Klay Thompson having great first half.

Closer look at Thompson’s stats makes compelling case

Klay Thompson posted a photo of himself playing a recent game. It showed him blocking a shot under the basket. Nearby stood Zaza Pachulia, all 7 feet of him, cemented to the floor with a dumband-dumber gaze on his face.

“Look at Zaza, taking notes,” Thompson wrote on Instagram. Pachulia came right back with a zinger. Noting that Thompson had missed 16 of 20 shots that night and scored only 10 points, Pachulia wrote: “That was only positive thing you did.”

Then he added: “You still my guy.”

All in good fun, of course, and Pachulia’s kicker is especially noteworthy. He undoubtedly realized that he was knocking the Warriors’ first-half MVP. Yes, you read that right. Klay Thompson is the Warriors’ MVP at the halfway point of the regular season.

Until Wednesday night, when Steve Kerr sentenced him to bench-rest, Thompson was the only Warrior to play in all 41 games. He has missed 13 in 6 ½ seasons. Not to disparage Stephen Curry, who was just NBA Player of the Week for the 11th time, but he has missed 14 games this season.

Thompson has played 505 out of a possible 518 regular- season games in his NBA career. Playoff games? Still batting 1.000. He’s 81 for 81, virtually the equivalent of another full season without a miss. It’s just a remarkable ongoing achievement, above and beyond his considerable court production.

Considering his two-way strengths as an elite scorer and defender, Thompson just being out on the floor is undervalued (he leads the team in minutes played, and is second behind Kevin Durant in average minutes at 34.0). While his per-game scoring average (20.7) is down slightly from a year ago, he is

shooting a career-best 48.3 percent on all shots and 45.3 percent on 3-pointers.

The latter figure is seventh-best in the league, and his volume shooting prowess enhances his status at that position — he’s the only player in the top 10 of the 3-point percentage category averaging more 20 points a game.

By this time next week, Thompson could be leading the league in 3-point shots made.

Currently with 140 makes, he’s trailing only Houston’s James Harden by five, and the Rockets’ star figures to miss at least another week or so with a hamstring strain.

At that, Harden has taken 63 more attempts to have that slim lead and is shooting six percentage points worse.

Other laudable Thompson numbers: He’s shooting a career-best percentage at the line at 88.5, although his attempts are a bit down. He’s on pace to establish a career high in rebounds, and he could set a career assist high as well.

But the number that really leaps off the page with Thompson is victories correlating with his plus-minus. Simply put, when Thompson is anywhere in the plus column for a game, the Warriors are 29-1.

That’s just a phenomenal number to illustrate what his consistent presence means to the team’s 33-9 record.

The Warriors are 4-7 when Thompson’s plus-minus is zero or worse.

And of course, they lost at home to the Clippers on Wednesday night when Kerr chose to hold him out. A guy Thompson surely would have spent a lot of time guarding, Lou Williams, went for 50 points. He’s one of the top defensive guards in the league.

The one loss when Thompson was on the plus end of plus-minus? At Boston, a game the Warriors led by 15 in each half. For the season, Thompson’s plus-307 is second-best in the NBA, behind only Curry’s plus-329 in 28 games.

Thompson’s durability factor has been that much more important this season. Curry is hardly alone when it comes to missing games. Durant has been out for eight. Shaun Livingston and Omri Casspi have each missed seven. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala have missed six. Pachulia has missed nine due to a bad shoulder.

With all this evidence, the idea that Thompson might not be a qualified All-Star this year, proffered in at least a couple of corners of the Internet, is absolutely ridiculous.

Among the star Warriors, he might be deserving of being first in line, just for being that pillar of night-in, night- out dependability. Then there’s the notion that he might be having his best allaround season as well.

What do you say, Zaza? Care to just surrender and agree?

RAY CHAVEZ — STAFF ARCHIVES While Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant dominate the spotlight, Klay Thompson, above, has quietly been the Warriors’ MVP of the first half.

PHOTOS BY ANDA CHU — STAFF ARCHIVES Warriors coach Steve Kerr high-fives Klay Thompson. Until Kerr enforced some bench rest for Thompson onWednesday, he was the onlyWarrior to play in all the team’s first-half games.

While averaging 20.7points, Thompson is shooting a careerbest 48.3percent overall — and 45.3percent on 3-point tries. Only Houston’s James Harden has hit more treys.