https://youtu.be/lltiq0aMvpE
In the interest of full disclosure, just in case you were thinking “yeah, 8 hook shots is cool, I guess, but I’m not going to watch a Robin Lopez highlight vid unless he makes 9”, the one non-hook shot that Lopez made in this video was actually a really slick post move with fancy footwork and everything. It just didn’t result in a hook shot, because he bamboozled his defender so bad that he could just flip it in right at the rim. It’s just as good, really.
I was amused by the shade the Warriors “commentators” (note the quotation marks, I’m calling into question right now their credentials as commentators) were throwing at him early on. Right away, first bucket of the game for Lopez, first off, they claimed it was “point blank range”. Uh, excuse me. If you’re standing outside the restricted area, and there’s a defender between you and the basket, that’s not point blank range. And then “That’s how you shoot sixty-two percent”. Screw off. That wasn’t a trivial shot. Unless they were saying “that’s how you should sixty-two percent, by being so FRICKIN DOMINANT at hook shots that you can just pull them out whenever and make them at an elite rate”.
Which is true for Lopez, by the way. Not that that’s what the Warriors commentators were implying. They were implying that he is a garbage man, a DeAndre Jordan-type who can only have easy stuff set up for him and maybe get a few putbacks. Which is laughable. Completely and utterly laughable.
They became more complimentary by the end, when it was clear to everyone watching that Lopez and his post moves were unable to be stopped by anyone except for the chuckiness of his own teammates. So I’ll give them credit there: they accurately analyzed the reality of the situation. Not like they had much choice. Anyone with eyes and a brain and a working interconnect between the two would see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reincarnated, putting the boom on all the Warriors’ crappy bigs.
If you liked what you saw in this video, which you did, there’s really no doubt about that, be sure to check out my hookilation (not to be confused with my James Harden “hookerilation”) for Lopez from his 2018-19 season with the Bulls. 143 hook shots, as Stacey King becomes increasingly more aroused: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-QaDLfogNM . It’s one of the best vids I’ve ever made, not even being sarcastic.