Aotearoa’s best basketball player Steven Adams has NBA fans loving him again after pissing off Philadelphia 76ers’ superstar Joel Embiid just by standing next to him.
The incident came in the fourth quarter of Steven’s Memphis Grizzlies game against Embiid’s 76ers late last week. Steve is guarding the 7ft MVP candidate as the play is on the other side of the court and keeps on just standing right next to Embiid, resting his head on his shoulder at one point, which seems to really annoy the 76er.
I mean just look at Embiid’s face and tell me that man ain’t annoyed.
The 76er’s centre has not been great against Steven Adams throughout his career, despite being one of the best players in the league. Embiid has only won one out of eight games against the Big Kiwi, which shows how tough our guy is.
In the game the above clip is from, Steve got yet another win against Joel, with the final score being 109 - 117 to the Grizzlies. Embiid did put up an impressive stat line: 35 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists, but a few fans noticed that Steven Adams led his team to victory.
“Pretty harsh to criticise a guy who dropped 35/12/8 but Steven Adams in the 3rd won the Grizzlies this game,” one Reddit comment said. “Joels was great in 3 quarters but Adams dominated him in the 3rd.”
Another said that “Adams was everywhere and would’ve been player of the game” if not for a teammate making a huge play at the end of the game.
One highlight from that third quarter came when Steve stole the ball off Embiid during an inbound pass and our guy sprinted from half-court to the rim to throw down a dunk in the open court - a rare occasion for Steve.
