Basketball: Fertility check - basketballer Steve Adams lifts the lid on his NBA court battles

Steven Adams after Green's crazy kick. Photo / Getty Images

What happens on court doesn't stay on court.

Kiwi NBA giant Steven Adams has revealed details of his best scraps involving the big names of the NBA.

Adams is regarded as a bruising NBA presence who can draw the worst behaviour out of opponents. But Adams told ESPN basketball journalist Zach Lowe he'd be hopeless in a real fight.

"Ah, no. No. I can't. Not at all. I'm not going to claim that one," he told Lowe in the podcast.

"People get upset with me. I don't know why. Especially when I first got into the league - that was unfortunate."

Adams said he liked the "sweetheart" image portrayed in the book Steven Adams: My Life, My Fight.

Green's flail. Photo / Getty Images

In probably his most famous clash, against the Golden State Warriors in a 2016 finals game, he was kicked in the groin by Draymond Green.

"That's a tough one. Nah, nah, he didn't," said Adams, when asked if he thought it was deliberate.

"I think he wanted to flail, he intentionally wanted to flail, but I don't think [he thought], 'Let me just pinpoint, accurate, shin right into old mate's crown jewels.' I don't think he thought that.

"I thought he was like, 'Ah, there's contact, flail, bang.' Twice, in the same series. I've got to see if I'm still fertile"

Then there was a verbal altercation with Toronto Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas.

"There was a bit of back and forth in the game, and I was getting a bit excited," Adams said.

"I don't usually trash talk, I don't say anything usually; just a bit of banter here and there. I forgot my words exactly, but I basically told him: 'you ain't about this life ... You eat with a knife and fork, I eat with my bare hands' sort of thing.

"I said that at the free throw line and I felt cool in the moment. I felt real cool. I felt great.

"I was like 'that was so sick, that just came out of nowhere. You're brilliant' but then afterwards I was like 'ah it's pretty lame' – I was criticising myself immensely."

He also copped a punch from the Memphis Grizzlies' Zach Randolph.

"That was a good one though. That one helped us out, a lot. That was Game Six in the playoffs and he didn't get to play Game Seven," Adams said.

"It is just weird getting hit in a game when you're like focusing on one thing and you kinda get blasted and you're looking somewhere else cos someone else cracked you. You're like 'ah, what the hell, what's going on mate?"