ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Klay Thompson did it again. Sort of.
Much like the third quarter of the Sacramento Kings game back on January 23rd, 2015, when he lit Oracle on fire with 37 points, Thompson fell into a groove, made three-pointers with the millisecond releases, and ended up scoring 26 points in the second quarter — building a 22-point lead at halftime of tonight’s Golden State Warriors victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
“My teammates did a great job of finding me,” Thompson told reporters in the locker room, postgame. “(They) put it right in the shooting pocket every time.”
“Well, he only had 26 in the quarter,” quipped Warriors head coach Steve Kerr at the postgame press conference. “So it really wasn’t that impressive to me. I’ve seen 37, so whatever, Klay.”
Thompson agreed, sort of.
“It felt different (than the 37 against the Kings). I don’t think I’ll ever get 37 points in a quarter again. It was different, but a similar situation, though.”
In all seriousness, the second quarter became a bit of a frenzy as, like in the performance against the Kings, Thompson’s teammates went overboard in trying to get him the ball so he could take another “heat-check” shot.
“We actually got in trouble a couple times trying to force it to him abandoned all our plays,” said Stephen Curry to reporters after the game.
“That was the one thing I was disappointed in with the first half,” said Kerr. “It was a frenzy to get the ball to Klay and we turned the ball over three or four times. Instead of being up 30 at the half, we were up 22.”
“It was the perfect time for somebody else to get a layup.”
A little easier said than done, according to Curry.
“The crowd loves it and he gets all giddy,” said Curry. “I think I celebrated before a couple of them even went in, turning around, holding the three sign up…It almost looks like my 9-year-old AAU team like trying to just dribble around, set screens for him, and just hand him the ball.”
And if you ask Draymond Green, it was damned if you, damned if you don’t.
“Coach was kind of pissed off, started yelling at me,” Green said.
“I couldn’t stop laughing, but if I shoot the ball, I was probably going to get booed and if I dribbled any longer, I was probably going to get booed. So it was kind of a lose-lose situation for me.”
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