The Golden State Warriors made what one insider called a “seismic” lineup change, sending veteran big man Kevon Looney to the bench for the first time this season.
Looney seemed to take it in stride.
With Steph Curry out for the foreseeable future with an injured foot and the Warriors stuck in a weeks-long slide that has seen their standing in the Western Conference slip, coach Steve Kerr opted to take Looney out of the starting lineup on Friday against the Atlanta Hawks in favor of the more offensively talented rookie Jonathan Kuminga. The Athletic’s Anthony Slater noted that Kerr felt the need to split up Looney and Draymond Green — two of the team’s best defensive big-men but both “non-shooters” — in a move described as “seismic.”
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Kerr Explains Move
As Slater noted, Looney and Green had played 583 minutes together this season, but Kerr opted to split them up against the Hawks and said the team needed a change in spacing. The change didn’t have an immediate payoff for the Warriors. They dropped the March 25 contest against the Atlanta Hawks 121-110, thanks in large part to a dominant stretch starting just before halftime and lasting to the start of the fourth quarter.
“The last two minutes (of the second quarter) were kind of a disaster,” Kerr said, via ESPN. “We turned the ball over, took some tough shots. They got out in transition, hit some 3s and I thought that carried to the second half.
Steve Kerr stretched Klay Thompson (37 points, nine 3s) to 40 minutes tonight: “Rick (Celebrini) may not be (comfortable with it). I may have a text on my phone. But I thought it was Klay’s best game.”
“They felt more confident and they dominated that third quarter. That was the key stretch. From the two-minute mark of the second and into the third, they took over the game.”
Looney Addresses Benching
The Warriors center seemed to harbor no ill feelings about his benching, saying it was something he suspected was coming given the team’s need for a shake-up.
“He’s been talking about lineup changes, mixing and matching things, changing some things around,” Looney told The Athletic. “Kind of knew something might happen. He didn’t say nothing until today. I wasn’t shocked.”
Looney even cracked a joke about Kerr’s tendency to tweak the rotations for big men, saying it was something that came to be expected for Golden State’s veterans and that many of his teammates have handled before.
“I’ve seen (Andrew) Bogut handle it, Zaza (Pachulia), David West, JaVale (McGee),” he said. “We’ve all been there before. You just gotta stay ready. Andre (Iguodala) was an All-Star before he got here and came off the bench. A lot of guys have had to sacrifice. I’m just one of them.”
James Wiseman (right knee) has been ruled out for the rest of the season, per @wojespn
There could be some lineup changes heading into the playoffs as well. The Warriors had been hoping to get second-year center James Wiseman back in time to jump into the playoff lineup, but the team announced this week that his season was ending after another setback in rehab from knee surgery last May.
The Warriors could be getting some help as well. Veteran Andre Iguodala is nearing his return from an injured ankle, not playing on Friday against the Hawks but being listed as “questionable.”
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Warriors Veteran Responds to Being Benched in ‘Seismic’ Lineup Change