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Best Game Ever: Steven Adams recalls the high school opponent with two kids

Steven Adams is averaging career bests of 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds this season for the Thunder
(Kyle Phillips / Associated Press)
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Dan Woike asked NBA players to tell us about the best game in their basketball career. This week: Steven Adams.

Sometime in 2009-10: Scots College vs. Mana College

The NBA’s resident Dothraki warrior, Adams is one of the league’s most physically imposing players. The Oklahoma City Thunder center is 7 feet, 265 pounds with tattoos, long hair and a bushy beard. But there was a time he wasn’t the biggest or the baddest. While in high school in New Zealand, Adams ran into a foe he couldn’t bully.

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“I played for this private school team. The athletes there, they weren’t the cream of the crop, let’s put it that way. We ended up doing pretty well in our league. … We were in the lowest league you could be in, playing a lot, doing really well. And we ended up making it to the champion league — which is all these other crazy big schools that actually try and sign on players. It was Mana College. And there was a dude there who played who was like 22 with two kids. We had to play against this dude. He had a full beard. I remember being like, ‘What the hell?’ ... I think he was working at the bloody saw mill or something. … The dude just showed up on the game night — with his family. And, we lost. We lost.”

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dan.woike@latimes.com

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Twitter: @DanWoikeSports

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