As well as producing his usual unsung work under the basket, Adams scored 14 points in Monday’s 135-131 win over Cleveland, his highest points return in more than two years.
Three days earlier, he pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds against the same opponents.
“I was just trying to pick my spots,” Adams said.
“It helped because we played them so recently, so I was familiar with what they were trying to do, defensively.
“I just tried to find the pockets and be aggressive in those areas. Sometimes they went zone, so I would take the gaps.”
Since Adams replaced the injured Jabari Smith jnr as back-up centre to standout Turkish big man Alperen Sengun in early January, Houston have won eight of nine games.
The 2.11m Kiwi has provided key impetus as their season record improved to 30-14 – the fourth best in the entire league.
In those nine games, Adams is averaging 4.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 14.0 minutes, with Houston seeing off some strong opponents including the Cavaliers (twice), Memphis Grizzlies (twice), Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers.
Sports Illustrated said Adams had shown he remains one of the premier rebounders and screen-setters in the NBA and had handed Houston coach Ime Udoka one of the league’s best centre rotations, alongside Sengun.
In a statistical deep dive, it was revealed that Adams sits second across the NBA for “individual net rating”, which measures a team’s output while that player is on court compared to when they are not.
