Klay Thompson is settling into his new role.
Klay Thompson scored 21 points in his 12th game back from injury, and the Golden State Warriors won their ninth straight game on Monday night, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-98.
In-Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, Thompson tore his ACL in his left knee. In November 2020, he tore his right Achilles tendon while recovering from surgery. He’s been gradually increasing his effort, and his minute’s limitation has now been removed to 30 minutes, indicating that the five-time All-Star may be ready for the stretch run.
After the Thunder rallied late in the fourth quarter to cut Golden State’s lead to five points, Thompson scored two 3-pointers in the last minute to put the Warriors up nine.
“It was great to see Klay hit those back-to-back threes to kind of seal the win,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “Just fun to have him back, and he looks great out there. He’s moving great. It’s fun to be able to play him.”
Thompson’s late shots came in the same building where he hit 11 3-pointers in the Western Conference finals against the Thunder in 2016, forcing a Game 7 in the series. He claimed it never occurred to him during the game.
“No, that was a long time ago,” he responded, “though it is a fond memory of mine.”
Thompson is still difficult to protect, according to Oklahoma City’s Darius Bazley, despite his age and several setbacks.
“He’s so good at shooting the ball, I feel like my hand doesn’t really do anything,” Bazley said. “You’ve kind of like just got to bank on him missing. There are some players that are just so good that they don’t even see you.”
For the Warriors, who shot 50% from the field, Stephen Curry contributed 18 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds.
Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort had 26 points and Bazley had 20 points, both season highs. Josh Giddey had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists to round out the scoring.
Thunder led 23-20 after one quarter, but Golden State scored 14 of 23 points in the second quarter to lead 56-46 at halftime. In the first half, Andrew Wiggins scored 13 of his 15 points.
Early in the fourth quarter, Jonathan Kuminga’s vicious two-handed putback jam extended Golden State’s advantage to 87-74.
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