Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula has a tendency to raise eyebrows with his comments from time to time and did so yet again recently. Mazzulla advocated for fighting to come back in the NBA and that got a hilarious reaction out of Steven Adams on Instagram.
“$20 I punch Rudy Gobert square in the nose.”
Adams had tagged Rudy Gobert in the comment too, but it was later removed by Instagram. The New Zealander was quite sad that his comment was taken down.
Gobert came away unscathed after being put in a chokehold by Draymond Green last year, but that won’t be the case if he gets punched by Adams. I’d say the Frenchman doesn’t have to worry about it, though,
Adams is somewhat of a gentle giant. I’d argue the 31-year-old is the strongest player in the NBA but unlike Draymond, he has no history of striking opposing players. In fact, the big man actually looks out for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMAVSMOjEbc
Adams could have just let Mason Plumlee fall there and try to get a layup, but instead immediately tried to help him. The man is a class act.
As for Adams and Gobert, these two actually go back a long way. They were part of the 2013 draft class, with Adams going 12th and Gobert 27th. In the months leading up to the draft, they worked out against each other and Adams once revealed they even went out for lunch at that time.
“I actually quite liked him a lot. Went to lunch with Rudy. He’s a good lad, mate,” Adams said. “He’s a good lad. He’s a good dude.”
Adams was drafted by the Thunder while Gobert went to the Jazz, which meant the two big men ended up in the Northwest Division. They had quite a few battles on the court as a result.
Adams and Gobert have played against each other 28 times by now, with the former’s teams winning 19 of those games. They’ll be playing each other four times this season too, with the first of those meetings being on Nov. 26 in the NBA In-Season Tournament.
Rudy Gobert Might Be The Most Hated NBA Player
While Adams doesn’t really hate Gobert, there seem to be quite a few current and former NBA players who do. Shaquille O’Neal might just be his harshest critic, with the Hall of Famer showing little to no respect to the big man.
O’Neal called Gobert the worst player in NBA history in the offseason. He claimed the big man can’t play and when players like him get paid, they screw the system for everyone else.
As for current players hating on Gobert, Draymond is on top of that list. He has been quite disrespectful toward him and even put him in a chokehold once as I mentioned earlier. I believe all the hate is unwarranted, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.
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