MILWAUKEE -- As the longest tenured active player on the Thunder roster, Steven Adams' leadership shone through in a deathly silent Oklahoma City locker room just minutes after a franchise-record defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks.
"You can't escape [losing]. Even if you try and not think about it, you think about it," Adams told ESPN after the 47-point loss.
"Losing in general, depending on the player, and I'm not saying this because I'm trying to say that I care more, every player does it their own way.
"Some people just forget the game and they are able to bounce back; I like to kind of find out exactly what is going on with the game. As long as you are learning from it, that's the only thing, but tonight I probably won't get too much sleep."
Adams' passion and drive to succeed has led him to become a much loved figure within the Thunder organisation, with head coach Billy Donovan praising the New Zealander's influence among his group.
"He's a total team guy, I think being a guy that's been in the organisation for a long period of time there's a seriousness about him of what we need to do," Donovan said.
"When he's in between the lines it's all business with him, he's trying to figure out ways that he can getter better and try and help our team. Whatever you throw at Steven, it's just whatever he can try and do to help the team."
Adams describes that process of getting better as a problem-solving exercise where success is built through communication with each other, and he spoke to the importance of accountability and honesty when forming connections on and off the court.
"The better the relationship and how direct you are and comfortable you are with confronting a player, the faster you can solve the problem," Adams said.
"Not like sugar coating and s-t ... that doesn't get it done, you need to be really fast because again, we are going to go into film and watch how bad we were but it's a bit late now isn't it?
"We had to problem solve while we are out there. It's all good to problem solve after, but the way to be efficient with it is having that communication and direct relationship.
"Kind of like anything, just get straight to the point, you are there to do a job, it's the same as any team-based s--t, same thing."
After a major roster overhaul in the offseason, the Thunder have exceeded outside expectations to find themselves surging towards the NBA postseason with a 37-23 record.
Despite trading franchise superstars Russell Westbrook and Paul George, the Thunder have used a unique mix of stable veterans and youth to emerge as one of the surprise teams of the NBA season.
Oklahoma City enter the final 22 matches of the regular season on pace to win 50 games, which would be a one-game improvement from a season ago despite the loss of the star duo.
Seems like a pretty remarkable season, right?
"Even after tonight, we are having a decent season," Adams said. "I wouldn't say it's good. It's good relative to who you are talking to, but for us and what we are trying to accomplish we are doing ok."
Adams shrugs his shoulders when it's suggested the Thunder have indeed exceeded outside expectations, before pointing to the winning culture within the franchise that cultivates the highest of internal expectations.
"That means absolutely nothing in the locker room, what we are trying to do is come together and win games," he said.
"It's pretty hard to deter that mindset when you have a lot of good competitors, that's what was nice when we first showed up with the team that we had at the beginning of the season. We had a lot of people that just wanted to win.
"It's different if you have a locker room where people are just trying to get their own for their next contract or s--t like that because that's when you kind of get a bit of selfish behaviours."
The 26-yer-old was the last Thunder player in the locker room in Milwaukee, munching on red snakes as he talked through the night's events. As Thunder PR told him it was time to get on the bus, he left with one more sentence.
"The mindset of losing isn't a thing here and it shouldn't be a thing."