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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: THUNDER v SPURSMay 28, 2014Steven AdamsSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Practice Day Q.  Your shot blocking in the Playoffs has been excellent. I think you're averaging more per minute than Serge even. Where does that come from? STEVEN ADAMS: I don't know, just‑‑ from basically our guys are doing a real good job of getting up on the ball, pressuring them, and blinding them really, and Serge you can tell that it's timing and all that sort of stuff. Q. Is that something you've always sort of had a knack for is shot blocking? STEVEN ADAMS: No, no. It's something I just kind of picked up now. I'm big, so that helps with the tall guys, but in terms of timing, yeah, it's gotten a lot better. Q. Is that intuitive or is it something you learn, a skill you acquire or something you're born with? STEVEN ADAMS: It's definitely intuitive. I picked it up off Serge and stuff. Yeah, even Perk. Q. What did you think of Jeremy's activity on defense? STEVEN ADAMS: I mean, he's done a real good job, especially just to come in, and like just staying ready because he hasn't played that much this Playoffs. But he came in when his name was called and just gave us great minutes, especially on the defensive end. He's hitting shots, like does what he does on offense. But defensively he was in the right position all the time and just really locked on, got like huge rebounds for us. So yeah, hell of a job. Q. How much better was the communication in your rotations defensively in the two games at home? STEVEN ADAMS: A hell of a lot better, man. All of us were on the same page, and all of us just kind of had that defensive mindset that led to all these easy buckets, transitions and all that sort of stuff. We'll try and carry that through. Q. What does Russell's energy do for you guys, the rest of the guys on the floor? Seems to kind of fire you all up. STEVEN ADAMS: Well, that just helps a ton, especially with Russ being the point guard. We look to him at certain times, so he sets the bar really high, and we just try and meet that. He's just a big ball of energy, so we all try and match him. Q. Are you used to the minutes you're playing? Do you feel much more comfortable with the energy that is required for you and the minutes you're playing? STEVEN ADAMS: Yeah, I mean, I feel comfortable either way, just whatever the coach just says. He'll just talk to me what the assignments are, and I'll just try to go and fulfill them. But I always try and watch Perk, see what he's doing well and stuff like that. Q. Endurance wise you feel good with the extended minutes? Do you feel you've gotten more accustomed to what you're being asked to do? STEVEN ADAMS: Yeah, it's gotten better since I first came into the Playoffs. Man, I'd come off the bench sometimes sounding like I've been smoking for 50 years, constant wheezing. But now it's pretty decent. It's kind of down a little bit. So that's been pretty good. Q. Duncan, you guys were hurt by him Game 1, but ever since you've been increasingly better at keeping him from being an impactful player. What's going on there? STEVEN ADAMS: Well, it starts up with our guards. The guards are getting up on the ball and really pressuring the point guards to not actually make it an easy pass to him. But then it's also they're doing a good job and we're getting our pick‑and‑roll coverages down, getting it down better than we were the first couple games, so that kind of let us get back to him quicker and try to contest his shot a little bit better, stuff like that. Yeah, that's what we've done. Q. For the most part you've done a lot better job defending without fouling. What's led to your improvement there? STEVEN ADAMS: I don't know, sometimes they call it, sometimes they don't. I can't really change. The coaches just say to go in, and if they call it, they call it. It doesn't matter, just have to keep the same intensity. I'm like clumsy anyway. I get some stupid fouls. Those are the ones I want to eliminate. But the contested ones, I think we can live with those, but it's just the real dumb fouls, grabbing him or tackling him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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