As the Thunder prepare to face the Spurs in Round 2 on Saturday, Steven Adams told another great story to the media — this time about Tim Duncan. Adams said that when he was a rookie, Duncan, who’s almost 20 years older, played mind games with him. He played “the nice guy card” to get the eager rookie off his back.
Adams told the story in the best way:
“He’s (Tim Duncan) not really crazy athletic but he still destroys you, and he’s a nice guy. That was my biggest mistake as a rookie. I was like hitting him all the time and he was having trouble with it. And then he came over and talked to me a bit. He was like, ‘Hey man, how are you?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, what a nice guy.’ Then he just dropped 20 from there on. I told M.B. (Mark Bryant), and he was like, ‘That’s a vet move. Don’t do that. You can’t be nice.'”
Duncan has the dad jokes and tricks up his sleeves. Beware. The quiet, nice ones are always the most dangerous.
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
