ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Sacramento Kings at the Golden State Warriors.
3RD QUARTER: Chef Thompson With The Klay-Pot!
The “iron unkind” from the first half continued for the Warriors at the start of the quarter, as Draymond Green missed a three and Andrew Bogut missed a rare outside jumper.
The Kings took the lead, 58-56, as Darren Collison hit a jumper, Derrick Williams got a reverse layup, and DeMarcus Cousins nailed a step-back long two from the right elbow.
Klay Thompson then committed a turnover as Ben McLemore and Cousins teamed up and went the other way, only to have Green steal it back, then throw the ball into the stands to a miffed Bogut who was nowhere near the incompletion and probably wasn’t the best choice to bring the ball up past half court.
Thoughts of “lunacy” ran through #DubNation, as Warriors fans had not seen this stretch of carelessness of the ball in quite some time.
Klay would hit a jumper to regain the Warriors lead at 60-58 with 9:44 to go in the quarter, but Harrison Barnes and Stephen Curry followed that up with clanks from outside shots.
It wasn’t until a bad pass by Derrick Williams, stolen by Thompson, would turn on the fire in the “Klay-pot”. Thompson took the steal up the court, stopped, and popped from 26 feet, making it 63-60 with 8:21 to play.
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The period would end by the score of 97-73 when all was said and done. After another long two by Cousins that cut the Warriors’ lead to 63-62, Curry made a bad lead pass to Thompson, but Williams missed on the ensuing possession, and Klay got another three assisted by Curry. Kings coach Tyrone Corbin called timeout with 7:12 to go and the Dubs up, 66-64.
After yet another turnover by Curry, his fifth, on an overhead pass that went straight into a big man, Barnes retrieved a mishandled layup by Williams and outlet the ball to Curry, who found Thompson with a one-handed alley-oop:
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After that, Klay scored by threes. Okay, he had some two’s, but they were mostly treys:
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That one above was preceded by a call for a screen, 28 feet out!
There was also a catch-and-pivot, assisted by Justin Holiday from up top, and against the helpless and shorter Ray McCallum. At that point, Thompson had amassed 32 points on 7-for-10 from beyond the arc. The Warriors were up, 77-68, with 4:19 to play in the period.
In fact, Thompson scored 19 straight Warriors points in a span of 5:25, a streak that was broken when he posted up on the high pinch against McCallum and found a wide-open Green under the basket for an easy two.
Klay added a layup from an attack on the left side, finger-rolling with the right hand, a pull-up three-pointer assisted by Curry, a Jordan-esque dribble to the right elbow pull-up, and a three-pointer from the left corner where it appeared he just caught the ball and tossed it in the hoop from 25 feet out, straight from the hip.
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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr even called an elevators play for Thompson out of a side out-of-bounds.
Klay’s record-breaking 37 points in the third quarter ended with him being fouled, yet still making yet another three-pointer — although this one didn’t count because it came at a dead ball after the whistle. Still, Thompson made both free throws and ended the quarter with 50 total points on 16-for-22 shooting, 11-for-14 from downtown.
Thompson was a record-breaking 13-for-13 in the quarter and an astounding 9-for-9 from three-point range.
Roaracle was at a deafening buzz as he sat down:
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4TH QUARTER: Game Over
Kerr had Thompson, who was all smiles, start the fourth quarter to a crowd chanting his name.
The heat-check non-sub resulted in three consecutive misses, although Klay made two free throws. At the 9:29 mark, Kerr finally subbed him out, up 104-75.
The game ended with a few minor highlights including an alley-oop from Marreese Speights to Shaun Livingston and another solid bench performance, albeit in garbage time, for rookie James Michael McAdoo, but the night belonged to Klay Thompson:
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His final line: 52 points, 16-for-25 field, 11-for-15 downtown, 9-for-10 from the line, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 turnovers, and 2 blocked shots. Curry added 10 points, 11 assists, and Green chipped in 11 points, 8 rebounds. Cousins led the Kings with 28 points on 9-for-19 field, 10-for-11 charity stripe.
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