Klay Thompson returns to Golden State: Ranking 11 best Warriors moments from legendary run
Klay Thompson will be back on the court at Chase Center on Tuesday night, but he won't be wearing his No. 11 Warriors jersey that will one day be hanging in the rafters. He'll be in his new No. 31 jersey playing for the Dallas Mavericks, who signed Thompson this past summer after his 13-year Warriors career came to a bit of a bumpy end.
Thompson has tried to downplay the event, saying that for him, it's going to be "just another regular season game in November," but nobody believes that. It's going to be a highly emotional night. The second that he walks in that building he's going to be feeling all kinds of things. He wouldn't be human if he didn't.
As Stephen Curry recently said: "We've had homecomings before, but nothing like this."
Thompson isn't finished as a player. He's still a starter for Dallas and averaging just under 14 PPG. He is, and should be, focused on what he's still doing before he stops to look back. That said, Thompson could hang up his sneakers today and still go down as the second-greatest shooter ever and a Hall-of-Fame lock because of what he did in winning four championships over 13 seasons for the Golden State Warriors.
And that's what we're here to celebrate. Thompson had many incredible performances and unforgettable moments along his Warriors journey. We're going to try to narrow them down to the best, or, in some cases, the most telling or important in the grand scheme of the journey.
In honor of the No. 11 jersey he wore, which the Warriors have already said will be retired, here is a ranking of Thompson's 11 best moments as a Warrior before his return as a Maverick.
1. Game 6 vs. Oklahoma City, 2016The birth of "Game 6 Klay" was one of the most iconic performances in NBA history. The Warriors, who had won an NBA record 73 games that regular season, were more than on the ropes; they looked all but done in Oklahoma City, which had jumped out to a 3-1 conference finals lead and just flat out looked like the better team in carrying an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter of the potential closeout game.
That's when Thompson went wild, scoring 22 fourth-quarter points, including three straight 3-pointers to open the quarter and the one to finally give Golden State the lead with a minute and a half to play. Every single shot felt like a defibrillator, shocking a dying man back to life. Thompson finished with 41 points on what remains an NBA playoff record 11 3-pointers. And when it was all said and done, Golden State had not just survived Game 6; it went on to win Game 7 to advance to the NBA Finals.
2. Game 6 vs. Toronto, 2019You don't have to say anything more than "the Klay Thompson free throws" and every basketball fan knows exactly what you're talking about: Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. The Warriors were down 3-2 to Toronto, had already lost Kevin Durant to a ruptured Achilles tendon, and yet were still making a push to send it to a Game 7 with a three-point lead late in the third quarter.
That's when Thompson filled the lane off of a steal, went up for a dunk, and came down awkwardly after a hard-but-clean foul by Danny Green. You knew immediately Thompson was hurt. I can still see the scene in my head: Stephen Curry slams the ball down in frustration and sits on the floor at the opposite end of the court as Thompson is helped to the locker room.
But wait. Somebody gets word to Thompson that if he doesn't shoot the two free throws, he cannot return to the game. So he turns around in the tunnel, the camera following him as he walks back onto the court to a roaring ovation that many longtime NBA people who were in the building that night say was the loudest they've ever heard in an arena.
On what we now know was a torn ACL, Thompson not only sinks the two free throws, but he is absolutely ready to stay in the game, trying to flex his knee loose as he hobbles back on defense. Steve Kerr has to intervene, calling a timeout to remove Thompson from the game.
When Thompson left that game, the Warriors were up five with a little over 14 minutes remaining. That's a long time and anything could have happened, but considering they still had a shot to tie the game in the closing seconds while having to play the likes of Quinn Cook, Jonas Jerebko and DeMarcus Cousins in the fourth quarter of an NBA Finals elimination game, you have to wonder if the Warriors would've finished that win and forced a Game 7 if they'd had Thompson, who was having a huge game with 30 points through 32 minutes.
It wasn't to be, but man, what a moment. All the other examples on this list showcase Thompson's talent first, but nothing could ever illustrate his toughness and competitiveness than watching him sink those free throws and try to stay in that game on a fully torn ACL.
