Barber: Kevon Looney did OK as Warriors' sacrificial lamb
HOUSTON
On Tuesday morning, I watched a compilation of James Harden highlights from Game 1 of the Western Conference championship series, which is to say I watched a compilation of Kevon Looney lowlights.
It was almost like seeing multiple takes of the same scene in a basketball movie. Harden, the Rockets’ prolific scorer, would dribble, dribble just beyond the arc. Looney, the Warriors’ young big man, would stand in Harden’s path in a wide stance, arms outstretched. Finally, Harden would take a step back and launch a 3-point shot or, alternately, blow by the young big man for a layup.
You could almost hear the director. Cut! Let’s take it again from the top. Aaannnddd … scene! And there were Harden and Looney, playing their parts again.
Needless to say, the shots in the reel all went in. Harden wound up with 41 points, the most anyone has scored against the Warriors in 11 games this postseason.
In the aftermath of a big NBA game, consensus usually forms around various issues. Starting so-and-so was a good (or bad) idea. What’s-his-name had a great (or terrible) game. But I noticed something interesting while skimming analyses of Game 1. There was no consensus on Kevon Looney. Some people thought he had played really well. Others were convinced Harden had torched him.
It probably depends on how you came to your conclusion. Watching those highlights, or looking at the stat sheet, Looney appeared to be a 6-foot-9 victim. Listening to his coach, Steve Kerr, and teammates, you’d swear Looney had played like a budding All-Star.
I’d vote for something in the middle. Looney generally did about as much as anyone could when guarding Harden one-on-one, but it frequently wasn’t good enough.
Certainly, there was value to Looney’s role. Someone has to guard Harden, and the Rockets help to determine who that will be by picking off guys with screens. Monday, they mostly chose Looney and Stephen Curry.
Curry, an indispensable tool for the Warriors, had a quiet game (18 points, 1 of 5 on 3-pointers) and wound up with five fouls. That’s not a great recipe for Kerr’s team. The Warriors needed a sacrificial lamb to stick with Harden, use up a ton of energy on the defensive end and guard without fouling, because Harden is so reliable at the free-throw line. Looney was the lamb.
And he was hoisted onto the grill a little earlier than expected, because Andre Iguodala picked up his second foul on a silly reach-in vs. Harden just 3:50 into the game. Draymond Green acquired his third just after the midway point of the second quarter. Looney wound up logging 24 minutes and 46 seconds, his most ever in the postseason; only five times during the regular season did he play more.
In that context, Looney did a passable job.
“Yeah, I knew I was doing all right,” he said Tuesday, pressed against a wall on the cramped practice court at the Toyota Center. “Wasn’t no easy ones for him, probably like two or three. But he’s a shot maker. That’s what he does. The shots that you want him to take, he wants to take, too. So, just gotta live with it sometimes.”
Considering how he had arrived at this moment, it was sort of remarkable to see Looney as one of the day’s featured speakers.
I remember watching him during the playoffs last year. Not in games; he was inactive for the entire postseason with a recurring injury to his right hip. But he’d practice with the team on off days, and he’d be shooting when reporters shuffled onto the court. I’ll be honest. Looney didn’t really look like an NBA player. The injury had hampered his conditioning, and he had gone a little soft.
That, along with his incredibly broad shoulders and a face that looks older than his birth certificate, gave Looney an odd appearance. Seeing him on the court, it was easy to wonder: Is this guy really on the Golden State roster?
But Looney came into the 2017-18 season in vastly improved shape. He is lean again, and able to move surprisingly well for a 220-pounder. Now you can see why the Warriors like him. His combination of size, agility and intelligence make him ideal for their demanding defensive system.
Looney said Tuesday that he didn’t even expect to play center in the NBA after the Warriors drafted him out of UCLA in 2015. But as Kerr noted after Game 1: “That’s what this league has become. You’ve got to have big guys that can switch and defend. When you play Houston, that’s kind of the name of the game. They’re going to put everybody in pick-and-roll and play iso and play one-on-one. You’ve got to have a lot of guys who can guard. Thankfully we do, and Looney is one of them.”
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