Thompson shrugs off injury, finishes strong

OAKLAND » There was a scary moment for Klay Thompson in Game 1 of The NBA Finals.

It happened with 6:15 lef t in the f irst quarter when JR Smith ran over to contest a pass to Thompson but lost control , sliding into his leg.

Thompson fel l onto the ground, slapping the court with his hand and rolling in pain.

He eventually limped off the court, immediately heading to the Warriors’ locker room to be evaluated.

But in a stroke of good news for the Warriors — who beat the Caval iers 124- 114 in overtime — Thompson was cleared to star t the second quarter after sustaining what the team called a lef t lateral leg contusion.

Thompson had x- rays after the game, which were negative.

He was sore — but said there ’ s no doubt he wi l l be on the cour t for Game 2 on Sunday.

“I’m just looking forward to getting 100 percent,” Thompson said after the game Thursday. “But I’m not missing Sunday.’

Thompson said didn’t think Smith tentional ly t r ied hurt him.

“I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Thompson said. “I think he was going for the bal l . I don’t think it was intentional.”

Thompson wasn’t exactly shaken up af ter the incident, f iring a 35- foot shot in the first 10 seconds of the second quarter.

He went on to f inish with 24 points on 50 percent shooting from the field, includ- ing making five of his 10 shots from beyond the arc.

It was his 10th 20plu s point per for - mance of the playof fs, and he made a couple of key shot s for the War r ior s , inc luding scoring two 3- point - ers in overtime.

Thompson, however, said he was a bit hobbled after he returned.

He described the injury as a “muscle that got strained a l it t le bit ,” adding that he was happy it wasn’ t worse.

“I might not have been as explosive as I wanted to be, but I always know my shooting will be there,” he said.

When Thompson fell to the ground, there was a col lective gasp at Oracle Arena.

“It kind of sucked the energy out of the arena,” Kevon Looney said.

Stephen Curry acknowledged that he even felt a bit guilty.

“I threw a def lective pass and put him in that position,” Curry said. “I was feeling a type of way about it. You go away wor r ied and concerned.

“He goes to the locker room and you hope he’s okay.”

Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr was similarly fearful.

“It was a scary play,” Kerr said. “It looked pret ty bad. . . I didn’ t know if he was going to be able to come back or not.”

But Thompson neverhad a doubt.

“Knowing I can’t do any more damage to it and it’s just a pain tolerance thing, I’m going to play,” Thompson said.

He even went on to make a vow for Game 2.

“I’ l l be even that much better Sunday,” he said. “I know it.”