Kevon Looney scored just four points in the Golden State Warriors‘ 123-116 Game 5 win over the Sacramento Kings, but his ability to clean up the glass has been huge for the Warriors in this series.
Looney became the first player since 1972 to have two games with 20 or more rebounds in the same playoff series. In the 35 minutes he was on the court in Game 5, he scored four points, hauled in 22 rebounds, dished out seven assists and had a blocked shot (all stats via ESPN). Seven of Looney’s rebounds were offensive, giving the Warriors more scoring opportunities. Sacramento actually out-rebounded Golden State, 44-43, which makes Looney’s contributions all the more staggering.
After the game, Warriors superstar Steph Curry, who finished with 31 points, two rebounds and eight assists in Game 5, had nothing but words of praise for the 6-foot-9 big man.
Steph Gives Credit to Loon: ‘Big Effort on His Part’
Steph talks about the “luxury” of having Loon grab every board
Looney has amassed 72 rebounds in five games against the Kings, hauling in 22 boards in Game 5, 14 in Game 4 and 20 in Game 3.
“It’s a luxury to have,” Curry said about Looney’s rebounding prowess in an interview after the game. “I don’t know if his hands have a magnet connected to the ball [but] he’s relentless, he finds the angles and he’s pretty sure-handed once he gets it to find the open guy. It was a big effort on his part, second 20-rebound game of the series. I think that gives us such good momentum, allows us to have extra possessions and is huge for us.”
Loon has also handed out 25 assists over the last three games of the series. He’s averaging just 5.5 points a game against Sacramento, but he has been invaluable in other areas.
“Kevon has become like an Andre Igoudala, a Shaun Livingston, like a calming force,” Warriors star Draymond Green said. “And Kevon is that for this team, he’s that stabilizing force that allows everyone else to focus on what they need to focus on. The way he rebounds the ball is incredible, his playmaking has taken another step in the right direction, and he just continues to get better.”
Draymond shares what Loon means to the Dubs 💯
Warriors Finally Playing Well on the Road
Golden State struggled mightily on the road this season, going 11-30, and it lost its first two games of the series in Sacramento before winning both games at home. If the Dubs can win one more on the road, they’ll advance.
“Winning on the road is a big deal,” Curry said in his postgame presser. “It’s hard to do. Then you add on the layer of how we’ve on the road in the course of the regular season, it was a big night for us. You could feel the sense of accomplishment from everybody after the game.”
“We needed this one to snatch momentum back,” Curry added.
“This is a different team than what we had all year,” Dubs coach Steve Kerr said after Game 5, via ESPN. “What happened in November and December and January on the road has nothing to do right now. This is the team we’re looking at, is a team that won a championship last year and won a ton of road playoff games. Our guys know how to do it and got it done tonight.”
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Steph Curry Has Strong Statement on Kevon Looney After Warriors’ Huge Win