When the Houston Rockets’ backs were against the wall for much of Round 1 against the Golden State Warriors, Ime Udoka repeatedly turned to an unexpected savior.
Houston’s leading star against Golden State wasn’t the All-Star big man Alperen u015eengün, nor was it the should-be high-octane scorer Jalen Green. Instead, Udoka changed the tenor of the series by deploying Steven Adams, a backup center who wreaked havoc on the Warriors’ front line.
"They know where their advantage lies and it’s in playing Adams a lot," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said before his team’s Game 2 in Houston.