OPINION:
The NBA playoffs are in full swing, but there has been one notable absence for Kiwi basketball fans: Steven Adams.
Despite the fact that Adams' team, the Memphis Grizzlies, made the playoffs, Adams has only played 31 minutes throughout the Grizzlies first five playoff games, from a possible total of 240 minutes. During the regular season, Adams averaged more than 26 minutes per game - so why is he struggling for game time now?
Adams does many things on the court at an extremely high level. He led the league in offensive rebounds per game throughout the regular season, grabbing 4.6 per game, and averaged a career-high in assists per game at 3.4 – good for sixth in the league among centres. He played a huge role in Memphis' run for second place in the Western Conference throughout the regular season, but he has struggled when matched up against Karl-Anthony Towns and the seventh-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the postseason.
The root of Adams' troubles lies in this inability to guard Towns. Towns, the winner of this year's three-point contest during the All-Star Weekend, has the shooting ability required to pull Adams away from the hoop, where he is most effective. Not only that, but the Timberwolves have regularly forced Adams to switch onto defending against smaller, more agile players. This forces Adams out of his area of strength, in the paint, and exposes one of his weaknesses, his lack of lateral speed.