Thunder center Steven Adam’s quietly impressive rookie season was overshadowed by one skill – his ability to take punch/flagrant foul.
Adams repeatedly got under opponents’ skin to the point they couldn’t stop attacking him.
Most notably, Zach Randolph hit him in the face and was suspended for Game 7 of the Thunder-Grizzlies series, which Oklahoma City won.
Chris Vernon of 92.9 FM asked Allen how much he hated Allen on a scale of 1-10 (hat tip: Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman):
I’m almost over that, man. I’m like 50. I’m like 50 right now. Because that’s one of his tactics. You don’t have to just play. That’s just a measly guy.
You don’t have the shine to do that, you guys up throwing cheap shots, things of that nature.
It’ll catch back up with him. Somebody is going to probably hit him, and it’s not going to be a push next time. You know what I’m saying? He better be careful who he doing that stuff to. You know what I mean? It’s just like, for real, if you think about it, if Z-Bo would have really punched him, for real, c’mon, he would have been… (Vernon: “Out?”) … exactly. Keep playing those cheap-shot games, somebody is going to catch up with him.
Maybe next season we’ll see the limit of how far Adams will go to bait an opponent. Tony Allen is one player you don’t want to cross.
