You know how sometimes a TV studio will take a character from an established show and spin them off into something new? Like Frasier or Better Call Saul or… or the Joey show that tried (nowhere near hard enough) to cash in post-Friends. That’s kind of what’s happening here. All season we’ve been running a weekly Steven Adams catch up, with in depth looks at performances and team developments and his general likeness, as a part of our Dugout. As it happens, the Dugout is on an undetermined hiatus in its current form, but the desire for Steven Adams stuff has never abated. Not only does he have the finest moustache in NZ sports but he’s also the proud winner of the Steven Adams Award at the recent Nicheys. So you can now look forward to Kiwi Steve in the NBA every... ooh, let's pencil in Wednesday.

It’s also good timing because right about now he needs a goodwill swing back in his favour after some pretty ill-informed reporting about his turning down the Tall Blacks Olympic qualifiers. Before we get into the reality check of the whole thing, here is a lesson in being a media savvy citizen of the modern world. Because look at how most kiwis got this news in the first place and how these headlines tell a story of their own before you've absorbed a single other fact about it:

• TVNZ: Steven Adams snubs Tall Blacks again
• Stuff.co.nz: Steven Adams makes himself unavailable for Tall Blacks Olympic campaign
• Radio Sport: Adams turns down Tall Blacks again
• Newshub: Steven Adams unavailable for Tall Blacks in Olympic qualifying tournament
• NZ Herald: Lure of NBA riches potential reason for Adams' absence
• Radio New Zealand: Adams unavailable for Olympic qualifier

Unsurprisingly RNZ is one of the few taking a non-critical look at the situation (though Newshub was pleasantly thought out – they ran a good op. piece today as well). While if you thought that Stuff’s headline was uncharacteristically impartisan, then just take a look at their scathing first line:

“In a bitter blow for the Tall Blacks' chances of landing a spot at the Rio Olympics, Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams has once again turned his back on his national team.”

For Christ’s sake, guys. Simmer down, will ya?

And a much more impartial reading from FIBA.com:

• Adams out for Tall Blacks but New Zealand still aim for Rio

Here are his actual words on a Basketball NZ press statement:

“I will not be participating in the Olympic competitions with the Tall Blacks this summer,” said Adams. “This was a very difficult decision as I take tremendous pride in being a New Zealander.  The Tall Blacks organisation has been extremely supportive and we felt it was best to make an announcement now as preparations have already begun for the qualifying tournament and the Games.”

Now, he won’t have written those words, not on his own, but they’re on his behalf. He is an up and coming NBA player having his best season yet as a professional and nearing closer to the point where he can start negotiating his next contract – his first one out of his rookie deal which tends to be the one where guys like him really cash in. That isn’t something that you take for granted by playing for 12 months a year without break.

Paul Henare said he felt that not only would Steve add plenty to this team but that this team could offer plenty to him in return. That’s true, because international basketball is a lot stronger than many people realise and a competitive game of basketball is just that, no matter where it’s played. But given that he’s midway through an 82 game season with a somewhere between 4-28 more coming in the playoffs, endless games aren’t the best thing. Ask Dante Exum, who blew out his knee playing for Aussie before the season which leaves his own career in a difficult place (though he’s so damn young, he’s got plenty of time to bounce back).

But it ain’t only that. International basketball may be better than its reputation but it’s nowhere near the peak of the sport – which right now occurs at the Oracle Arena in Oakland on the west coast of California. Steph Curry Country, in other words. American stars treat the national team like an all-star event with gold medals. International stars give it more thought but that only adds to the groans and gasps from Spurs fans and Grizzlies fans and Mavs fans and all that when Tony Parker, Marc Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki play for their countries.

Those guys have all been quite prominent for their nations, though it helps that those nations are all a lot more competitive than NZ tends to be. They can go play and there are other NBA players around them. They don’t have to carry their team like Adams probably would – which brings us to the most important reason why Adams won’t be playing: we’re not gonna win.

The Tall Blacks are drawn in a six team competition from which only one team can qualify for the Olympics. Senegal, Turkey and the Philippines are teams we can maybe beat. France and Canada… probably not. Especially when we need to beat both of them, like, there’s that saying about lightning striking twice, ya know? Those two teams are stacked! Not saying there isn’t pride in representing a country regardless of the outcome but Steven Adams represents his country every single day in the NBA, he's as proud a New Zealander as they come. If you don’t believe that then you’re welcome to skip straight to the rugby section of tomorrow’s Herald. Right now let’s get on with this.

Box Scores:

• vs IND (L 101-98): 32 MINS, 6 PTS (2/3 FG, 2/2 FT), 7 REB, 1 AST, 2 BLK, 2 TO, 3 PF
• vs CLE (L 115-92): 28 MINS, 9 PTS (4/5 FG 1/1/ FT), 9 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK, 2 TO, 4 PF

To this week’s games - just the two of them coming out of the All Star break - and the Thunder had themselves in prime position for a home win over the Pacers entering the fourth up 76-67. They’d end up losing 101-98.

Both teams had started fast and then cooled right off, not at all a good night for the Thunder bigs who let Myles Turner score 16 (including the first three pointer of his career) an Ian Mahinmi 19 points and 11 rebounds. Pretty disappointing there, though they should have had enough to win even still, what with Kevin Durant scoring 31 and Russell Westbrook with a career-high 18 assists.

