Tim Duncan didn’t become the greatest power forward in NBA history just because he knows the right angle to bank in a shot from just outside the paint. Over the course of a 19-year career, he learned a trick of the trade or six. One of them, apparently, is reverse trash-talking — that is, being unsettlingly nice to an opponent to throw them off their game. Steven Adams, who will be going up against Duncan in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, learned this the hard way:
Steven Adams on Tim Duncan is predictably fantastic pic.twitter.com/POrzL9Y1c8
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 28, 2016
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. Then he came over and talked to me a bit, like, “Hey bud, how are you?” And I was like, “Oh what a nice guy.” And then he just dropped like 20 from there on.
Now that Adams and Duncan have gone at it a few times, we doubt that Duncan will be able to kill him with kindness again. He’ll just have to rely on one of his infinite other veteran moves to have an advantage. This has been another edition of Story Time With Steven Adams.