3. The 37-point third quarter, 2015This was a laugh-out-loud showing, with each shot exponentially more ridiculous as Thompson just kept firing away from increasingly bizarre spots and angles. The 37 points is a single-quarter NBA record, but what's truly nuts is he actually did it in under 10 minutes (his first bucket didn't come until the 9:45 mark). Oh, and by the way, he didn't miss a single shot during this assault. He went 13 for 13 overall, including 9 for 9 from 3, in the third quarter and finished with 52 points for the game.
4. 60 points on 11 dribblesIf Stephen Curry revolutionized the NBA game by shooting off the dribble, Klay Thompson was, and still is, the classic catch-and-shoot shooting guard. Almost an updated version of Reggie Miller, whom Thompson will honor by wearing No. 31 for the Mavericks.
Nothing illustrated the particular form of art that is Thompson's catch-and-shoot prowess than the time he dropped a career-high 60 points on the Chicago Bulls in 2016 ... on 11 dribbles.
Yes, you read that right. Dude only dribbled the ball 11 times the entire game. (Full disclosure: he didn't actually play in the fourth quarter, but that only makes it more ridiculous that he put up 60 in under 30 minutes).
5. 43 points on four dribblesThis one didn't make as many headlines because the point total didn't reach the 60s (a hallowed mark in NBA annals), but in 2019 Thompson actually did more damage per dribble against the Knicks that he did against Chicago three years earlier -- scoring 43 points on four dribbles. That's over 10 points per dribble for crying out loud!
Klay Thompson dropped 43 PTS tonight. He also only dribbled the ball 4 times.
4 TIMES. 😱#DubNation pic.twitter.com/TiKobrQcCK
Again, you could argue this one shouldn't be so high on the list just because 43 points isn't really even a big deal in today's NBA. But the per-dribble production is just off the charts, and it's so unique these days with all the self creation (James Harden dribbles four times for every breath he takes) that this performance, for my money, stands a lot taller that its point total would initially indicate.
6. Klay returns after two yearsIt was Jan. 9, 2022, when Thompson first returned to court after spending two and a half years rehabbing a torn ACL and then a ruptured Achilles. Chase Center was deafening when his name was the last one to be announced in the starting lineup. It took him less than 40 seconds to record his first bucket. Everyone in the building knew the ball was going to him, and he still curled right and was able to finish a tough floater.
That was one of the single-most memorable buckets of Klay's career. He had been gone for so long, and to finish a shot like that on Golden State's first possession of the game was pretty special.
Not too long after that bucket, Thompson exploded down the lane for a vicious dunk in traffic, which you rarely saw him do even before the injuries, and followed that with his first 3-pointer en route to 17 points in a Warriors victory, then ran their record to 30-9 at the time. Six months later they would go on to win their fourth championship in eight years.
Exactly 6 months ago today, Klay Thompson made his return after missing two seasons due to injuries.
“First bucket, first dunk, and first 3-pointer..” pic.twitter.com/nmdsa1a4yT
It says a lot that when Stephen Curry was recently asked by The Athletic's Sam Amick what his favorite Klay memory is, he highlighted this game, noting that he talked about this game specifically on his call with Thompson, who was informing Curry of his impending decision to leave Golden State.
From Amick:
"(On the call with Thompson), I was talking about his (Jan. 9, 2022) game when he came back from his (Achilles) injury against Cleveland two years ago (at Chase Center), and the reception that the crowd gave him when he walked on the court for pregame shooting and I was already out there getting shots up wearing my throwback Klay Thompson sleeve jersey," Curry recalled. "It's him walking on the court, the crowd going crazy. He was there early, and (the scene) was hyping him up because he understood. He was back in his element, back in his zone, after being away from the game for so long.
