SAN FRANCISCO — Nothing about Klay Thompson’s approach changed, he insists. But the numbers certainly have.
It wasn’t long ago that Thompson reached the lowest point of his season, benched for the first time in his career during crunch time in a loss to Phoenix on Dec. 12. He threw towels, kicked chairs and yelled at anyone around him who could hear. For as ugly it looked, something sparked in his vexed mind.
Since the Warriors game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 14, Thompson is averaging 25.7 points per game shooting 50% from 3 on 11 attempts per game. Golden State is a total plus-17 when Thompson is on the floor over those six games in which the Warriors have gone 5-1. He had 28 points, including 11 straight over a pivotal two-minute stretch in the Warriors’ 126-106 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night.
And now the Warriors (15-14), over. 500 for the first time in six weeks, take a five-game winning streak into a Christmas Day showdown against the Denver Nuggets (21-10).
For the hot stretch coach Steve Kerr credits Thompson’s decision-making — better shot selection and making the extra pass — for his efficiency. Call it self-preservation of his killer instinct; Thompson doesn’t think his shot selection has changed.
“I feel like every time I shoot the ball it’s a good shot,” Thompson said. “They seem to be going in at a higher frequency over the last five or six games, but I’m not going to let anyone tell me after all these years — I feel like I can make every shot. Any shot, not every shot.”
Acknowledged or not, something has shifted with his game since that day in Phoenix. When teams send another man to guard him or apply some extra pressure, he’s moved away from taking defenders off the dribble for a contested shot. He’s seeing the pressure and instinctually looking for the open player, often on an entry pass to the open man.
The shift in his patience is no coincidence. And neither is his hot scoring streak. After scoring at least 20 points in five of his first 22 games, Thompson has scored 30, 24, 28, 24, 20 and 28 over his last six.
“It’s competitive spirit and healthy ego of understanding who you are as a player and responding when things don’t go your way,” Steph Curry said. “That’s what we’ve done our entire careers and what he’s shown from time to time, you have to make certain adjustments and he’s done that. Let the game come to him and make the easy play. We know he can shoot, that will never leave him.”
The lack of a secondary scorer was a common denominator through the Warriors’ struggles that saw a six-game losing streak and put them four games under .500. A 20-point game from anyone other than Curry was rare and pressure for Kerr to ween off struggling veterans such as Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney mounted. Thompson’s crunch-time benching was the moment steadfast faith in their tried-and-true ways officially cracked.
Draymond Green’s indefinite suspension played a part in the nine-man, all-inclusive rotation that’s caught fire blending the roster’s youthful athleticism with veteran reliance. Not stuck in a half-court offense as much has broken free other scorers in a faster pace and transition. That includes Thompson.
But if that pressure comes, Thompson is passing it off to Dario Saric, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Looney and others to exploit the open space. Now everyone is getting in on the scoring party.
“He’s playing well because he’s playing the right way,” Podziemski said. “Ever since the LA game, he’s had that mindset of, two people come to me, I know someone is open. I’ll let my teammates play four-on-three from there. Ever since he’s done that it’s made it easier for me and JK to make shots because he draws so much attention and a lot of time we’re wide open. Steph and him playing the right way frees things up for the rest of the guys out there.”