Adams draws ire of fans
New Zealand basketball superstar Steven Adams was immediately copping heat from fans after the Oklahoma City Thunder were dumped out of the NBA playoffs yesterday.
Adams didn’t feature in the final quarter of the 118-115 loss, sealed by a stunning gamewinning buzzer beater by Damian Lillard for the Portland Trail Blazer.
It was the third consecutive first-round exit from by the playoffs for the Thunder and Adams, whose contract has been a talking point after noted American sports journalist Bill Simmons said on his recent podcast that Adams could be traded.
The Kiwi centre contributed only four rebounds and 10 points in his 29 minutes playing time but didn’t take the court at all in the last quarter as OKC squandered a 15-point lead midway through the final stanza.
While some Thunder fans criticised coach Billy Donovan for leaving Adams benched again in crunch time, many felt the 25-year-old was a liability given his four-year $US100 million contract and was the most likely player to looked at as a major trade option in the off-season.
‘‘Steven Adams gets paid $25m to get benched in a crucial playoff game,’’ tweeted @RB_Junior.
‘‘Can’t be paying Steven Adams 25 mil and have him on Tweet by @ThunderRelated the bench in crunch time,’’ posted @theycallmeMG.
‘‘Steven Adams has to go, his game is prehistoric and he gets paid way too much to be a non factor in a playoff series,’’ wrote a disgruntled @FroJSimpson.
‘‘Steven Adams let me down more than anyone tho, dude was a complete non factor,’’ tweeted @_washedlikemelo.
Adams also came under fire for being outplayed in game five by injured former friend and team-mate Enes Kanter, Portland’s backup centre who flourished in the absence of the injured Jusuf Nurkic.
On Twitter, @sbaidenjr wrote: ‘‘Let me also just say that Kanter flat out dominated Steven Adams. That’s unacceptable.’’
‘‘Sad to say, but it may be time to move on from Steven Adams. He makes too much money for what he’s giving you out there, and the only way to improve the roster is by sending him out. He didn’t even play in crunch time because it was better to have [Jerami] Grant out there,’’ tweeted @ThunderRelated.
‘‘Sad to say, but it may be time to move on from Steven Adams. He makes too much money for what he’s giving you out there.’’