Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson’s career-high goes sneakily under the radar
With on and off-court issues for the Golden State Warriors at present, it’s easy to forget some of the individual performances we’ve seen from players in recent times.
The reigning champions suffered their fair share of injuries over December and January, yet Klay Thompson was a constant aside from his continued resting on one side of the Warriors’ back-to-backs.
Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson produced a career-high in January that went well and truly under the radar for most.
Thompson was excellent throughout January as the Warriors ended the month with a 7-6 record. However, not many would necessarily regard it as the best offensive month of his career. Well, that’s what it was, at least by points per game. In his latest article on Thursday, Marc Stein referenced that Thompson’s 27 points per game in January was the most he’s averaged in any month of his career where he’s played at least five games.
The 32-year-old’s defining performance came in the first game of the month/year when he dropped 54 points against the Atlanta Hawks in a double overtime classic at Chase Center.
The four-time champion backed up that performance with a 30-point display against the Detroit Pistons two days later, before recording 29 points against the Phoenix Suns in his next matchup. After a few quieter games, Thompson closed the month strong with a 29-point performance in a win over the Toronto Raptors, and then a 28-point outing against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
His 27 points per game throughout January is technically second to April last year when he averaged 36.7 points, though that was just a three-game stretch before the conclusion of the regular season. You’d have to go back to January 2015 for his next most prolific month where Thompson averaged 25.9 points across 15 games.
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His achievements are all the more remarkable given the extent of his two major injuries across the past few years. Thompson shot 45.9% from the field and 43.1% from three in January, though he’d undoubtedly trade some of his baskets in if it means the Warriors had a better record at this point.