"But the way that the crowd reacted to him tells you everything about his relationship with the Bay Area," Curry continued. "He was shooting shots pregame and they were clapping like it was in the middle of the fourth quarter every time he made a shot. And I'm trying to keep a straight face, but I just became a fan in that moment. We all can talk about all the amazing games he's had, or Game 6 Klay, all that type of stuff. But that was my favorite (memory) just because, in a very hard time, it reminded everybody how important he was to the whole franchise and this whole journey."
7. Record-breaking start vs. LakersIn January of 2019, Thompson set an NBA record that still stands today for most consecutive 3-pointers made to start a game with 10 against the Lakers. He didn't miss until the 3:33 mark of the third quarter, finishing with 44 points on 17-of-20 overall shooting.
As Thompson has shown time and again, there has never been a more flammable shooter in NBA history. Not even teammate Stephen Curry. When Thompson gets heated up, turn the lights out.
8. Game 6 vs. Memphis, 2022This time, "Game 6 Klay" showed up in a second-round closeout game against the Grizzlies as Golden State was en route to the 2022 championship. Thompson finished with 30 points and eight 3-pointers, a number he's certainly replicated before, but this one felt different on the backside of his two-year absence.
Thompson noted after the game that the time away made him appreciate the opportunity to compete for a championship and play on the biggest stages even more, and this performance certainly made Warriors fans appreciate Thompson even more after two years of struggle without him.
9. A bench barrageWhen Thompson was removed from the starting lineup for the first time since his rookie year, it was a major story and a clear hit to Klay's ego, which was being tested more and more as his game fell off after the two injuries. It would've been easy to sulk, and perhaps even easier to lose confidence, for any normal player. But Klay, especially in the confidence department, is not a normal player. Dude came out and poured in 35 points off the bench. To me, in terms of a statement about Thompson's confidence and character, this was one of his more memorable performances.
Klay Thompson came off the bench and made a big-time impact tonight 🔥
35 PTS | 6 REB | 7 3PM pic.twitter.com/mILnbVbyP3
This was one of the most important games in the development of a dynasty that you won't hear very many people talk about. After crashing the playoff party with a first-round upset of the heavily favored Denver Nuggets, the sixth-seeded Warriors were expected to hit their ceiling pretty hard against the Spurs in the second round. Instead, they went into San Antonio and blitzed the Spurs in Game 1, with Stephen Curry putting on a virtuoso 44-point performance. The Warriors were up by 16 points with under four minutes to play.
Then the Spurs went on an 18-2 run capped by a Manu Ginobili game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation, and the Warriors wound up losing by two in double-overtime.
It was a gut-wrenching defeat to surrender that kind of lead, which is why Game 2 told us so much about the Warriors, and Thompson in particular, in terms of the mental toughness and unshakable confidence that became baked into their dynastic DNA. It would've been so easy to roll over after blowing Game 1, but Klay came out firing like nothing had even happened, finishing with 34 points (29 in the first half) while knocking down eight of his nine 3-pointers.
For Thompson and the Warriors, this was just an incredible response against a Spurs team that would go on to win that year's championship. Years later, Draymond Green told me that the Warriors "one-hundred percent" would've won that Spurs series had they not blown Game 1. I would add the caveat of "if Curry hadn't sprained his ankle in Game 3," but Green's point is well taken.
Golden State absolutely dominated San Antonio, on the road, leading for well over 90% of the minutes through the first two games including this wire-to-wire victory in Game 2. This was a tone setter for so much greatness to come, both for Klay and the Warriors as a whole.
11. 2016 3-point contestAfter losing in the final against Curry the year prior, Thompson came back to All-Star weekend in 2016 and put on a show for the ages by draining his final eight shots to take home the crown. Listening to Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller, two all-time great shooters in their own right, marvel about Klay's shooting and his effortless form was a treat, all against the backdrop of a building crescendo of energy that went through the roof when Thompson held the follow-through on his final make.
Keep in mind, this was the height of the Splash Brothers hoopla. They are probably the two greatest shooters in history on the same team. Everyone in the basketball world wanted to watch these guys actually shoot against each other. That is a lot of pressure to perform against an almost impossible standard, and Klay pulled it off. Legendary stuff.
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