The Golden State Warriors are preparing to leave everything on the court in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
After coming away the loser in brutal fashion by a score of 115-107 in Game 6 on Friday night, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green will look to lead the Warriors to a hard-fought victory.
Aside from the superstar trio, the ‘other guys’ will need to take a massive steps to provide meaningful contributions in enemy territory on. Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and even the seldom-used Jonathan Kuminga could be called upon to be a difference-maker against Houston’s incredibly skilled defensive unit.
With the Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr desperately in need of a serious spark off of the bench, recent reports have indicated that he may trot out the reliable 3-time NBA champion Kevon Looney to man the painted area for extended stretches in Golden State’s do-or-die outing.
“I trust Loon, you know, implicitly based on being together for 10 years, seeing him perform in so many of these big games,” Kerr told San Francisco Standard’s Danny Emerman on Saturday night.
“So I would expect Loon to play more than he did last night.”
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As Golden State’s No. 30 overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft, the 29-year-old veteran has developed into a useful big man that Kerr can deploy on a whim for tactical purposes.
The 6-foot-9 center contributed just 4.5 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Warriors through 76 appearances in the 2024-25 regular season, but Looney’s reputation as a solid rebounder with an exorbitant amount of playoff experience could see Kerr throw him in to battle against the Rockets’ intimidating frontcourt duo of Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams.
Looney has certainly proved his worth as a monster on the boards in previous postseason runs, as he single-handedly swayed the Warriors’ first-round series against the Sacramento Kings in 2023, when he brought down 15.1 rebounds in their eventual seven-game series victory.
If Looney can have a similar impact for Golden State against Houston, he may have a huge hand in keeping the team’s season alive.
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