Utah Jazz at OKC key match-up: Who can stop Steven Adams?

Despite the fact that the Utah Jazz will have their hands full with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Big 3 on Wednesday, big man Steven Adams may very well present the biggest challenge for them.

Although the Oklahoma City Thunder boast an extremely talented and star-studded Big 3 of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, the guy on their roster that has truly impressed me the most this season has been the largely unheralded and underrated center out of New Zealand, Steven Adams. He’s having an incredible year so far, putting up 13.7 points on 63.5 percent shooting from the field while adding 8.8 rebounds per game, all of which are career highs.

Those figures have certainly made him a key figure of OKC’s battle plan as he’s often stepped up big time on defense by shutting down opponents in the paint while also provided some stability on offense when his trigger-happy teammates have been unable to find their shot. In more ways than one, Steven Adams has put up a strong argument as being the backbone and most steady player on the team.

And without a doubt, he’s been the most underrated and is deserving of much more praise than he tends to receive.

In the Thunder’s recent contest against the Utah Jazz, Adams was absolutely electrifying as he put up 20 points on an incredibly efficient 9-of-10 shooting while adding nine rebounds, six of which were offensive and helped Adams to earn his six second chance points on a night when his team as a whole had 19 such points.

Although both Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors were both in action in the contest, Adams simply looked like the most formidable of the bunch. He overpowered the Jazz all night long as they were unable to get a body on him and box him out, and they couldn’t seem to stop him from owning the paint on offense. In short, while Russell Westbrook’s incredible 34-12-14 triple-double grabbed the majority of the headlines, it was in fact Steven Adams’ behemoth effort that willed the Thunder to victory.

Therefore, with Rudy Gobert out of commission for the time being, the big question facing the Utah Jazz in Wednesday’s upcoming contest against the Thunder is, who will stop Steven Adams from enforcing his will in the fashion that he did in the previous match-up? If Derrick Favors is able to play (he’s missed the last two games due to his eye laceration), he should be able to put up somewhat of a fight, then the Jazz will have Ekpe Udoh waiting in reserve to hopefully also make Adams’ life miserable.

However, if Favors isn’t available, then that will cause a large burden to fall on Udoh’s shoulders as he’ll be Utah’s only remaining big with any hope of holding Adams in check. Udoh has proven to be a solid and gritty defender this season, but without much for backup, it’s unlikely that Ekpe could match Adams’ minutes and the Jazz would be hard-pressed to find a second guy that would have much of a chance in a match-up against him.

Therefore, Utah’s chances of winning will be significantly bolstered if Favors is indeed able to play. He had been playing phenomenally as Utah’s starting center prior to Rudy’s return to action and he’s clearly been missed in the Jazz’s latest two defeats. If he’s able to get back to the force he was mere weeks ago, he’ll be an enormous asset for the Jazz in slowing Adams and hopefully grinding out a victory.

The Jazz are going to have their hands full enough against a star-studded Thunder team that boasts a highly talented Big 3. Thus, it’s critical that the Jazz do what they can against that trio, but prevent any of OKC’s remaining role players, principally Steven Adams, from doing too much additional damage.

Considering how easily he beat up on the Jazz in the last contest, Utah will need to do a much better job of containing him this time around. Regardless of who is or isn’t active for the Jazz in Wednesday’s bout in OKC, their ability to reduce Adams’ impact on the game could very well spell the difference between victory and defeat.

Opponent POV: Coming off a narrow victory against the Denver Nuggets, Russell Westbrook and Co. look to continue their move up the West standings.

The Utah Jazz will tip-off against Steven Adams and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday at 6:00 PM MT in the final contest of what has been a grueling six-game road trip.