OAKLAND — Reactions to Klay Thompson’s career-night started in the second quarter, when Steph Curry sprinted out of the tunnel following a rainbow fadeaway. The celebration lasted hours after the game.
Team owner Joe Lacob crashed Thompson’s press conference and presented him with a rose. Kevin Durant was speechless, grinning at the podium.
“I never seen anything like it,” Durant said of Thompson’s 60 points in 29 minutes.
“I’ll put money on it,” Steph Curry said, “that’ll never be touched again in the history of basketball.”
Basketball skeptics, many of them former legendary players, said stuff like this would stop happening for Thompson. His individual legacy was supposed to take a hit when Durant signed with the Warriors in July.
Would the player who scored 41-points and led a miraculous comeback against the Thunder in Game 6 still matter in this offense? Would he be Chris Bosh, relegated to the corner? There just weren’t going to be enough basketballs around for Thompson to still be the league’s most deafening volume shooter, they said.
Go ahead and call Thompson a gifted prophet. He told the world at the Rio Olympics he wasn’t going to sacrifice sh*t next season. And he was exactly right.
That noteworthy prediction came full circle Monday night in a 142-106 romping of the Pacers. Thompson delivered the most memorable night thus far of the NBA regular season, as well as a message to the rest of the league: I’m 26 years old and I’m not slowing down anytime soon.
“We’re only 21 games in,” Thompson said, who vowed to score 80 points one day in his career. “There’s definitely another gear.”
Here’s where the Warriors have turned KD’s arrival into a potential goldmine for Thompson. Durant openly admitted the Pacers did not even dare leave him free, meaning Thompson was not seeing double-teams and was given the green-light shoot as much as possible. Durant and Curry’s presence prevent teams from ever allocating too many of their resources for Klay.
The result?
Heatcheck after heatcheck, Thompson kept spinning the ball through the net. He had 40 at halftime, the first time the NBA’s seen that since Kobe Bryant did it in 2003, according to ESPN’s Chris Haynes. The last Warriors player to post a 60 spot? Rick Barry in 1974.
“There just became a point where they were just looking for one guy,” George (21 points) said. “That fueled them. That fueled him.”
Don’t just call him some futuristic Splash Brother, though.
Thompson’s evolution as a player was most apparent in the first quarter. He went 8/12 to start the game, but only two of the shots were three-pointers. Thompson was devoted to attacking the rim and the Pacers didn’t have an answer, besides calling timeouts to try and quell the Oracle Arena crowd. He scored 17 points to open the game and also hit a season-high 10/11 free throws in 29 minutes.
“Klay is constantly moving and probing,” Steve Kerr said. “It’s effective because we have a lot of playmakers. You can see that once he got hot, Steph was looking for him, and Draymond, and KD and Andre and Zaza. What is really gratifying as a coach is when you see that unselfishness.”
The Warriors are 18-3 on the season and all the superstars have had moments of basking in the limelight. In a much-anticipated game against the Thunder, Durant went off for 39 points, and has remained an efficiency monster for Golden State. Curry hit an NBA record 13 three-pointers in a November win over the Pelicans. Draymond Green has won three separate games — Phoenix, Milwaukee and Atlanta — with otherworldly plays on defense.
Monday night was Thompson’s turn to carry the torch and it won’t be his last. Don’t expect 60 again this season, but he’s an avalanche waiting to happen on any given night. There will be a time in the postseason, maybe even in the NBA Finals, where a scoring outburst from Thompson wins the Warriors a much-needed game.
As the clock approached midnight, Thompson was finishing interview rounds, signing autographs and packing his belongings for an upcoming road trip.
“Sixty points in 29 minutes is not bad,” Thompson smiled. “I’m satisfied with it.”
Yep. He’s not sacrificing sh*t.