{"id":438169,"date":"2025-12-10T16:05:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438169\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T16:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:05:14","slug":"lebron-james-when-playing-rockets-steven-adams-is-a-main-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438169\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James: When playing Rockets, Steven Adams is a \u2018main focus\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebounding is a clear emphasis<\/a> across the NBA in its 2025-26 season, and the Houston Rockets<\/a> lead the league in that category. One big reason, literally and figuratively, is veteran center Steven Adams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 21.8 minutes per game, the New Zealand native is averaging a whopping 9.2 rebounds (4.8 defensive) this season, and his massive 6-foot-11, 265-pound presence often draws numerous defenders to shield him from the glass. In turn, that opens up rebounding opportunities for teammates.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

That made Adams a point of discussion on the latest episode of LeBron James\u2019 Mind the Game podcast<\/a>, which the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> superstar hosts with Steve Nash \u2014 formerly a star NBA player and head coach.<\/p>\n

Regarding the league\u2019s rebounding push and Adams specifically, they said:<\/p>\n

\n

Nash<\/strong>: They\u2019re at a 37% offensive rebounding rate. That\u2019s insane, and Steven Adams is getting over one in four offensive rebounds when he\u2019s on the court. So, one in four misses, Steven Adams is getting that thing. And to go through the analytics again, our highest value (shots) are layups, free throws, and then offensive rebounds… because offensive rebounds lead to more layups, more free throws, and kick-out threes (3-pointers). So, you can see the value of Steven Adams to that offense, when we don\u2019t really consider him an offensive player.<\/p>\n

James<\/strong>: Right, and we understand that. You know as a competitor, and as an opposing team, that if you play Houston, one of the main focuses is Steven Adams. You need the whole team, plus the bench and the coaching staff and your security team, to box him out. He\u2019s the strongest guy. Oh my god, he\u2019s ridiculously strong. You can\u2019t box him out with two people.<\/p>\n

Nash<\/strong>: You need three or four guys around him, and then other guys get an opportunity, because you\u2019ve got to double and triple him on the glass. He puts himself in a position where he can make a play on the ball, even if three guys are trying to box him out. Incredible impact. …<\/p>\n

Houston, at this moment in time, is flirting with the highest offensive rebounding rate this century. And they\u2019re (close to) the No. 1 offense.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The complete podcast can be viewed below.<\/p>\n

In a highly anticipated matchup, James and the Lakers (17-6) will host Adams and the Rockets (15-6) on Christmas night in Los Angeles. That Dec. 25 showdown will tip off at 7:00 p.m. Central, and it will be televised to a national audience on ABC and ESPN.<\/p>\n

More: <\/strong>LeBron James, Steve Nash share optimism on \u2018double big\u2019 Rockets<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: LeBron James: When playing Rockets, Steven Adams is a \u2018main focus\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rebounding is a clear emphasis across the NBA in its 2025-26 season, and the Houston Rockets lead the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":438170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3136,3363,224,3141,1260,62,47257,8610,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-438169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-houston-rockets","9":"tag-lebron-james","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-steve-nash","15":"tag-steven-adams","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115696128970219434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}