SAN FRANCISCO — Klay Thompson’s lip snarled. His first basket in 941 days — a floater for the Warriors’ first points — didn’t feel like this one. No, after re-entering toward the end of the first half, Thompson took his defender off the dribble, crossed over and soared toward the rim. It elicited memories of the play that started this journey, 941 days ago, but this time, Thompson landed on both feet. The comeback was complete.
“When those lights are the brightest, I just felt bouncy,” Thompson said. “It felt so good I just threw that down. I did not expect that. … That felt really good. Really good. Really good, guys.”
Getting back on defense after the dunk, Thompson couldn’t help but exhibit some attitude. Not only was the Warriors’ beloved star back from a two-year absence, his explosiveness looked no worse for the wear after tears to his left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and right Achilles tendon. He made a poster out of two Cavaliers and brought down the house inside a sold-out Chase Center.
“He wasn’t shy, was he?” coach Steve Kerr said afterward.
The crowd was ready to burst for all of Thompson’s limited time on the court. He was immediately penciled into the starting five and drew the loudest and longest ovation of any player during introductions, the first time his name has echoed through the rafters of Chase Center, which hadn’t opened the last time Thompson played a game.
After two seasons in the shadows, Thompson scored 17 points — about 3 fewer than his career scoring average — in 20 minutes, on 7-of-18 shooting (3-for-8 from 3) in his return to the spotlight.
“Yeah,” Thompson said, smiling, in his final words before leaving the stage. “Eighteen shots in 20 minutes. Nothing’s really changed.”
It took 40 seconds of game time for Thompson to get his first basket. He curled around a screen, bursted toward the basket and let go of a floater from 8 feet. The reaction from the crowd was enough to know it had fallen true — the Warriors’ first basket in his first game back with the Warriors.
There was no stoppage of play, no official celebration. Thompson moseyed over to Steph Curry around midcourt and slapped hands. Curry smiled and laughed. Thompson, all business, remained straight faced. Being back out there was celebration enough.
Kerr drew up the opening play, but it was designed to get Thompson a touch — not a bucket. As Kerr was detailing the plan of attack, Thompson apparently piped up. He was meant to be a decoy but wanted it run to his good side anyway, Curry said.
“(Kerr) didn’t get to finish writing up the play,” Curry said. “Klay was like, ‘No, can we switch it to the other side?’ Because he likes that way coming off the catch-and-shoot.”
“Well,” Thompson said, “I was so excited that I saw a lane to the basket so I just took the opportunity. It was a really tough floater.”
“I should have known better,” Kerr said with a laugh.
“It was perfect,” Curry said. “He drove and got the finish.”
The Splash Brothers’ reunion wasn’t truly complete until Thompson’s first 3-pointer, which came with 1:18 left before halftime and counted as Thompson’s 12,000th career point. His next 3, 2:50 into the second half, gave him 1,800 for his career.
Thompson saw his time in spurts of about 4 minutes each at the start and end of each quarter. Despite limited action, Thompson made his presence felt — for more reasons than the energy emanating through the arena. In 20 minutes, Thompson launched 18 shots.
“That is so Klay Thompson,” Curry said.
“I’m just so happy right now,” Thompson said. “I did not shoot as well as I wanted to, but I’m just so happy I could even look at the stat sheet and see my name again.”
For everyone in the arena, Sunday was all about Klay.
A little more than an hour before tipoff, television cameras gathered outside the Warriors locker room, hoping to capture Thompson on his way to the court for warm-ups. They almost missed him.
Thompson sprinted out of the locker room, showing his fervor for the night to start and forcing the cameramen to play catch up. On the other side of the tunnel, about a dozen paces down the hallway, fans lined up three deep on the railing.
They roared when Thompson emerged, and on each of his warm-up shots that followed. The first shot, a baseline jumper, swished through the net. Screams. The second, from beyond the arc, and more cheers. It kept up for another four shots.
“I got to feel that energy when he got out there,” Curry said. “The first, like, four shots he made, I was catching myself — it felt like a game. Everybody was going nuts. I was like, ‘He can shoot. He ain’t lost that ability.’”
Thompson wore a stoic expression throughout the countdown to tipoff. He strutted back through the tunnel, steps behind Curry, and responded to the clamoring fans by giving a single, subtle pump with both his fists.
The moment Thompson allowed himself to soak it all in came just before tipoff, when his name roared over the public address system at Chase Center for the very first time. The only thought going through his head: “Wow.”
“Just, ‘Wow,’” Thompson said. “I can’t believe this is really here. … That’s all I can really think is just, ‘Wow. … This is unbelievable. This was worth every second.’”
Before tipoff Sunday, Kerr gathered his players and reminded them of highly charged emotional stakes. At a game day meeting with his staff earlier that day, Kerr said the prospect of Thompson’s return started to become reality.
“It feels surreal, honestly, just having our coaches meeting and actually talking about Klay,” Kerr said. “It felt great, but it felt strange. It’s been so long. … The hard part, for sure, is being able to settle in to the game and be able to beat a really good team.”
The Warriors have avoided speculating about the moment that was finally realized Sunday night. They feared putting too much pressure on a player coming off such an extended absence.
Thompson tore his ACL on a dunk attempt in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena, then on the verge of recovery ruptured his opposite Achilles in November 2020.
He had become intimately familiar with the training facilities inside Chase Center but had yet to hear his name boom from its public address system during introductions.
“We’ve all seen him suffer for two and a half years,” Kerr said.
The response in the arena represented the payoff of a long and arduous journey. No player has ever suffered Thompson’s consecutive injuries without playing a game in between.
It also served as proof of the special relationship between Thompson, the organization and its fans. Sunday was “Klay Day” for players and fans alike.
The first group of players to take the floor for pregame warm-ups were all sporting different variations of Warriors jerseys, with one thing in common: “THOMPSON 11” on the back. Every player arrived at the arena sporting a Thompson jersey. Curry’s was a gray, sleeved version. Jonathan Kuminga and Damion Lee turned theirs around so Thompson’s name appeared on the front.
Juan Toscano-Anderson, who grew up on Oakland’s 95th Avenue and can be considered as much an authority on the Bay Area as anyone, showed up in a navy blue “Oakland” alternate. Thompson, he said, “could move to Oakland forever.”
“Klay could move to 95th if he wanted to,” Toscano-Anderson said. “Klay is beloved in the Bay, like Klay is one of us. … The magnitude of this moment is so big for us, for the Golden State Warriors organization, but also just the Bay too.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com