Klay Thompson: Right on the Money

Fresh off receiving his 4-year, $70 million max contract extension, Klay Thompson turned in one the finest performances of his young career Saturday night against the Lakers.

Assigned to guarding his childhood idol, Kobe Bryant, Thompson picked up two early fouls in first quarter and had to sit. However he did an admirable job limiting Bryant into tough shots during the first quarter.

When he returned to the court in the second quarter, he continued to play him tight on-ball and off-ball. He did a great job of making Kobe Bryant pull up into tough shots who shot probably more fade away shots than he would have liked to.

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Later in the second quarter, Thompson grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup, got fouled and hit both free throws to pull the Warriors ahead 44-43. This was part of a run that had the Warriors score 11 straight. On the next possession he hit

with an assist on an open corner three, which forced the Lakers to take a timeout.

In the half-court game, you can see how far his offensive game growing leaps and bounds since his rookie campaign when he was simply a 3-point specialist. On another play in the second quarter, he drew another shooting foul when he wisely pump faked at the elbow and a trailing Wesley Johnson ran into his back. Thompson converted on the two attempts from the charity stripe. Another time at the elbow, he received a handoff, curled into the paint and hit a pretty runner.

He’s also been impressive in transition as well. On a 3-on-2 transition play, Iguodala dished it to Thompson who drove right at Jeremy Lin, and finished over him with a layup. On the very next play, Bryant’s pass was tipped by Iguodala, and ended up in Thompson’s hands. Thompson threw an overhead outlet pass to a streaking Curry, who found a trailing Iguodala with a look-off behind the back bounce pass. Iguodala capped off the play with a big dunk and Oracle Arena went berserk. In the third quarter, Thompson sprinted ahead and was one on two against Kobe Bryant and Jordan Hill. He faked a pull-up three, drove left and threw a Rondo-esque pump fake, felt Kobe running over his back, and tossed up a floater that dropped in. Then he converted the and one. Awesome.

After Kobe missed his a free throw after making a ridiculously difficult circus shot, Thompson rebounded the free throw and found Iguodala down court between defenders down court for an easy transition slam with 3.7 secs left in the second half — just a great play to carry momentum into the locker room for halftime.

The third quarter featured lots of offensive fireworks by the two shooting guards. Kobe ended up with 19 points in the quarter alone, hitting an array of difficult shots over Klay. Nonetheless, Klay made him work for every bucket.

The offensive clinic continued into the fourth quarter. Thompson had a great backdoor cut with a left hand finish on the block. Klay hit two threes on consecutive possessions, as the Warriors started to really distance themselves from the Lakers. He also hit another three in the corner, after Curry passed up a good look for himself to give Thompson an even better look.

Thompson’s great night ended on a few high notes. First he came up with a loose ball on the defensive end and slammed home an emphatic dunk. Next, he hit another corner three that set the crowd off. The final great moment of the night came after the game. He shared a moment with Bryant, who congratulated him on the great game. He seemed a little star-struck in the post-game interview when asked what it was like playing against him. There’s an obvious huge amount of respect Thompson has for Kobe, and it’s clear the respect is mutual now.

“There’s an obvious huge amount of respect Thompson has for Kobe, and it’s clear the respect is mutual now.”

Thompson ended with a career-high 41 points on 14 of 18 FG shooting, 5-7 3PT shooting, and 8-9 FT. His former career high (38 points) came in last year’s season opener vs. the Lakers, his father’s former team.

Here are highlights from Klay Thompson’s big night: