Klay Thompson’s fearless shooting a necessary component to Warriors’ new
hyped lineup
Warriors star Klay Thompson is finding his groove in group with Curry,
Poole, Wiggins, Green
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 18: Golden State Warriors’ Klay
Thompson (11) celebrates a 3-point basket by Golden State Warriors’
Stephen Curry (30) against the Denver Nuggets in the second quarter of
Game 2 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at the
Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, April 18, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 18: Golden State Warriors’ Klay
Thompson (11) celebrates a 3-point basket by Golden State Warriors’
Stephen Curry (30) against the Denver Nuggets in the second quarter of
Game 2 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at the
Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, April 18, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: April 21, 2022 at 4:43 p.m. | UPDATED: April 22, 2022 at 3:33
a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/04/21/klay-thompsons-fearless-shooting-a-necessary-component-to-warriors-new-hyped-lineup/

Klay Thompson’s spent a lot of his shortened regular season navigating
restrictions.

Still trying to get his feet back under him and work within a minutes
limit, Thompson experienced more lows than highs in his anticipated
return. And though he’s still a half-step behind his excellent
pre-injury defensive standard, Thompson is starting to look like himself
in the playoffs.

The playoffs for Thompson means he’s a key member of many of their
lineups, including the newest hot five-man group, playing the most
minutes (32) of anyone on the team so far.

The 32-year-old has been an integral part of the Warriors’ historic
postseason lineups, including the “Death Lineup,” featuring Andre
Iguodala, Draymond Green, Steph Curry, Harrison Barnes and Thompson in
their 2015 and 2016 Finals runs, and the “Hamptons Five” group that
switched Barnes for MVP Kevin Durant in their runs from 2017-2019.

Thompson has said he spent some of his darkest days rehabbing from
back-to-back ACL and Achilles injuries. He’s seeing the light now up 2-0
against the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. Though
still relatively unproven, he sees potential in this three-guard lineup.

“JP (Jordan Poole) and Steph (Curry) with the ball in their hands will
make great decisions and Draymond is another great decision maker with
shooting on the wings with me and Wiggs,” Thompson said. “It’s been
successful the first two games but we haven’t done anything yet.”

Thompson is right to point out this new uber lineup, still nameless, is
unproven. The Nuggets have a porous perimeter defense whose best,
unsuccessful, counter to the three-point-shooting bonanza was to push up
hard defensively beyond the arc. Should the Warriors hold on and win the
series, this lineup will be challenged defensively — and coach Steve
Kerr may deploy his rotations much differently depending on match-ups.

But for now, sharing the court with either Curry or Poole and Green has
opened up space for Thompson to get comfortable again.

Thompson is still trying to shoot his way back to glory, a bit, which is
resulting in less efficient scoring than his teammates. His 17 shot
attempts per game lead the team, but he’s shooting 47% percent from the
field and 44% from 3. To compare, Curry is shooting 57% from the field
on 15 shot attempts per game, 50% from 3 on eight attempts.

But Thompson’s numbers are in keeping with his career playoff pace,
where he was shooting 41% from 3 and 44% from the field in eight playoff
appearances before this year. The new group is nothing without his
fearless three-point shooting.

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“It’s a passer’s paradise for me,” Green said. “You have Steph and
Jordan, they roam differently than Klay. It’s kind of fluid and you have
to keep an eye on them because they’re moving all over the place. Klay
is a little different. Klay is going to roam when it’s time for him to
get to his spot for a shot.”

Thompson, a member of the 2018-19 all-defensive team, has been critical
of his defensive bounce-back since his return. But he’s improved during
this playoff series.

“Definitely,” Thompson said. “Defense is still hard, staying in front of
athletes is really hard to realize that until these last few years. I’m
getting back there and trusting my teammates. Playing hard and having
fun. You have to make defense fun. It is fun.”

--
Shayna Rubin | Oakland Athletics reporter