“Klay Thompson. A player that I believe in, and he’s going to be a heck of a player in this league. It’s important to take advantage of the opportunities when you get it. He’s worked his tail off and I have no doubts that he’ll be ready to go.”
Klay is well compensated, I shouldn’t ever feel sorry for him. And yet, it’s hard to watch a man flail at his perspective profession–in front of so many damned people. We often play up the human drama inherent in sports, but so much of our focus is on the winners. A rookie who never quite makes it suffers every bit as much as LeBron does in a Finals failure, if not more so. The difference is that LeBorn remains great at that which publicly defines him, whereas a failed rookie needs to new job, identity.
Game Time:
Obsessively charting Klay possessions:
Klay nails a transition 3 at 6:07 in the 1st.
Klay steal leads to Ish layup.
Then: Thompson gets perhaps a bit overconfident, missing on a zipped transition bounce pass. From there, Klay’s game is a microcosm of his team’s: A sputtering disaster, defined by shanked, contested shots, with a smattering of confusing TOs. On two consecutive third quarter possessions, Thompson throws the ball to no one in particular.
Curry: “In the beginning, I started off hot, I got open shots. But they changed their scheme at that point. I think they just wanted somebody else to make a play with the ball.”Story of the game right there. GSW fell apart at the drop of a trap.Follow @SherwoodStrauss