“I don’t envy guards, mate,” Adams said when asked of the challenge of getting out on the perimeter to contest Golden State’s guards. “They’re quick little … quick little monkeys, those guys.”

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Later, in a conversation with USA Today, Adams apologized for his choice of words.

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“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.”

In further explaining what happened, Adams said that he’s still trying to figure out what things are appropriate to say in America, and which are not.

He came to the United States in 2012, when he went to school at the University of Pittsburgh for a year before the Thunder made him the No. 12 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

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“It’s just different, mate,” Adams 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.”

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Washingtonians will likely remember that Howard Cosell called Redskins wide receiver Alvin Garrett a “little monkey” during a Monday Night Football broadcast of a game between the Redskins and Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 5, 1983.