It was a throwback type of night for Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson, who erupted for 54 points in Monday’s double-overtime win over the Hawks.
That’s just the way it went in the NBA on Monday — Thompson scored 54, the Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell scored 71 and LeBron James scored 43 in a win over the Hornets.
All three came in wins. But for Thompson, coming off two major leg injuries suffered in 2019, it was something a lot of people never saw coming.
“It’s better than good, amazing,” he told reporters after the Warriors’ 143-141 win. “Those moments where you have the ball with the game on the line down the stretch and your teammates trust you, those are what you really live for as a competitor, as a basketball player. It was hard to see those at times during the rehab process.”
Thompson’s eruption came just a week shy of his return to the court last season — on Jan. 9, 2022.
“He just made shot after shot and play after play, he was incredible,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Interestingly, the game didn’t end until Thompson bricked a final shot that was rebounded by Warriors big man Kevon Looney, who followed in the miss to beat the buzzer.
Somehow, the defending champions have managed to stay afloat without injured star Steph Curry, who missed his ninth straight game with a partially dislocated left shoulder.
Almost all of their success has come at home, and often barely, as they are a miserable 3-16 on the road. Many of those games came with Curry.
But performances like the one given by Thompson are undoubtedly promising. Perhaps it is a sign that the Warriors will eventually pull it together and again play their best when it means the most. They are known for that, after all.
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