It’s Klay Thompson’s World, And We’re Just Living In It
By Eric He
The crazy thing is, the Kings were winning, too.
They were on a 10-0 run going back to the end of the second quarter, and had scored the first seven points of the third. They forced missed shots from Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green, and at 10:57 of the third, DeMarcus Cousins gave them the lead at 58-56.
Then, after Stephen Curry made two free throws, Klay Thompson, in a rather nondescript manner, spun off Ben McLemore in the lane and knocked down a 12-foot jumper to give the Warriors a 60-58 lead.
What happened afterwards was anything but nondescript.
- Off a steal, running straight to the top of the arc on the fastbreak and firing. Swish.
- Catch-and-shoot three-pointer on another break off a pass from Curry on the left wing. Swish.
- Two-on-one fastbreak with Curry after a Kings’ missed shot: one-handed alley-oop jam with the right hand. Swish.
- After a few dribbles, firing right over Nik Stauskas from the right wing. Swish.
- Looking for a heat check, putting up a 28-foot three over Stauskas again. Swish.
- Off a screen, firing off-balance from the left wing. Swish.
- Another contested three, bouncing up off the rim and in. Swish.
- Taking three defenders with him to the rim and finger-rolling it in. Swish
- On a break, catch-and-shoot three from the right wing from Curry. Swish.
- Driving to the right elbow and firing. Swish.
- Deep in the left corner, an unbalanced shot over Stauskas. Swish.
- Off a series of screens, a straightaway three. Swish.
- Two foul shots to end the quarter. Swish. And swish.
That was 37 points in all — an NBA record — and from down 58-56, the Warriors led 97-73 at the quarter’s end.
What’s going to be forgotten over the course of time is that the Kings actually had a grip on this game, coming back from an early 18-point deficit to take a third quarter lead against the NBA’s best team.
The Warriors, on the contrary, were playing sloppy, missing open threes, and committing too many fouls. Curry, especially, was having an off night with just 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting and a whopping six turnovers. This had the feeling of a trap game, one where the Warriors went on cruise control after a hot start and allowed the Kings to grind their way back into it.
Except, with a nondescript jump shot and the barrage of insanity that followed, Klay Thompson took everything away from the Kings — the momentum, the flow, the game. The Kings made just four field goals in the nine minutes and 44 seconds after making three field goals in just the first 63 seconds, as Thompson went 13-of-13 on his field goals, including nine threes. It came to a point where a Kings’ field goal or free throw did little to help them, because all it did was give Thompson an opportunity to run down and fire off another three.
In all, Thompson outscored the Kings by 15 points in the quarter and outscored every other team in every other quarter of NBA action on Friday except for one — 42 points by the Cavaliers in the second quarter against the Hornets.
It’s safe to say we have never seen anything like this before, and we probably won’t ever again. To have this hot of a hand, to fire at will and make difficult, contested shots look like lay-ups, to keep launching and racking up points even when the opponent knows what’s coming — those moments happen a handful of times to even the best of the best, and we saw it happen firsthand.
It was Klay Thompson’s world on Friday night; we were all just living in it.