Chase Center, San Francisco.
Klay Thompson sat alone on the bench for the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers players and coaches have ended hugging each other and disappeared into the aisle camera. The Warriors played Avicii's remix "Levels" as usual after the victory, "Sometimes, I feel good... Get a feeling of renewal. ”
The music resounded through the loudspeakers in the arena, and gradually the sound of music was replaced by the ambient sound of the crowd chirping and chatting. Those privileged with post-match passes have lined up to enter the reserved area to meet and greet.
After a long time, Klay Thompson was still sitting there. It took a full 35 minutes. He sat curled up in his seat, elbows on his knees, hands clasped, staring at the floor in front of him. There were still some fans left who had not left the stadium, and the security guards urged them to leave. They saw Thompson and began to call out his name. "Thompson! Thompson! He nodded at their rhythm. He waved his fists and listened to another shout from over the arena— "Clay, we love you!" He slapped the position of his heart, responding to the cry of admiration from another place. Finally, he returned to calm and stared at the pitch.
Perhaps, he was imagining himself on the floor, and he had not yet been baptized with a new home.
On Nov. 27, the Warriors beat the Blazers 118-103. Stephen Curry contributed solidly with 32 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, Draymond Green 12 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists, and Andrew Wiggins 25 points and five rebounds. The Warriors improved their record to 17-2 and continued their hot season start. They have always pressed the Phoenix Suns, who have won 16 consecutive games, to firmly hold the top spot in the league. As Curry marches forward with the team, the joyful, infectious atmosphere that once belonged to the Golden State Warriors comes back in circles.
The Warriors are living their lives with their fingers crossed, hoping the All-Star shooter will return with them to the place where they once were and chase the championship again. Thompson's ambitions certainly aren't just about returning to the game.
"I love the feeling of being questioned and I hope people can continue to question us." I saw on TV the other day that a lot of people think the Warriors aren't title contenders, but it's just because our schedule is lighter. "Please, we've won championships, MVP, defensive players, and that disrespect confuses me." We've won so many championships and gone through countless stressful moments, do we need to continue to question us? ”
On the 23rd, Thompson participated in the training of the whole team. This is the first time he has played in team training since suffering a torn left anterior cruciate ligament in the sixth game of the 2019 Finals and a torn right Achilles tendon in 2020.
When a world-class athlete looks back on his own process of shooting and practicing shooting in his childhood, he may think of the joy of being with basketball. Just like when a young person looks back on his teeth and toddlers in his early childhood, he may feel embarrassed, but he can't remember the hardships of that time. Thompson suffered a series of heavy injuries, and all he had to do after the operation was to start practicing basketball again as a young man, starting from walking, running, and jumping.
"I have a hunch that this is the hardest part of his journey. More than two years, it's been a long time," Curry continued with his hand on his cheek and a moment of silence, "because he was regaining his former basketball touch every day, he started playing training games and warming up with us, and in many cases he was with us, but he still couldn't play." ”
"The good thing is that we're talking about weeks rather than months. I'm very proud of his performance in the two-year window, because unless he wants to write a book about every step of the way, no one can understand what he's been going through for so long off the field. It also proves how important the sport is to him. Curry said.
Although there is news that Thompson is expected to make a comeback before Christmas, head coach Steve Kerr has repeatedly reiterated that There is no exact comeback date for Thompson at present, and the coaching staff hopes that Thompson will continue to build up physical strength and endurance after leaving the game for so long.
For Thompson, he wants to get back to his best. "I don't want to come back when it becomes an empty shell. I want to go back to where I was last time I played, when I was one of the best players in the world. This is Thompson's rhetoric in an interview after his first full-team training session.
The day the Warriors played against the Trail Blazers, 898 days have passed since Thompson's last appearance in the NBA. Thompson's post-game image is very different from his usual image, and he has always been confident, humorous, tenacious, and full of affinity for teammates and fans, which vividly illustrates the elusive side of the human spirit. Even if he earns $37.98 million this season, he still has money to pay for it when he doesn't play.