But they collapsed down the stretch. Silly mistakes on defence and turning the ball over on offence – not to mention the missed shots, Dion Waiters was 0/6 while the whole team shot 19.2% from 3pt. Meanwhile the Pacers, led by 10 4Q points from Monta Ellis, made four trebles in the last 3:30 of the game, including Ellis’ three to give them the lead with 19 seconds remaining.

That’s a bad, bad loss. 34 points leaked in the final quarter against a team that sits comfortably in the middle of the pack in points scored – and it wasn’t their leading scorer and All-Star Paul George doing the damage either (he had 22p/10a/5r but it was Monta that took over late). Adams committed one of the late turnovers, getting stripped of the ball right after an Ellis three (which followed an Ibaka travel). Asked about his own performance, Stevie had this to say: “I sucked tonight”.

Welcome to Loud City offered some more encouraging words on his account:

“Steven Adams lost the tipoff, which is a rarity. But Adams forced a jumpball some time later, and won that ensuing tipoff with Paul George. On both tipoffs, Adams would have his hand shoved away by the ref. But Adams pushed his hand right back in, and the ref allowed it both times.

As for Adams game tonight, it was solid. I liked the pressure he showed on Paul George, as well as his general rim protection throughout the game. I didn't like that Adams lost the ball late in the fourth, or that he badly missed a long jumper. But Adams did have a couple of nice pick and roll finishes, as well as a nice assist to Ibaka under the rim off the roll.”

Then up against the Cleveland Cavaliers, this was a chance for the refreshed Thunder to make a big statement with a win over a fellow contender. At home too which usually helps. And to start with it was all going their way. Already without Mo Williams, Kyrie Irving left late in the first with flu symptoms which meant Matty Dellavedova as the main point guard. With Russell Westbrook in reply, you’ve gotta fancy that. 28-27 up after the first, Steven Adams was absolutely beasting. He played the entire 12, banking 9 points and doing some fine stuff on the defensive end too.

Ahh, but it didn’t get any better. From that pleasant start came a devastating fall as the Cavs went on a LeBron inspired 29-7 run in the third quarter that completely blew the game out. The defence went limp and their shooters couldn’t seem to make much count. Richard Jefferson scored 15 for Cleveland while Dion Waiters, against his old team, was shocking. At one point he travelled under the hoop with a layup there in waiting. Andre Roberson’s injury is proving the old ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ thing true.

Kevin Love scored 29 & 11 and LeBron James had 25p/7r/11a. The Cavs thoroughly outrebounded the Thunder, who pride themselves on that, and while Kevin Durant did a decent job on LBJ, he was below his usual marks and James made him pay whenever he slipped. As for Steve, he didn’t add a single point after his 9 in the first quarter.

There was this badass Russ dunk though. Not enough to take the hurt off their biggest ever home loss in Oklahoma City coming on national television. But it was something.

From Welcome to Loud City:

“Steven Adams started off really strong, using his superior size and strength to get 9 points on Tristan Thompson. One of the attempts was a flip shot from the free throw line that looked particularly impressive. But the Cavaliers made a concerted effort to protect the rim in the second and third quarters, keeping Adams off of the score books for the rest of the night. On the defensive end, I felt like Adams was just as ineffective as Ibaka. Around LeBron's screens, I'd always see Adams hang low to protect the rim. But Adams would often hang too low, and allow his roll man to get past him. In the future, particularly against this Cavs team, I'd like to see Adams try to make some more outside pressure.”

That last bit is something of a schematic issue that was touched upon on a different Thunder blog, Thunder Digest. Here’s that perspective for ya:

“A lot of the defensive issues have been effort based. New head coach Billy Donovan and his staff changed the defensive schemes this year, specifically pick-and-roll coverage. The new system asks the big men to drop back off the pick-and-roll, compared to last year when they were asked to jump out and stop the ball handler.

This new scheme only works if the on-ball defender is aggressive getting over screens. That is where a large portion of the issues have been. Oklahoma City’s guards have not been engaged getting over screens, and it puts the big man (Adams, Ibaka, Kanter, etc.) in a tough position: stay on their man, or leave them to help. In a league where players are paid millions of dollars to score the ball, this is an impossible decision.”

Next up will be a match against Western Conference playoff hopefuls the Dallas Mavericks. Last time they played there was fire as Russ got ejected in a repeated tussle with JJ Barea. That one’s on Thursday NZ time, the Thunder really need a win after two very disappointing results out of the All Star Break. The good news is that they’ve beaten the Mavs three times already this season.

For some bigger picture pondering, we have a couple of articles that consider the importance of Kiwi Steve’s role on this potentially contending team. One on Bleacher Report and another on Thunderous Intentions. Both make strong cases for Adams based mostly around his defence. Click the pics for the links:

And now… Valentine’s Day Poetry from Thunderous Intentions:

Similar but different

Numbers are insignificant

Unstoppable combined

So trim and fine

All of the wins

The mustache twins

Hey and let’s finish off with one from our own pages. A thorough history of Steven Adams’ Filthy/Awesome Moustache. That little slug’s been through a long process to get to the upturned, wax-tipped monster that it is now. It’s a thrilling tale of triumph and character, of facing adversity with courage and an indomitable spirit. Or something like that anyway. It’s been referred to as the ‘Moby Dick’ of NBA moustache writing: