SAN FRANCISCO -- Klay called game.
In his nine contests back with the Warriors, guard Klay Thompson has shown flashes of his former self while looking like a new player. He’s still got the shot, but is putting the ball on the floor more than ever and facilitating like never before. On Saturday night, Clutch Klay showed up for the first time.
With about 20 seconds left in the matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, Steph Curry slowly brought the ball up the court and the Chase Center crowd rose to its feet. They sensed the moment. So did Klay.
Curry dished his Splash Brother the ball and he pulled up from 28 feet and splashed home the key bucket in the thrilling 110-106 win.
"It felt amazing," Thompson said after the game. "It really did. I missed that feeling. It felt absolutely amazing."
It’s a good thing Klay knocked down a trifecta because Kyrie Irving responded with a quick 3-pointer of his own. But the Warriors held on in the final nine seconds to eke out their fifth victory in a row.
After his key three, Klay bounced around the court at Chase Center and nodded his head as if to say, “I’m back.”
As Warriors coach Steve Kerr noted after the game, Thompson still hoisted the shot despite being 1-of-7 from 3-point range at that point.
"And yet, wasn't fazed," Kerr said. "Just stepped right up and knocked down the shot of the game, then made two late free throws. Great to see. I think it's important, too, for Klay to feel those big moments. It's been two-and-a-half years. It's one thing to step into a regular season and play some minutes and get his legs underneath him. It's another thing to have the ball on his hands with the game on the line. You can see it didn't bother him one bit."
Though they struggled for most of the night, the Splash Brothers accounted for 23 of their 35 combined points in the fourth quarter to fend off the feisty Nets, who were without James Harden, a late scratch with a hand injury, and Kevin Durant (knee sprain).
With 5.7 seconds left, Klay iced the game with a pair of free throws to push it to a four-point margin. We’re still in the point of Klay’s recovery where there are a bunch of firsts, and this was his first time closing out a game. Thompson said a night like Saturday can give him something to build on.
"Oh yeah. Big-time," Thompson said. "It's been a feeling I haven't had in a couple years. So any time you can make big shots or stops down the stretch it's gonna do wonders for your confidence."
Despite finishing 5-of-14 from the floor, Thompson couldn't have been happier. Killa Klay lives.