In the final stages of the recovery process, you can fully feel how excited he is about playing again. It is understandable why his emotions fluctuate in the opposite direction at this moment. He was about to get back to what he loved best, but at the same time he had to be patient. Or it is this "more timid feeling of homesickness" that causes him to become more nervous and worried the closer he gets to his comeback. Missing a season due to injury, many players are no longer in the same state as their previous games. Why else would people be amazed at kevin Durant's horrible scoring efficiency after his Achilles tendon rupture?
Besides, Thompson was absent for two full years.
Before the injury in the 2019 Finals, Thompson was the world's second-largest scorer in the basketball world, with 60 points in a single game, 37 points in a single quarter, 14 three-pointers in a single game, and 11 three-pointers in the sixth game of the Western Conference Finals... Turning to those records, the NBA's 77th biggest star in its 75th anniversary is not blindly bragging.
In the summer of 2019, Thompson came to China shortly after surgery. That time I saw Thompson, a long scar on his knee looked more than ten centimeters, shocking. Will the Warriors lose competitiveness because of your season reimbursement? He firmly believes that the Warriors will be as strong as ever until he returns from injury.
Looking at the Warriors this season, not only is the offensive efficiency ranked second in the league, but the defensive efficiency is at the top of the league. Averaging 29.5 assists per game ranks first in the league, on par with the average of assists per game in 2017-18.
In a post-game press conference, teammate Green commented: "I don't know how many people love basketball as much as Thompson, love games as much as he does. I often say we're like dominoes. He's a contender, he's one of the strongest contenders I've ever seen in my life. ”
The more competitive a person is, the less he wants to lose. In Thompson's view, the opportunity for a comeback is within reach, but it is too far away to grasp. Thompson is sincere enough not to hide himself in these moments.
Some emotions, if you don't want to hide them, you don't have to cover them up. He is willing to be so transparent and share his vulnerability in this difficult time with the fans, so that the fans can feel his emotions. The best thing to do with Thompson's successful return is to sit next to him when he's depressed. As the Bible says in The Book of Romans: Rejoice with the joyful, weep with the weeping.
Thompson leaned back in his chair and looked up at the arena ceiling. He covered his face with a towel as he breathed, doing his best to calm his emotions. Finally, he returned to his previous posture, and he didn't know where his thoughts were going. He put a towel over his head, and people couldn't see his face, only that he occasionally wiped his eyes with a towel.
It's a mess.
This isn't the first time Thompson's emotions have gotten out of control. Last season, in the Warriors' home game against the Denver Nuggets, he was also a bit overwhelmed. It was the first time the Chase Center had welcomed fans since the outbreak of the pandemic, and Curry ventured behind the bench outside of social distancing as a player to comfort his good brother. That was his 681st day away from the field.
This time, Cole came out and sat to his left. The coach patted Thompson on the back and whispered words of encouragement. De Marco, the assistant coach who came out with Cole, stood in front of Thompson as a sign of support. Curry came out of the locker room and sat on Thompson's right. After a brief pause with his family and friends, Green also walked over to accompany his good brother who was having an emotional breakdown.
"He loves to play, and the thought of not being able to fight with the team for two years makes himself unable to do so for a while. He's very bloody, which makes him look vulnerable and excited at times, but that's what makes him a person. ”
"He really wants to get back on the pitch, so thinking about what has been taken away in the last two years, he sometimes gets frustrated." Cole explained to the media.
He saw defenders flying toward him, blurring his vision of the basket and forcing him to rely on muscle memory to shoot. You know, as the ball spins in the air, he can almost feel the long-awaited adrenaline rush. But he could not experience it himself, and could only build such a scene in the palace of memory.
He wants to defend Lillard, as he used to do in the playoffs; he wants to shoot the three-pointer that quelled the Blazers' offense in the fourth quarter; he also wants to turn to the audience after the Warriors' game and direct them to stand...
Before the Warriors played the 76ers, Thompson didn't hesitate when asked if the Warriors could win a championship this season. He said I was also more motivated than before, and I wanted the championship too much.
At 9:54 p.m., Thompson finally stood up surrounded by his championship teammates. He left the Warriors' bench and disappeared into the aisle. A smile hung on his face as he left.
"The husband is not tearless, does not spill parting", the aspirant human feelings are deeply meaningful. Thousands of people are looking forward to seeing Klay Thompson continue to march in sonorous steps.