SAN FRANCISCO – Unlike a Steph Curry jump shot, there is nothing glamorous about offensive rebounding.
It is one, two, three or 10 players slamming into one another, each trying to get away with at least a few uncalled fouls under the rim as they wrestle among themselves for positioning while the shot flies through the air.
But if there is one player who can make this act look like an art form in the Warriors-Rockets series that is headed back to Houston for a Game 7 on Sunday, it is Steven Adams.
In a series that has seen the Warriors squander a 3-1 lead, Adams’ playing time and influence has only increased as the series has unfolded.
The Rockets’ 6-foot-11 center is listed at 265 pounds, but the 31-year-old New Zealander might as well be twice that weight when the Warriors have attempted to box him out.
“I just do whatever Coach says, mate,” Adams said. “Good stuff.”
Adams’ stuff has been more than just “good” this postseason for coach Ime Udoka.
He has grabbed an astounding 18.7% of available offensive rebounds — almost double that of Alperen Sengun, who is second on the team — shrugging off and discarding would-be Warriors board-getters after missed Houston shots before ripping the ball out of the sky.
“Adams was fantastic tonight. Thirty-one minutes,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Friday. “Probably the most he’s played in a couple years. But he was so effective that Ime kept him out there. They controlled the game while he was out there.”
Adams has long been an issue for Golden State. He was a starter for the Thunder during the Warriors’ seven-game series against them in the 2016 Western Conference finals, which Golden State came back from a 3-1 series deficit to win.
Ten years later, he is still causing problems.
The Warriors tried to get Adams, a 46.2% free-throw shooter, off the court by using the Hack-a-Shaq strategy against him. But he made an adequate 9 of 16 from the foul stripe, and the Rockets put back a few misses to render the strategy moot.
Once Adams rooted himself in the lane, it was impossible to get him to move, a fact that both impressed and annoyed Draymond Green.
“I just wish we could get a three-second call,” Green said. “You stand in the paint, whole possession, it’s hard to box out. He’s strong as hell, so … being outweighed by, what, 40, 50 pounds, six inches, standing in the paint, it’s tough to box him out.”
Houston Rockets’ Steven Adams (12) shoots over Golden State Warriors’ Quinten Post (21) in the first quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, May 2, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)The Warriors actually outrebounded the Rockets on the offensive glass 13-11 on Friday, but that mattered little to Golden State. Houston has won the series margin 80-70 and overall rebounds 276-239.
Wing Jimmy Butler, playing through a bruised pelvis, took responsibility for what he saw as his team’s laziness on securing 50-50 balls.
“I’ve been being lazy. I’m going definitely going to chase after the loose balls, dive, do all that good stuff come Game 7,” Butler said. “I should have been doing it anyways.”
Green, who often plays center, agreed.
“In order to beat this team, you got to make second- and third-efforts,” Green said. “Last two games we have not done that.”
Adams has also done more than steal second and third chances for the Rockets.
He has been the anchor of a zone that has exposed the Warriors’ lack of non-Curry and Butler shotmakers.
The Warriors were just 15 of 49 from 3-point distance on Friday.
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He has become an imposing presence on both the weak and strong side of Houston’s stingy defense.
“The thing with the zone is that there are windows to attack, weak spots, obviously,” Adams said. “We just managed to scramble and get to those spots like pretty good, you know what I mean. So the window for error, we keep it very tight.”
Even though the Rockets zone, which switches from a 2-3 to a 2-1-2 depending on the possession, has given the Warriors headaches, Golden State says it has the formula to deal with the Adams-centric scheme.
“Obviously when you drive, they have Steven Adams in the middle of the paint waiting on you,” Curry said. “Boy, that’s a drive to a kick to a swing that’s going to get you a step-in three. I think we can be a little bit more patient on certain possessions.“
The Warriors will see if they can make the adjustment in Game 7 on Sunday.
If they can’t, they might not play again until next season.
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