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CLEVELAND – There are reasons the Warriors were seemingly never concerned about Klay Thompson remaining poised throughout his offensive struggles in the postseason.
The Golden State shooting guard was long due for a breakout performance. The “Where’s Klay” storyline had become a major part of the playoff narrative over the last two months.
So, of course Thompson came through when the series reached its most critical point, and played a major part in Golden State jumping out to a commanding 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals.
While Kevin Durant stole the show with the biggest shot of his career in Golden State’s 118-113 Game 3 win on Wednesday, Thompson was the catalyst for getting things started and bringing the Warriors within one victory of a historic 16-0 playoff record.
Thompson scored 16 of his postseason-high 30 points in the first quarter on 5-of-7 shooting, connecting on 4-of-5 shots from behind the 3-point line. He hit six of the Warriors’ 16 3-pointers and finished the night 11-of-18 from the floor.
“Klay offensively, we’re never worried about him,” Stephen Curry said. “He’s always aggressive. We know he’s a threat whether he’s making or missing shots, just by his presence on the floor. But tonight he was smart about getting to the right spots, finding his looks, being confident, knocking them down early, being aggressive. Definitely gave us a boost.”
Thompson foreshadowed Wednesday’s break out performance in Game 2 when he scored 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
Perhaps that precursor was what he needed to spark this offensive explosion. Game 3 was the most confident Thompson said he’s felt offensively during the Finals.
“You could say that because I was getting great looks,” Thompson said. “I was being patient. Whenever you make your first couple, you feel good. To me, I got a couple looks early at the basket, got a couple open threes, and that always helps.”
Despite his shots not falling, Thompson has remained fully engaged on the defensive end. At every turn throughout the postseason, he’s been tasked with difficult assignments. He made a combination of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum appear listless. He went toe-to-toe with Gordon Hayward and Joe Ingles in the second round and shadowed Patty Mills’ every move last series.
His task got harder this series against one of the best finishers in the NBA in Kyrie Irving.
“What Klay Thompson has done defensively for the first three games of this series, it goes unnoticed,” Andre Iguodala said. “He shoots the ball so well that you forget about his defensive presence on the ball. That’s growth as well. Early on, the shots weren’t falling for him, but he still made a huge impact on the game.”
Thompson disrupted Irving’s flow in Games 1 and 2 by holding him to 21.5 points per game on 40 percent shooting. Irving, like Thompson, finally came alive in Game 3, dropping 38 points on 16-of-29 shooting, to provide LeBron James with some support.
And as fatigue started to set in for Irving, Thompson turned up his defensive intensity. Irving was 2-for-6 in the fourth quarter for five points. With the Warriors up by one with 45.3 seconds remaining, Irving stepped back for a 25-footer. Thompson used his length to disrupt Irving’s momentum and not let him stage a last second comeback.
“Trying to make him get off the 3-point line and make him finish over the top of me, either at the rim or mid-range,” Thompson said. “I think I play with great length, and Kyrie’s been hot all night. I think that I just did a good job of not falling for any of his moves, because he’s real shifty.”
