Warriors’ rebounding star Kevon Looney dominating playoff series with Kings

In the 1980s, the Golden State Warriors had a rugged rebounder named Larry Smith, otherwise known as “Mr. Mean” for his ferocious play and scowls to match.

These days, the Warriors employ a rugged rebounder named Kevon Looney, otherwise known as “Loon.”

In this first-round Western Conference playoff series, the Sacramento Kings have not had much of an answer for the bruising 6-foot-9 center, the seventh-year banger out of UCLA. He went for a career-best 22 rebounds Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center, as he did a lot of the heavy lifting in a 123-116 victory that put the Kings on the brink of elimination.

Golden State leads the series 3-2 with Game 6 set for 5 p.m. Friday at Chase Center in San Francisco, where Looney most assuredly will be ready for more box-outs and boards.

Looney is the grit and snarl — along with Draymond Green — on a roster that includes dazzling shooters Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. He is invaluable for setting screens, for gobbling up rebounds, for being a presence in the paint. His 72 rebounds in this series — an average of 14.4 per game — are the most by a Warriors player in the first five games of a playoff series since Mr. Mean had 78 against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1987.

And more: Looney joined Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmond as the only players in franchise history to produce two 20-rebound games in the same playoff series. To refresh, Chamberlain and Thurmond are Hall of Famers, on the shortlist of all-time NBA interior greats.

And this: Looney’s 22 boards Wednesday are the most the Kings have allowed in a playoff game in the club’s 38-year history in Sacramento, bettering the mark of 21 set by Kevin Garnett in Game 7 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals. Garnett is also a Hall of Famer.

“That’s amazing,” Thompson said when he learned of Loon’s place in club history next to Chamberlain and Thurmond. “There aren’t two bigger icons at the center position, especially for the Warriors franchise. The work he put in is amazing. He was a small forward coming out of high school and (now he’s) playing small-ball center. We see the work behind the scenes and what he went through (earlier in his career).”

What he went through was two hip surgeries — one for each hip- before his NBA career really even got going. Looney recently said that he gets into a rebounding zone much like Curry and Thompson do in a shooting zone. See ball, grab ball. In a game that looks so much different from when Chamberlain, Thurmond and Mr. Mean played with an emphasis on shooting and spacing, there remains a need for a rebounding menace.

“My job is to rebound and set the tone with physicality,” Looney said, adding that he wants to be “greedy” on that aspect of the game. He said he has soaked in lessons from Green, who had 21 points off the bench in another inspired effort. The lessons include the pick-and-roll, how to move your feet, how to compete.

“We depend on each other,” Looney said of he and Green as two undersized bigs. “Anchors to the defense.”

Green applauded Looney for his game and his career in general, including his seven assists in Game 5.

“He’s that stabilizing force that allows everyone else to focus on what they need to focus on,” Green said. “The way he rebounds the ball is incredible. His playmaking has taken another step, and he continues to get better. He’s a guy we have ultimate trust in. He’s been that guy for us. He has a knack for (rebounding) the basketball.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Looney fits into what the Warriors want and need.

“He does all the stuff that coaches love,” he said. “He sets screens. He rebounds. He’s constantly looking to throw the ball back out to the open 3-point shooter. He never turns the ball over. This is who he’s been for three years now.”

Kerr added, “We didn’t pick up his option (on his contract) after his second year. He had two hip surgeries. He’s one of the most remarkable stories you’ll see in the NBA. But there’s a reason (he’s here). If you see him work every day and you see the way he carries himself, he’s a role model for all our young guys, just the way he works, the way he takes everything in stride. Because of his maturity, he was able to withstand that early adversity in his career.”