Klay Thompson Returns to The Bay
So today was not only the first game of the NBA Cup, but also one of the most weird game days that I’ll ever experience throughout my time following basketball, because for the first time in my life, I watched Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry play on the same court, but not as teammates. So, Klay Thompson made his return to the Bay Area, as he played against the Golden State Warriors for the first time in his career, after spending 11 seasons with the organization.
Klay Thompson was drafted with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, and throughout his 11 seasons with the team, he has become huge figure to the history of the franchise, helping the Warriors win 4 championships, and being an integral part to the Warriors dynasty that dominated the NBA in the last decade.
Besides Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson was my favorite NBA player ever, because he would dominate a game without having to do much. As you may have known, he has some games where he would score a whole lot of points with the amount of dribbles you can probably count with your fingers. One of which was his 43 Point performance against the New York Knicks in the 2018/19 season where he only dribbled the ball just 4 times. Yes, you read that correctly, he made more shots than dribbles.
One of the other reasons I love watching Klay Thompson is that he is one of the most unstoppable players when he is on fire. I mean, where do I even begin, since there are quite a lot of games that I can pick to describe how nuclear he was in his peak. Maybe I’ll go with that one game in January 2015 against the Sacramento Kings.
If you watch and follow basketball long enough, you might know what game I am referring to. But if you don’t, allow me to explain.
On January 23rd 2015, the Golden State Warriors played the Sacramento Kings at Oracle Arena. During this time, the Warriors were not the dynasty that we grow and accustomed to as of today, but they were still a dangerous team that’s on the rise with Stephen Curry, who went on to win the Most Valuable Player award that season, followed by Klay Thompson and Draymond Green as their main core. Entering the 3rd quarter of this game, the Warriors were up 56–51 against the visiting team, a close game if you ask me, and then Klay Thompson happened. He went completely berserk in this game, setting an NBA record for most points scored in a single quarter, with 37 Points, a record that until this day has not been touched. In that 3rd quarter Klay literally could not miss a shot, at all, whether it’s mid range, catch and shoot 3 point shot, fadeaway shots, even alley-oops, you name ’em, he made it, as he made all 13 of his shot attempts, with 9 of them coming from beyond the arc. Klay Thompson turned this game completely upside down, from it being a 4 point cushion, to a 24 point lead at the end of the third quarter.
Klay Thompson was also a clutch player for the Warriors, as I previously mentioned that he was an integral part to the Golden State Warriors dynasty. He gave a lot of big time performances in the playoffs to help Golden State win their championships, like in Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals, where the Golden State Warriors were facing elimination against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Klay Thompson caught fire again, helping the Warriors force Game 7 and went on to win the series and complete a 3–1 series comeback to go back to the NBA Finals. That game 6 started one of the most iconic and known “alter-ego” or “nicknames” of Game 6 Klay. Another one of Klay’s elimination game was in Game 6 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets, also down 3–2 in the series, Klay Thompson led his team in scoring to force a Game 7, in which the Warriors would also go on to win the series to go back to the NBA Finals.
There’s no doubt that Klay Thompson in his peak was one of the best Shooting Guards in the NBA, but more importantly he is the legend in the Bay Area, even though he never got to finish his entire career with the Warriors, he’s still regarded and will forever be regarded as one of the greatest player who ever played for the Golden State Warriors franchise.
Now, back to the present day. Klay Thompson, who is now playing for the Dallas Mavericks came into this game greeted with a lot of love from their fans and the team’s employees as all of them gave the warmest welcome with their sea captain hats that were given by the team before this game.
This game was a literal movie, it felt like it had everything, where this game started off with Steph Curry defending Klay on the first possession, and then followed that with Steph and Draymond hitting their first three point shot while being contested by Klay. To even Klay hitting the shimmy. It felt really emotional watching the game as this is one of the weirdest things I ever saw throughout my time watching basketball.
With this game being Klay’s first game back in the Bay Area, this game was also Klay Thompson’s best performance for the Dallas Mavericks so far this season, as he posted a season high 22 Points, hitting 6 of his 12 three point attempts.
But unfortunately, his return was spoiled by Stephen Curry’s brilliant performance, as he finished this game with 37 Points, where he scored Golden State’s final 12 points after being down by 6 points with 3 minutes remaining in this game to give them the win late down the stretch as they beat the Dallas Mavericks 120–117. Golden State grabbed their first win in the group stage of the NBA Cup and also moving to 9–2 regular season record, tying Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns for the best record in the Western Conference.
