Looney’s buzzer-beater ends Golden State Warriors’ weird overtime hoodoo

In many ways, the Golden State Warriors beat all the odds in Monday night’s thrilling double-overtime win over the Atlanta Hawks at Chase Center.

Playing with an undermanned nine-man rotation, including ongoing injuries to stars Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins, the reigning champions were always going to have a tough battle. That didn’t look like the case though when they opened up a 21-point lead in the first-half, before Atlanta came storming back and held a nine-point lead themselves in the fourth-quarter.

A Donte DiVincenzo triple with 0.6 seconds in regulation sent the game to overtime, but despite that boost of energy through the arena, recent history suggested that it was still going to be an uphill battle to pull out a fifth-straight win.

Kevon Looney’s buzzer-beating putback layup provided the Golden State Warriors with just their second overtime win in their last 15 attempts.

Noted by The Athletics’ Anthony Slater on Twitter, the Warriors were 1-13 in their last 14 overtime games going back to November 2018. That’s a weird statistic given the franchise has one of the modern-day greats, Stephen Curry, and another in Kevin Durant for the first stint of the just over four-year period.

Fortunately for Golden State, Kevon Looney was adamant on ending the titanic game and in doing so, the team’s hoodoo when it comes to overtime games. His putback layup from a Thompson miss split the teams and ensured the game would go no longer than 58 minutes.

The Warriors had lost their only other overtime game this season — a 120-113 defeat to the Charlotte Hornets back on October 29. Conversely, the Hawks had an imposing 3-0 record in overtime this season before Monday’s clash.

It looked like overtime wasn’t going to be kind to Golden State again when they gave up five-point leads in each of the two extra periods. Trae Young was the Warriors’ major nemesis, producing some tough buckets while getting to the free-throw line at will down the stretch.

Given the team’s poor record in recent overtime games, the Warriors will be hoping they don’t need to work that extensively again to record a tick in the win column. One thing is for certain, Looney’s first ever walk-off winner won’t be forgotten in the near future.