Two dimensional
Thompson gets kudos for his ‘D’
OAKLAND, Calif. — Your business card reads, “NBA Shooter Deluxe; quick release and perfect form. Will work weekends and holidays.”
Then you shoot 38.3 percent through three rounds of the playoffs. No worries. Here come The Finals and redemption.
And you miss 13 of 16 shots in Game 1. But Klay Thompson still had a great first game for the Warriors in their 113-91 thrashing of the Cavaliers on Thursday.
Thompson played superb defense, regardless of his assignment. The Cavaliers were 1-of-12 on shots defended by Thompson. The lone make came on a fourpoint play in the second quarter by Kyrie Irving, who made a falling, twisting 3-pointer, drawing a Thompson foul on a shot deemed unwise by the U.S. Chiropractic Association.
“I’m just trying to play possession-by-possession. But it’s something I did take notice [of ] after the game,” Thompson, speaking on a conference call Friday, said of his defensive stat. “I was happy with my performance on that side of the ball, being locked in defensively. It didn’t matter who I was guarding, I was trying to make it tough on them to get a good look. If I continue that effort and we can get to three more wins, it’s something I’ll do.”
Thompson was on just about everybody at some point. He chased Irving. He got in LeBron James’ face. He went after Kevin Love. On the Cavaliers’ first possession, Thompson could count the whiskers in Love’s beard. Love ended up firing a shot over the backboard.
There is a reason the Warriors were the No. 1 defensive team in the league, first in field goal percentage, first in 3-point percentage.
“This is maybe the best defensive team in the league,” coach Gregg Popovich said of the Warriors after they ousted his Spurs in a four-game sweep.
Thompson has a lot to do with that. So the Warriors can live with 3-of-16. So can Thompson — as long as they win.
“If I score six points a game and it gets us four wins and an NBA championship, I can do that every year. I’m not about getting numbers,” Thompson said. “If you win the last game, you had a great season. That’s our goal.”
Hearing stuff like that can get coaches all misty. Watching Thompson defend does it even more so.
“The number wasn’t good in terms of 3- for-16, but we have asked Klay Thompson to do a lot throughout the course of our playoff run,” acting Warriors coach Mike Brown said. “He’s guarded some tremendous, tremendous point guards. And he’s chasing Kyrie around.
“Give Klay Thompson a ton of credit because he’s out there fighting over screens, getting hit, trying to contest, trying to rebound, trying to do it all for us defensively. And then offensively he just keeps playing the right way. That’s what we love about him.”