Thompson opens title window
Star’s return lifts hopes, but squad will have to rely more on defense, depth
SAN FRANCISCO — Klay Thompson is back, gracefully draining jump shots and ferociously throwing down dunks, so now the Warriors will sail to their fourth NBA championship in eight years, right? Not so fast. Thompson obviously makes these Warriors better. That was evident Sunday, when he scored 17 points in 20 minutes and electrified a capacity crowd at Chase Center in his long-awaited return from knee and Achilles injuries.
But these are not the Warriors of 2015, with Thompson and Stephen Curry and Draymond Green young and on the rise. These also are not the Warriors of 2017 and ’18, when Kevin Durant could (and often did) find a bucket any time it was needed.
These Warriors are title contenders, absolutely, and Thompson pushes them one step closer to their lofty goal. They’re also more vulnerable than they once were, with Andre Iguodala soon to turn 38, Curry bearing down on 34 and Thompson and Green about to reach 32.
So these Warriors need more than the Splash Brothers, more than 3pointers raining from the sky. If they are to return to the throne, it will hinge as much on defense and depth as it will on the shooting of Curry and Thompson.
“We have championship aspirations, that’s where we want to be,” Curry said. “How that looks, we have to play that out. Klay coming back is a huge step toward us becoming whole — then ( James) Wiseman and then we kind of go from there. …
“We have 43 games to figure out who we are, figure out our rotations and what our chemistry will be like.”
As Golden State (30-9) approaches the season’s halfway point, it finds encouragement in how its defense routinely smothers opponents. The Warriors lead the NBA in defensive rating, as they illustrated once again in holding Cleveland to 82 points on #KlayDay.
Thompson, one of the league’s best perimeter defenders before his injuries, will only help on that end of the court.
When the Warriors have struggled this season, as they did in losses to Denver on Dec. 28 and Dallas and New Orleans last week, it was mostly because their offense stalled. Curry shot poorly. Their trademark motion — player movement and ball movement — stopped.
Thompson also should help on that count, given his history of moving without the ball. He can get hot at any moment, as he did in scoring seven points in the first three minutes of Sunday’s second half against the Cavaliers.
Equally important, Jordan Poole scored 14 points off the bench. And Kevon Looney, tussling with a tall Cleveland frontline, corralled a careerhigh 18 rebounds. And Gary Payton II offered a spark with nine points and six rebounds.
Those contributions, resurrecting the old “Strength in Numbers” theme, will matter even more as the long season stretches into March and April.
“It’s going to take a complete team effort,” Looney said, “and we definitely have a deep team.”
Already, the Warriors have showed they can adapt. They beat Phoenix on Christmas Day without Poole and Andrew Wiggins. They beat Utah on New Year’s Day without Green.
Then, amid the swirling emotions of #KlayDay, they lost Green to a tight calf in pregame warmups. He started only to honor Thompson, intentionally committing a foul seven seconds into the game and quickly heading to the bench.
Juan Toscano-Anderson replaced Green and the defense didn’t miss a beat. Ten players logged at least 10 minutes as the Warriors collectively subdued a dangerous Cavs team.
Now comes a challenging road trip this week, with stops in Memphis, Milwaukee, Chicago and Minneapolis. That slate of foes features three likely playoff teams, including the No. 1 team in the East at the moment, the Bulls. The Warriors will learn something about this new version of themselves.
They clearly regained some of their aura with Thompson’s return. He and Curry, alongside Green and Iguodala, give the Warrior san uncommon ly championship tested core.
Thompson didn’t lose any confidence during his nearly 31-month absence, based on his freewheeling performance against Cleveland.
“It’s going to be interesting, because the adrenaline and high from tonight will come down eventually,” Kerr said after Sunday’s win. “He’ll have to work his way through that the next few games. The rhythm and timing will come, but it’s not going to be smooth sailing.”
Even with Thompson’s strong offensive night, the Warriors still scored only 96 points. They still committed 14 turnovers, including several sloppy ones. They’re still not a finely tuned offense.
But they play with vigor on defense, as the Cavaliers were reminded when they scored only 36 points in Sunday’s second half.
“They have a lot of switchable guys, and they have their system down pat,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the Warriors. “They don’t make a lot of mistakes on the defensive end of the floor. That’s what makes them so good.”
And now they have Klay Thompson back. That helps, too.