TORONTO – Almost wherever he goes, Kevon Looney keeps ice bags wrapped all over his shoulders and chest area.

“Body is a little sore,” Looney admitted.

No matter. Despite suffering what the Warriors originally thought was a season-enging injury against Toronto in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Looney surprisingly returned in Game 4 while wearing a compression sleeve. Looney also expects he “will be ready to go” when the Warriors play Game 5 in Toronto on Monday.

“Definitely after the first day I was hurting a lot. But after that, I got a lot of treatment and got a lot of ice and woke up the next couple of days I was getting better,” Looney said. “I should be able to play and keep it safe and as long as I don’t hurt myself anymore. Once they gave me the heads up I wouldn’t further make the injury worse, I knew I was going to be able to play and go out and make a contribution.”

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Looney did not just make a contribution in the Warriors’ Game 4 loss. He finished with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. He helped the Warriors absorb a poor night for DeMarcus Cousins, whose six points and four rebounds became overshadowed with four turnovers and two fouls in only 15 minutes. Looney also brought stability to a center rotation that is constantly influx because of uncertain options in Andrew Bogut, Jordan Bell and Jonas Jerebko.

In other words, Looney played as he normally had all season. That did not seem realistic only a week ago. Then the Warriors ruled out Looney indefinitely after he suffered a non-displaced first costal cartilage fracture, an injury that affects Looney’s ribcage, chest and shoulders. The Warriors changed course after receiving second opinions that said Looney could play without any risk of the injury worsening. He simply had to tolerate the pain.

“After they told me I probably wasn’t going to be able to play no more, I was disappointed. I want to go out there nad help our team play,” Looney said. “Once I got the news there was a chance I could play and continue to get better and got treatment, I got excited I could go back and help our team win. I wouldn’t want to miss this for the world. Things like this don’t happen often. So whenever you got a chance to play in the Finals on this stage, you take advantage of it.”

Looney took advantage of it with his play, and plans to do the same thing in Game 4. Even if it requires Looney to wear ice bags constantly afterwards.

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