Behind toughness that defines Steven Adams

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It takes a lot to change the character of a team.

It takes a lot for a habitually underachieving Oklahoma City squad reliant on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to somehow turn into a team that can win with toughness and physicality. It apparently took Steven Adams, whose Thunder stunned the Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals and have developed a physically imposing reputation going into Tuesday’s Game 2.

“I think so. Is that the word on the street? Yeah, I’ll take it. That’s good; let’s stick with that,’’ Adams, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds in OKC’s 108-102 Game 1 win, told reporters in Oakland, Calif. “It just sets the tone, and from there the refs understand how the game is being played. … It takes them out of their rhythm. It’s key.

“[We’ve] just got to maintain humility, mate. It’s a series. We came away with [Game 1], but we’ve just got to be ready. We can’t be satisfied. … We’re just going to try and keep to it, maintain physicality, try and throw the first punch, and just be the aggressor. If we do that, we’ll be in good shape.’’

Doing just that has always come naturally to Adams, 22, a self-described bushman from Rotorua, New Zealand.

“He’s on the perfect team. Kevin Durant and Westbrook, and [coach] Billy [Donovan] is more and more confident in him. He’s gotten better,’’ Jamie Dixon, Adams’ college coach at Pittsburgh, told The Post. “He improves and he works hard. He understands what the team needs. He’s such an unselfish player, and the players appreciate that he cares about the team.

“I felt if he got with the right team and right situation he’d be very successful. I was hoping he’d go to Oklahoma City. I knew [then-OKC coach] Scott Brooks, I knew their whole program. [GM] Sam Presti and I were friends, and they seemed to understand. They seemed to see what I saw in him.”

The first thing anybody saw was toughness.

Maybe it was being the youngest of 18 kids, all sired by his 6-foot-11 father, Sid, with five different women. The brood included Valerie Adams, a 6-4, 246-pound, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the shot put, and brothers Warren and Ralph, who faced Dixon when Dixon played professionally in New Zealand.

Sid was in his 60s when Adams was born. By the time Adams was 13, Sid passed away from stomach cancer, and his mother — who is from Tonga, an island in the South Pacific — couldn’t control him. He started skipping school, getting into trouble and hanging out with a gang called the Mongrel Mob.

“When I lost my dad, that was a big hit for me,’’ Adams told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I didn’t have that parental guidance, and I kind of took advantage of it because I was a stupid idiot.”

Eventually Warren — who had played on the New Zealand National Team — took him to live with him in Wellington. He got him into an academy run by former teammate Kenny McFadden, and the latter arranged for a scholarship to posh Scots College.

“I’d never worn a tie before. I was a bushman,” Adams told ESPN. “My friends now were like, ‘Who’s this murderer?’ ”

But the rough edges got smoothed, and the roughneck learned discipline, shining his then-size 18 shoes and being up at 6 a.m. to start working. And at 6-10 by the time he was 16, the work started to pay off.

“I kind of let go of a lot of stuff,” Adams told the Post-Gazette. “It’s not good being angry. At that time when dad passed away, I had a whole bunch of anger. Now it’s just like, let it go. I try to feel happier. Don’t give a [darn] about a lot of stuff. I kind of don’t care much. I know what to stay focused on.’’

Like hoops. One day, Dixon was in Auckland with the Team USA U-19 team, hanging out with McFadden, a longtime friend. McFadden told him about Adams, and after Dixon took five more trips to recruit the big man, the rest is history.

“He always had that physicality. In college he was the same physical, tough player,” Dixon said. “It’s just a mentality. A lot of that comes from the country, the rugby mentality. His brothers were tough to play against. His sister must be tough mentally. It was evident that he did not mind contact. We’d try to get him to play with less contact, which is not normal.”

After a season at Pitt, Adams was taken 12th overall by OKC with a pick acquired in the James Harden trade. That heaped even more pressure on him, but Adams has always proven unflappable.

After averaging 8 points and 6.7 rebounds his third season, he’s been far better in the postseason. He’s averaging 10.7 points on 66.2 percent shooting, 10.1 boards and 1.6 win shares.

Just two hours before tipoff of Game 6 of the conference semifinals against the Spurs, Adams was vomiting and suffering from blurred vision due to a migraine.

“I’ll be looking at you then your face will disappear. A thumping headache. If feels like ‘old mate’ with a sledgehammer is just pounding at the back of my right eye,’’ Adams told NBA.com. “I get nauseous. If I eat a food and throw it up, I’m off that food for life. It sucks.’’

Despite needing an IV, Adams had 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting, 11 boards and two blocks in 40:21 to help eliminate San Antonio.

“That’s my best friend,” OKC’s Andre Roberson said. “He played outstanding. He fought through adversity and fought through his headache. That’s a testament to how tough he is. He did whatever he could for his team.”

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