SAN FRANCISCO — Is anyone more reliable than Kevon Looney?
The Warriors big man hasn’t missed a game since March 2021 and been the solid everyday presence in the middle that glues the team together. He might not be flashy, but he shows up when it counts. Especially on Monday night.
In the tense final seconds of double overtime against the Atlanta Hawks, Looney collected two offensive rebounds and put it back to give Golden State a scintillating 143-141 victory at the buzzer.
Want to see how important Looney is to his team? Just look how the Dubs like Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry mob him with delight. He finished the night with 21 rebounds and 11 offensive boards, just one shy of the totals he put up in Game 6 against the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs last year.
"Everybody was just excited for me," Looney said. "They know how hard I work. Everybody dreams about getting a game-winner, so when you have a chance to do that and celebrate with the team, it's a great moment. Especially a double overtime game."
The momentous win, the Warriors’ fifth in a row, wouldn’t have been possible without an epic performance by Klay Thompson. When Klay walked to the scorer’s table with 7:19 left in regulation, the Chase Center crowd roared.
With the Dubs down by six, they wanted to see Klay splash Golden State to another victory. To that point of the game, Klay had 36 points and looked like a man possessed. Every time he rose up for a shot, the crowd gasped with anticipation.
He didn’t let ‘em down. In arguably his finest game since returning from his Achilles and ACL about a year ago, Klay dropped 54 points.
"It’s always good to see Klay get hot," Looney said. "When he gets hot, there’s not too many players who can score like him. He carried us throughout the whole game."
Klay provided a couple of huge clutch moments on Monday night.
After the Warriors’ 21-point lead evaporated into a nine-point advantage for the Hawks, Golden State had to claw back in the final minutes of regulation. With 40 seconds left, Klay stroked a 3-pointer that made it a one-point game.
It all led to an epic game-tying trifecta from Donte DiVincenzo just before the buzzer sounded, as the game wouldn’t be decided in 48 minutes.
Klay had more theatrics for overtime.
Of his 10 3-pointers he made Monday, none were bigger than the go-ahead trifecta he hit with 18.1 seconds left in the first period of overtime.
"Those moments where you have the ball with the game on the line, down the stretch, and your teammates trust you," Thompson said. "Those are what you really live for as a competitor, as a basketball player. Just hard to see those sometimes during the rehab process."
For the second straight game, Klay got off to a hot start. He hit four 3-pointers en route to 16 points in the first quarter, a few days after exploding for 15 first-quarter points against the Portland Trail Blazers. Klay was clearly feeling it early as he pumped up the crowd just a few minutes into the game. He finished 21-of-39 shooting and scored 10 of his points in overtime.
After the game, Klay poked fun at himself for hoisting to many shots, on a night when Steph Curry (left shoulder) and Andrew Wiggins (illness) were unavailable.
"I think I shot enough for the three of us tonight," Thompson said.
Klay struggled with his shot and a lot of attempts clanked off the front rim to start the season. On Monday, he showed great burst and elevation during his jumpers, showing off that picture-perfect shooting form. Thompson said it was just a matter of getting his legs under him after being limited to start the season.
We are seven days removed from the one-year anniversary of Klay Day, when Thompson made his triumphant return following a 941-day recovery from two serious leg injuries. You think back to the night of Nov. 27, 2021, when he sat on the bench with a towel draped over his head for more than 30 minutes, lamenting the fact he was still sidelined. You think back to his days on the boat, when he was just daydreaming about these nights while talkin with fans on his Instagram live.
Those days are over. For the first time since he dropped 60 points in 29 minutes on Dec. 5, 2016, Klay recorded a 50-burger.
"It’s a huge accomplishment for myself. Absolutely big," Thompson said. "Fifty-four points is nothing to slouch at. Even in a double OT win. There was some hard days for me when I didn’t know this would be possible. To live it in real-time, I’m just gonna embrace the heck out of it."
The Warriors are now 6-3 in the nine games since Steph injured his shoulder. They're 20-18 overall and 4.5 games back of the first-place Denver Nuggets (24-13) despite being the No. 9 seed.
Three games shy of the midpoint of the 2022-23 campaign, Klay finds himself reflecting on his reality.
"It’s going by so fast. We’re almost to the halfway point," Thompson said. "After this year, there’s only one year left on my deal. So I just told myself, ‘Man, I just gotta enjoy every day in a Warriors uniform.’ This is such an incredible position to be in as defending champions. To see the banners we’ve hung, just the brand that’s been built here. I just have to remind myself daily, this is literally a dream I’m living. What matters most is just having fun and playing hard. All the numbers, all the big nights will come as long as I do two things.”
