the court with another big. Last night you guys went small with Serge at the center. Is it kind of showing multiple ways that you can perform and perform at a high level? STEVEN ADAMS: We've got a lot of players that can do a lot of different things that most of the people in their position can't do. For instance, KD [Kevin Durant] can guard 1 through 5. Players like that really help with a team like this. They pretty much play a certain way, which is shoot threes and stuff like that. It definitely helps. It shows our versatility. Q. The last seven games going back to the San Antonio series, you're like plus-55 in free-throw attempts versus your opponents. Does that number speak to you at all about your ability to defend without fouling or being aggressive and getting to the line or anything like that? STEVEN ADAMS: We're trying not to foul, obviously. But it's just coming out aggressive and setting the tone. That's the biggest key for us. Because once the refs get used to the way the teams are playing, that kind of works in our favor. Obviously, we try to be the more physical team, more effort. That comes with it. Fouls kind of drag us back and brings them back in the game. Q. Did the league reach out to you to discuss the situation? STEVEN ADAMS: No, not yet. Not yet. They will. They will, though, probably. Q. Would you prefer to beat them at full strength if nothing happened with Draymond? Would it be more meaningful? STEVEN ADAMS: Regardless, I think we can beat them with or without him. In terms of meaning, no. They have plenty of other players that are just as capable. They're a great team. It doesn't matter if he plays or doesn't play. Q. Kevin [Durant] said something interesting the other day. He said people are always asking him did [Billy] Donovan win him over and earn his respect, and Kevin said that's not the way he looks at it. Yeah, when Donovan came in he needed to win Donovan's respect. In other words, he's the coach, I had to prove myself to him. How did you see that with a new coach coming in, and now a year into it in terms of who had to win each other's respect over? STEVEN ADAMS: For me or others? Q. You and teammates with a new coach? STEVEN ADAMS: It's not like winning anyone over. You've just got to see eye to eye. The biggest problems that you'll have with the team is that if you don't see eye to eye you kind of look down on someone across the board. What's good about Donovan is he didn't come in trying to like, not demoralize, but look down on anyone. That was really great. The same with the players. KD and stuff, they didn't see him any different either. Just understood he was a young coach -- well, old coach, but new in the NBA. Once we figured that out, the team just kind of grew. Q. You won 55 games but still had your struggles throughout the year. Everyone always said, hey, everything's fine, we're just adjusting. Everything's going to be fine. Is how you played in the playoffs, beating the Spurs, leading the Warriors, does that prove how you were on the right track all along? STEVEN ADAMS: I think so. We knew what the process was, and it was actually a process. It's hard to see. It's hard to notice the grass is growing if you're just watching it all the time. When you're in it, you can't really notice any difference. But we understood what Billy does is try to give us the bigger picture of the outside perspective, which is great. That's what kind of kept us going. You make mistakes, but we're constantly getting better. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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