Klay first to post 60 points in under 30 minutes
Cavs edge Raptors to snap skid • Grizzlies top Pelicans in 20T • Westbrook notches 6th straight triple-double
Klay Thompson remembers the night Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on January 22, 2006.
Thompson, a teenager growing up in Los Angeles as the son of an NBA player, was offered tickets to the game. He opted not to go.
Almost 11 years later, Thompson did his best impersonation of a performance he never saw, exploding for 23 of his careerhigh 60 points in the second quarter on Monday night, propelling the Golden State Warriors to a 142-106 home victory over the Indiana Pacers.
“I never would have thought I was capable of that,” Thompson said of Bryant’s feat. “I don’t know if I could have matched it. We should keep the game closer next time.”
Thompson’s 60 points came in just 29 minutes, making him even better than Bryant in that regard. He became the first NBA player ever to score at least 60 points without playing 30 minutes.
“We know he’s capable of that,” gushed Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who saw Thompson pour in an NBA-record 37 points in the third quarter of a win over the Sacramento Kings in January of 2015. “It always feels like it’s a possibility.”
Thompson, whose previous career high of 52 came in that same game against the Kings on January 23, 2015, hit 21 of his 33 shots and went 8-for-14 on three-pointers.
The 60-point performance was the first of the NBA season, and first since Bryant went for 60 in his career finale last April.
“It definitely reminded me of it,” Thompson said in comparing Monday’s effort with his 52-point game. “It’s a zone to cherish when you’re in. It’s something you don’t take for granted because you never know when it’s going to happen again.”
The last NBA player to score more than 60 points in a game was LeBron James, who had 61 against Charlotte on March 3, 2014.
Thompson scored 17 points in the first quarter, 23 in the second and 20 in the third en route to the fourth 60-point performance for a Warrior since the team moved west in 1962. Wilt Chamberlain had two such games (62 and 63 points), and Rick Barry had a 64-point night on March 26, 1974, against Portland.
Thompson was pulled from the game with 1:22 left in the third period. He admitted afterward he had hoped to go back in.
“The game was in hand,” Kerr said of ending Thompson’s night early. “It was never a thought.”
Cavaliers 116, Raptors 112
LeBron James scored 34 points, Kevin Love had 28 points and 14 rebounds and Cleveland topped Toronto to end a threegame losing streak.
Tristan Thompson also nabbed 14 rebounds and had six points for the Cavaliers, who ended a season-beat six-game winning streak by the Raptors.
The Cavaliers opened a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, but the Raptors cut the lead to four with two seconds left when Kyle Lowry hit three free throws.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 31 points and Lowry added 24 points and nine assists in defeat.
Grizzlies 110, Pelicans 108 (2OT)
Marc Gasol hit a three-pointer at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime and then nailed a 17-foot fadeaway jumper over the outstretched arms of Anthony Davis to lift the Memphis Grizzlies to a double-overtime conquest of New Orleans.
Gasol logged 46 minutes and recorded a triple-double – 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
It was the Grizzlies’ fourth overtime win of the season without a loss. They are 10-0 in games this season decided either in overtime or by five or fewer points.
Davis had 28 points and 17 rebounds for the Pelicans, who have lost three straight.
Thunder 102, Hawks 99
Russell Westbrook had 32 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists as Oklahoma City beat Atlanta to stretch its winning streak to six and extend the Hawks’ stretch of losses to seven.
It was the sixth consecutive triple-double by Westbrook and his 11th of the season in 22 games. The streak is the longest in the NBA since Michael Jordan did it over seven consecutive games in 1989.