Thompson returned to the court after a long and arduous recovery, and although he has not yet fully recovered, he has already helped the Warriors in substance and morale
Warriors guard Thompson has always been a very special person, not much like those NBA billionaires. His best friend on the Warriors is Pachulia, who now serves on the team's management, and both have a distinctive sense of humor and a strong heart. In Pachulia's office there is a watch-framed newspaper clipping containing evidence that Pachulia scored a high score on Thompson. This happened in the second round of the 2017 playoffs, the Warriors' third game against the Jazz, Thompson's lowest-scoring game of the season, with just six points, while Killer Pachulia scored seven. While practicing the next day, Pachulia gave Thompson the gift, and Clay said, "It's not funny, I'm going to burn it." "Pachulia hurried to get the bag back." You're just in a special relationship with someone, my personality and his personality are funny, I'll bully him, he'll bully me, we'll keep joking. Pachulia said, "I know his parents, his brothers. There are many factors that we will be so involved, but the main thing is his personality, he is so easy to get along with. ”
Warriors forward Pachulia is good friends with Thompson, and he has worked for the Warriors after retiring and still often jokes with Thompson
Thompson and the Warriors centers have a good relationship, a bit like a version of american football's quarterback and offensive front. His playing style relies on these big men to help him block the gap and help him do hard work. Australian centre forward Bogut, who helped the Wave Brothers win his first career title in 2015, also praised Thompson as an interesting man. In a phone interview with Tim Kawakami, a veteran reporter for the Bay Area of the athletic website, Bogut told a story that happened during the 2016 Olympics, "We live in the athletes' village, and the U.S. team is too big to live in the athletes' village, they seem to have a cruise ship or something." 」 We had one day after practice, back at the players' village, we got off the bus and got ready to go back to the room, when I suddenly saw Clay, in the uniform of the American team, hanging out with headphones. I asked him, 'Clay, what are you doing here?' And he said, 'No, I just want to see what the village chief looks like.' He came alone, no other players, not even the security guards. Then he asked me where I was going, and I said we were going back to the Australian team headquarters, and he asked him if he could go with me, and I said of course. He followed me back, and there were a couple of Australian players he knew, like Barnes, and after two or three hours of his time, I thought he was flashing, so I went downstairs to dinner, and I didn't expect to see him playing table tennis with a member of the Australian gymnastics team. It's ridiculous. ”
In addition, Pachulia and West (David West, who won two championships with the Warriors in the last two years of his career) said that their most memorable story was Thompson's 60-point game. West said: "The previous day's practice Clay overslept, and this is the first time I've seen this happen during my time with the Warriors. He was such a reliable man that no one knew what was going on. It turned out that before that game he was super quiet, several times quieter than before, and then, then he took off. I've never seen anyone bounce back in this way. Pachulia also said that he did not remember that during his Warriors time, there were other veterans who practiced and missed, but Thompson used the method of cutting 60 points in the third quarter the next day to say, "We all told him, you don't want to practice again in the future." It sounds like nothing, but for those of us who know him well, it's very Clay. ”
Warriors' former power forward West (center) witnessed Thompson (left) soaring 60 points in a single game to make up for the late arrival of the previous day's practice
It was this burning fire of competition that allowed Thompson to rush back to the field to complete the free throw after tearing his left knee ACL in the sixth game of the 2019 final. It is also this flame that allows him to continue to support the long and harsh road to recovery on the eve of his return in 2020, after breaking Achilles tendon. In this year's draft, the Warriors held the second pick (they did not make the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons), and Thompson was finally ready to return after a year of recuperation, all indications are that the Warriors will only go one level lower and are about to bounce back. The mood in the draft room was very optimistic until General Manager Miles received a phone call. Pachulia, who was also in the selection room at the time, recalled that Miles's phone kept ringing, and many of the team's GMs called to inquire about the possibility of a deal. Miles looked relaxed until one of the phone calls. "You can see the expression on his face collapse immediately."
Miles walked out of the room to listen to the phone, and suddenly everyone in the selection room knew that something big had happened, and the original joyful atmosphere instantly froze. A few minutes later, Miles returned to the camp and announced the bad news, "Clay was playing street basketball in Los Angeles when Achilles tendon broke. Pachulia said, like a child who was expecting to release a balloon, after answering the phone, the balloon was punctured.
Miles immediately reported the bad news to the team owner and then called Curry. On the other end of the megaphone, Curry listened almost dead to Miles, Pachulia said. Achilles tendon is a dead end for athletes, and many people can never find their original speed, agility and explosiveness after suffering this injury. According to the American Journal of Sports Medicine orthopedics, from 1970 to 2019, a total of 47 NBA players tore Achilles tendons, and their performance would drop by 20 to 40 in the first year of their return, while after injury, these players only had 80 to 85 of their strength left. After the injury, their NBA lifespan is only an average of 2.8 seasons remain. While there are examples of kobe, durant, Wiggins and others coming back successfully, there are more of Brand, Ellis and Okur.
Thompson himself said 2020 was the worst year of his life. After a long and boring ACL recovery, he has to face another, more unpredictable injury. Pachulia has an analogy with Clay's psychological trauma, which is 'chicken coop syndrome' – a chicken that has been in a cage for a year and a half, and when it is released, it will immediately return to the cage, because there it has a sense of security. "Clay was like being locked up in a 'can't play' cage, he couldn't play basketball, and the basketball door was closed to him. What should you do? I don't know. The process of figuring it out is very dark. ”
Fortunately, Thompson had a hobby from childhood to adulthood, which was the sea. His father is from the Bahamas, and when he was a child, he was fascinated by the beautiful sea when he returned to his hometown with his father. During these two difficult years, Clay bought a yacht and used it as a commuting tool for him to go to the Chase Center and as a safe haven away from tradition. His films on the yacht have made him a well-known Internet celebrity, especially the captain's hat, which has become his registered trademark.
It was quite difficult to erase the shadow of Achilles' tendon laceration, but fortunately the sea soothed Thompson's heart. He probably attained enlightenment from the Demon King: "Miracles will only come to those who do not give up, do not underestimate miracles." ”
A few days before Clay's return, Pachulia was walking late at night at the Warriors' training base when he heard the sound of shots. He originally thought that it was a newcomer who stayed behind to continue practicing after the team practiced. Curious, Pachulia wanted to see who it was, only to discover that it was Thompson, who was alone in his jersey and practicing shooting at night. "This is him, he is already a superstar, still so strong." Finally, Pachuria, dressed in a suit, stood under the basket to help his friend pick up the ball until late at night.
The first game of the Wave Brothers reunion has become one of the famous scenes in the history of the Warriors, and although Thompson still has a 22-minute playing time limit per game, he has been playing better and better, and in the fifth game against the Pistons, the shooting rate has approached 50%, and he has scored more than 20 for the first time. It may be a long way from Thompson, who scored 60 points in just 29 minutes, but at least the strongest point shooter of all time has returned to the court, walking through the valley of death and surviving the great waves of life.