Before the Warriors-Kings first round playoff series started, Matt George of ABC 10 in Sacramento and the "Locked on Kings" podcast raised some eyebrows with a tweet about Domantas Sabonis and Kevon Looney.
Warriors Twitter is always on the prowl to find doubters and George was in the crosshairs after he disregarded Looney’s ability to slow down Sabonis.
Before the 2-2 series picks up again on Wednesday night in Sacramento for Game 5, George joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” on Wednesday to admit he was wrong about Looney.
“I will happily give the roses where it’s deserved. Kevon Looney has played very, very well,” George told hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. I covered Kevon Looney when I covered the NBA Finals last year, so I knew that he had talent. But I genuinely did not think that the Warriors had an answer for Domantas Sabonis. To this point in the series, I’ve been dead wrong. Golden State Warriors are fortunate that I’ve been dead wrong because had they not had an answer for ‘em like I thought, this series would have been over in four or five games.”
While Sabonis is still putting up a healthy 16.3 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, his field goal percentage (48.2) is down from the regular season (61.5) and his assists are down from 7.3 per game in the regular season to 4.5 per game in the playoffs. Sabonis’ 24-point effort in Game 2 is the only time he’s scored more than 15 points in a game and he’s got a cumulative -37 in plus/minus in his 146 minutes.
Looney has been great at playing fundamental defense and keeping a lid on Sabonis while also outrebounding him (50 to 48) in about 30 fewer minutes of floor time.
This isn’t the first time Loon has been doubted. But after Looney’s huge contributions the past two seasons, the Warriors and their fans are quick to defend his importance to the squad. George and The Morning Roast had a fun back-and-forth before getting into the series
“Y’all were melting down 5-6 days ago,” George said. “There was a complete meltdown in the Bay Area down 0-2. And suddenly the Golden State Warriors win two games and the narrative has changed from ‘Domantas Sabonis uses the ball as a weapon,’ to ‘We got a little bit of swagger back.’”
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