As the Golden State Warriors found themselves hopelessly outmatched against the defending champion Boston Celtics, they can at least take some solace from the fact a Western Conference rival also saw defeat on MLK Day.
Still playing without superstar Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks fell to an upset 110-105 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. It's the Mavericks' ninth loss in the past 12 games, pushing them back to a 23-20 record in the tight Western Conference.
Mavericks fans voiced frustration relating to former Warriors guard Klay Thompson
Dallas got 33 points from Kyrie Irving and a mammoth 31-point 15-rebound performance from Daniel Gafford, but former Warrior Klay Thompson was unable to respond from a six-point outing against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
Thompson finished with just seven points, two rebounds, two assists and had three turnovers in nearly 30 minutes of playing time, including missing the potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds.
It's not as if Thompson shot the Mavericks out of the game necessarily, but more so that he just didn't get many looks. The 5x All-Star took just five shots for the game, leading to plenty of frustration among fans regarding Thompson's teammates inability to find him on offense.
Is Luka the only player on the Mavs who knows when to pass the ball to Klay?
— Ralph (@Rojas_Trew4) January 20, 2025
Dinwiddie has Klay wide open on that out of bounds play and just decided to pass it cross court for a contest PJ three what are we doing here
— 🔪🗣️ (@knifetalkmavs) January 20, 2025
You can’t pass fake to Klay Thompson when he’s wide open in the corner.
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) January 20, 2025
You just can’t.
After Doncic was injured on Christmas Day against the Minnesota Timberwolves, you could have foreseeably expected that Thompson would get more opportunity with Dallas needing to rely more on him offensively.
That simply hasn't been the case, with Thompson's field-goal attempts actually decreasing in Doncic's absence. The 34-year-old has taken eight shots or less in four of his past six games, and is averaging just 10.2 points during that period.
Whether it worked or not, you could never accuse Thompson of not pushing to get more looks during his time with the Warriors when Stephen Curry was out of the lineup. He routinely took more field-goal attempts when Curry was absent, including in 2022-23 when he averaged over 26 points on 21 field-goal attempts in 20 games without the 2x MVP.
It will be interesting to see if Thompson can get rolling before Doncic returns to the lineup, or if he's simply reached that point of his career where he's heavily reliant on having an elite offensive facilitator alongside him in the lineup.
After going for a season-high 29 points against his former team on December 15, Thompson will next see the Warriors on February 12 at American Airlines Center.