OAKLAND -- Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams apologized for his postgame comment that so many found offensive in the wake of a Game 1 win in the Western Conference Finals.
Adams, a 22-year-old New Zealander of Tongan and British descent who had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the 108-102 win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, described the Warriors’ guards as “quick little monkeys” in a postgame interview with ESPN’s Chris Broussard .
“It was just a poor choice of words, mate,” Adams told USA TODAY Sports. “I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t know it was going to upset anyone, but I’m truly sorry. It was just a poor choice of words. I was just trying to express how difficult it was chasing those guys around.”
Adams, who came to America to attend the University of Pittsburgh in 2012, said differences in dialect were, in part, to blame.
“It’s just different, mate,” he said. “Different words, different expressions, and stuff like that. But they obviously can be taken differently, depending on which country you’re in. I’m assimilating, mate, still trying to figure out the boundaries. But I definitely overstepped them tonight.”
