Is there a room for another Splash Brother?
Steve Kerr and the Warriors are known to shake things up from time to time to break up the monotony of an 82-game season. Before Tuesday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Clippers, Jackie Moon ran out of the tunnel with the Warriors and warmed up with one of his biggest fans, Klay Thompson.
Golden State entered the contest riding a five-game losing streak and looking for a way to get out of the doldrums. Perhaps all they needed was a pre-game pep talk from Will Ferrell’s fictional basketball player, because the Warriors rolled to a 112-97 victory that was reminiscent of the team’s run of dominance to begin the season.
Following the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr shared some details about the decision to bring Ferrell, 54, into the fold Tuesday night.
“He actually emailed me a while back and I didn’t believe it was him,” Kerr said. “We exchanged a couple of emails and concocted the plan. He’s a huge Klay Thompson fan and he knows how much Klay dresses up as Jackie Moon. It was just kind of a natural fit and it felt like a good time to do it, just to make everybody laugh in a tough stretch of the season. He was great. He came in our locker room and made the guys laugh. Everybody loved seeing him and hearing from him. He was hilarious. Just something different to do.”
As Thompson told reporters after the game, he often watched "Semi-Pro" throughout his two-and-a-half year rehab from ACL and Achilles injuries to keep his spirits up. Thompson couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Ferrell run out in Moon’s full outfit, complete with a headband, afro, short shorts and knee pads. Not to mention Moon knocked down a logo shot during pregame warmups.
"Not gonna say he was responsible for the win tonight, but I think he was a huge catalyst for why we came out guns blazing,” Thompson said. “He’s a legend."
Draymond Green was cracking up throughout the warmup and was impressed with Moon's jumper. Ol' Jackie even impressed the greatest shooter of all time.
"I think we fed off the energy," Steph Curry said. "I was actually surprised at his form. He actually had some good rotation on the ball."
You can't help but notice Thompson's Moon-like afro and headband in his return. Thompson rocked a No. 77 Moon jersey earlier this year during his rehab, showed up to a 2018 Halloween game in a full-on Flint Tropics uniform and infamously said, "I looked like Jackie Moon out there, so I was feeling good," after his NBA-record 14 3-pointer performance when Headband Klay was born.
Klay admitted it was hard to keep a straight face at times with Ferrell closing him out and yelling as he hoisted pre-game 3-pointers.
“I had no idea that was coming,” Thompson said. “That was so cool. Dreams do come true.”
The good times rolled into the game, as the Warriors used a 14-0 run in the second quarter to create separation and seize control. By the end of it, Thompson and Jordan Poole scored 20 points apiece, in the first game where both of them reached the 20-point plateau as teammates.
Poole has been on an absolute tear over the past week. He didn’t have any 20-point games the previous month but now has rattled off four straight, averaging 24.5 points and 4.5 assists while knocking down 19-of-32 3-pointers (59.4 percent) in that span. Despite the struggles through February, Poole said his confidence never dipped.
“I don’t really think I lost it or it went up or down,” Poole said.
Listen to Bay Area sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest Warriors team gear
While some have been quick to stoke a potential Klay vs. Poole debate when it comes to Kerr’s choice at shooting guard in crunch time, Kerr’s late rotations beg to ask: why not both? It’s clear that Kerr likes the combo of Curry, Thompson and Poole on the floor together. The undersized backcourt of Curry and Poole can cause some defensive matchup problems, but Kerr thinks it can be neutralized with the right frontcourt combo.
Steph thinks a trio alongside Thompson and Poole can be dangerous for opposing teams to defend.
“There’s enough shooting and playmaking that we can work off each other really well,” Curry said. “We just gotta make shots, obviously, and you gotta do it on the defensive end. We can push the pace, too. You got Klay running the wing, me or Jordan bringing it up – kinda pick your poison-type vibe but we gotta get enough stops to make teams pay for that. Tonight was a good night with our stretch of minutes.”
The Curry, Thompson and Poole trio played a total of 6:13 together Tuesday night but only registered a +1 in the plus/minus. Curry dished two assists to Poole and helped loosen up the floor for him in the second quarter, while Poole assisted Klay on a mid-range jumper in the fourth quarter.
It’s also worth noting that Andrew Wiggins – who has been slumping lately but recorded a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double Tuesday – wasn’t on the floor for the final 7:35 of the game. In some matchups, Wiggins’ perimeter defense might be a valuable asset, but Poole’s offense is also a quality card for Kerr to hold up his sleeve.
“As we get other people healthy, we’ve got more protection for that group,” Kerr said of Curry, Thompson and Poole. “In terms of rim protection and rotations. I think we’ll be able to play those three guys quite a bit.”
