Kevon Looney
At the start of the season, Kevon Looney was clearly the team’s second big man off the bench. However, he was third on the depth chart behind Damian Jones and DeMarcus Cousins. Ironically enough, Looney was an absolutely vital piece of Game 6 for Golden State.
He played within himself.
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For Looney, that was important. Scoring 14 points, Looney shot 6-for-8 from the field and came with numerous timely rebounds and big-time plays. Looney scored more points in Game 6 than the team’s entire bench averaged for the series.
Looney logged a bench-high 20 minutes and tacked on five rebounds as well.
However, five rebounds isn’t a high total for a 6-foot-11 center. That wasn’t too impressive, but what was impressive is the fact that four of those came on the offensive end, buying more possessions for the Dubs.
While he didn’t start the game, head coach Steve Kerr trusted Looney enough to play him for the majority of the fourth quarter, allowing Looney a spot on the lineup that put the game out of reach down the stretch.
Looney footprint was all over this game, and his boost was exactly what Golden State needed to get by the Rockets team that had their backs against the wall.