Getty Kevon Looney of the Golden State Warriors and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
At this point in the season, the Golden State Warriors need to string together as many wins as possible. After struggling to maintain any sort of consistency for the majority of the year, they’ve finally started to put some of the pieces together.
On Friday night, they took down one of the best teams in the East in the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid is one of the best players in the league, and after the game, Draymond Green praised Kevon Looney for the defense he played on the potential MVP.
“You just don’t want to give a steady diet,” Green said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “And in the fourth quarter, we just tried to throw different looks at him. We fired a couple of times, we can sent double-teams from the top of the floor, we sent double teams from the bottom of the floor. He caught the ball at the three-point line one time, we sent a double-team. Coach kind of gave us the free will to just fake some hits and then pull back. Just tried to keep him off balance. Loon did an incredible job all night of just battling him. And in saying that, he’s finished with 46 points, but the way Loon battled and just kept a body on him all night, the hope is that you wear him down. And some of those shots that he was making throughout the game, during that fourth quarter, last six minutes of the game, he missed a few of them. And so, just got to trust your defense and trust the process. And we did a good job of that.”
As Green mentioned, Embiid still played well, but Looney wore him down throughout the game. The Sixers big man finished the night with 46 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists on 13-of-23 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting from distance.
Jordan Poole Discusses His Approach
In addition, after the game, Jordan Poole spoke about how this Warriors team is different from last year. He noted that his approach on both sides of the ball has changed a bit because of that.
“Yeah, this is a bit different. We had a little bit different of a team last year,” Poole said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “We had a couple of older guys. Different dynamic in terms of defense. It’s a bit different when you got certain guys out there like Loon or Draymond or Wiggs [Andrew Wiggins] or Gary [Payton II]. They just have such a defensive presence, you can kind of freestyle a little bit more and play off of rhythm. Comes with chemistry. Comes with time. As for offense, I mean, try to just be aggressive, attack, get to the paint, and try to get these guys open looks. Try to get them easy shots. And then just kind of play off of that.”
Steve Kerr Praises Jordan Poole
Poole played extremely well against the 76ers, and head coach Steve Kerr showed love to the Warriors guard after the game.
“Yeah, I mean, he had such a great playoff run last year,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “Had so many big games for us. And tonight, something about it felt like last year in that playoff run, when Jordan is just attacking and knocking down shots but also getting to the line. Just giving us an entirely different dimension offensively, and that’s when he’s at his best. I thought he really competed down the stretch defensively as well. He was magnificent tonight.”