SACRAMENTO — Back in January 2021, Warriors owner Joe Lacob outlined his plans to build statues one day for the franchise’s championship core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.
They better start getting the bronze cast ready for Kevon Looney too, especially if the Warriors can march onto their fifth title in nine years. It’s not hyperbole to say Looney saved the season and the dynasty on Sunday, as he grabbed 21 rebounds (10 offensive) in the 120-100 first-round Game 7 clincher against the Kings in Sacramento.
Much of the discussion entering the series surrounded the question: Who’s gonna slow down Domantas Sabonis? Instead, we should have been asking ourselves: Who’s gonna slow down Loon?
Looney became the first player in 15 years to record three 20-rebound games in the same playoff series. In a battle with two high-powered offenses, the possession tug-of-war remained immensely important. Loon’s huge performance helped the Warriors secure a 55-49 advantage in the rebound column Sunday.
"I think Loon is one of the best centers in the league," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "This guy is a machine and a flat-out winner."
When looking at the remaining starting centers in the West – Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Los Angeles’ Anthony Davis and Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton – Looney doesn’t have the same gravitas or marquee status, mainly for his lack of scoring. But the Warriors are clearly content to keep riding with Loon.
“I gotta give Kevon so much credit,” Thompson said. “I mean, his third 20-rebound-plus game of the series. That just stifles a team when they can’t get second-chance opportunities.”
Perhaps no possession exemplified Loon’s impact than this sequence midway through the third quarter, when he grabbed two offensive boards (after Gary Payton II grabbed one to start the possession) and eventually got the put-back score.
The effect is two-fold. Not only did the Warriors extend their lead to nine points, but it has to be psychologically demoralizing for the Kings to get beat multiple times on the same possession.
“Whenever we are able to keep the possession battle close or win the possession battle, we’re really tough to beat,” Looney said. “For me, I just wanna make sure to get us extra possessions, set the tone with rebounding and physicality. I think I did a good job of that. Especially in the third, I wanted to get as many possessions (as I could).”
Looney finished with 11 points and four assists while also anchoring the defense, which limited the No. 1 offense in the regular season to just 42 points in the second half.
“Everything started with Kevon,” Draymond said. “Where it started with Loon was he was dominating the glass. Once we dominated the glass, then it allowed us to show how good our (half-court) defense had been. Once we did that, it allowed us to set our offense and get good offensive possessions. And we connected the game together.”
This effort belongs right up there with Loon’s 22-rebound Game 6 against the Memphis Grizzlies last year or his 18-rebound performance in the closeout Game 5 against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2022 Western Conference Finals. When the stakes are highest, so is Looney’s game.
For the series, Looney outrebounded Sabonis 107-77 while playing 32 less minutes. Sabonis also committed 26 turnovers in seven games and his field goal percentage for the series (49.4) was significantly lower than the regular season (61.6).
Checkmate, Loon.
Will the national media finally give Loon his respect heading into the Lakers matchup against AD? Not that Looney minds, but perhaps the narrative will finally shift to basketball fans outside of the Bay Area.
One thing’s for sure: Looney will probably get a massive ovation when he’s back at Chase Center, where his statue eventually could reside with another title run.
“We knew it was gonna take a lot of effort and a lot of focus,” Looney said. “They beat us up in Game 6 so we knew we had to play with more aggression and be more locked in. I think we did that. We haven’t been great on the road this year, but we showed that in must-win situations, we can go out there and get the job done.”
