Klay Thompson has given the Golden State Warriors something extra to think about heading into Thursday night.
The veteran sharpshooter, now with the Miami Heat, finished off his latest surge with a game-winning three against the L.A. Clippers on Wednesday night, a shot that capped a much-needed turnaround after a brutal opening stretch in Miami. For a Warriors team that knows Thompson as one of its franchise legends, the timing makes the matchup at Chase Center even more interesting.
Thompson’s start with the Heat was rough from the jump. In the preseason, he averaged just 4.3 points while shooting 26.9% from the floor and 15% from three-point range.
That slump carried into the regular season, where he managed only 7.8 points on 31.7% shooting through the first five games. His role even looked shaky, with his minutes cut to 15 and 17 in the final two games of that stretch as Miami stumbled to a 1-4 record.
Then came the reset.
Over the past three games, Thompson has looked like himself again. He scored 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting in a win over the Indiana Pacers, followed that with 19 points on 4-of-7 from deep in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, and then delivered the biggest shot of the night Wednesday at the Intuit Dome.
With Miami staring at a 2-6 start and trailing by two with three seconds left in overtime, Thompson broke free to the corner after a timeout and buried the go-ahead triple for a 117-116 win. It was his eighth made three of the game. He finished with a season-high 30 points, along with five rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes.
Now he heads into Thursday with momentum, and the Warriors are the next team in line.
Golden State is chasing a sixth straight win, but it will have to do it against a Miami team playing on the second night of a back-to-back. Even with the Heat still trying to settle in through eight games, they bring enough talent to make life difficult for a Warriors group that will be without Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, Kristaps Porzingis and Gui Santos.
And Thompson, after rediscovering his shot, arrives with plenty of confidence. He knows he’s still one of the league’s most dangerous perimeter threats, and he’ll get a chance to prove it against his old team on their home floor.
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Klay Thompson Just Gave Warriors Fans A First They Never Saw
Klay Thompson keeps finding new ways to add to a career that already had a long list of big moments, and this one came in a uniform Warriors fans never expected to see him wear. Playing for the Miami Heat, Thompson delivered his first career game-winning three-pointer in the final five seconds, lifting Miami to a 117-116 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and adding another late-game chapter to a rsum that was already packed with clutch shots and playoff memories from Golden State.
For Warriors fans, the odd part is how long they watched Thompson thrive in the biggest moments without ever getting this exact finish. He scored 30 points in the game and helped carry the Heat alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, but the lasting image was the shot at the buzzer-window, the kind of moment that somehow had never happened before for one of the leagues most familiar sharpshooters. [Read more 🡒]
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It is the kind of speculation that instantly changes the conversation around Currys final championship chase, because a player of Jokics caliber would reshape the ceiling of the roster in a major way. The uncertainty around Jokics long-term future in Denver, including delayed extension talks and the possibility of free agency, is what makes the rumor worth watching, even if the path to getting him is anything but simple. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Still Have One Big Center Question As Graham Ike Waits
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Ike, meanwhile, remains the name to watch because he has not had enough floor time to really establish whether he can be part of the solution. The Warriors would still like to reshape the position before the trade deadline, with the goal of moving Kristaps Porzingis contract and turning that into a more dependable center option. For now, though, the search continues, and the uncertainty at the spot is still one of the more important roster issues hanging over the team. [Read more 🡒]