James and Curry are a group of opponents that have attracted the world's attention, having met in the Finals four times, leaving the two with inseparable emotions, and after James arrived at the Lakers, the intersection between the two in the regular season has increased, but the encounter in the playoffs has decreased slightly. Today the Lakers and warriors met again in the game, but today's protagonist is not James or Curry, but another star - Klay Thompson.
In today's game, Klay Thompson only played 30 minutes, he shot 12 of 22, including 5 of 9 three-pointers, efficiently cut 33 points and 5 rebounds, including 16 points in the last quarter, in the scorching fourth quarter, Thompson single-handedly repelled the Lakers' attack, making James's efforts in vain. Today we're going to talk about the player Klay Thompson.
Perfect scoring guard figure. Thompson was selected by the Warriors with the 11th pick in the first round of 2011 and has been playing for the Warriors, now 32 years old, 198cm tall, weighing 97kg, with an arm span of 206cm, standing height of 263cm, very perfect guard figure. Compared with the two most famous scoring guards in history, Jordan is 198cm tall, weighs 98kg, has an arm span of 212cm, and stands tall by 267cm; Kobe Bryant is 199cm tall, weighs 97kg, has an arm span of 211cm, and stands at 267cm; except for a slightly poor arm span, the other physical conditions are almost exactly the same.
Super defensive ability. There are not many defenders who can compare with Thompson in terms of defensive ability, not thin or fat, dressed thin and stripped of flesh, full of lower limb strength, single defense James no pressure. After entering the NBA, he slowly grew into the Warriors' outside defensive gates, in the 2011-12 rookie season, Thompson averaged 12.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.3 blocks per game, the data may be difficult to reflect his defensive power, but look at his game to know that from the first position to the fourth position, he can do well.
Top three-pointer ability. When it comes to three-pointers, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely Curry, for Thompson, three-pointers are also his strength, in the league, it can be said that one person is above ten thousand people, second only to Curry. So far, not counting this season, Thompson has played 8 seasons, each season's three-point shooting rate is more than 40%, the stability is not lost Curry, of which the 2014-19 season, five consecutive seasons of average three-pointers per game are more than 3, not only shooting accurately, but also scoring more, the current career average can hit 2.9 three-pointers per game, shooting rate as high as 41.8%, as a comparison, the NBA's top three-pointer master Ray Allen's career three-point shooting rate is 40.0%, Reggie Miller is 39.5 percent, Curry is 42.8 percent and Thompson's three-pointer performance is elite.
Super psychological quality. Warriors in difficult moments, Thompson can always stand up, that year and the Thunder playoff war, May 29, 2016, the 6th Game of the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder with a 3-2 lead back to The Russian City, one more win, can eliminate the Warriors, this game Thunder has been pressing the Warriors to play. However, Thompson stepped up and shot 14 of 31 from the field, including 11 of 18 from three-point range, and cut down 41 points and 4 rebounds, leading the Warriors to a 108-101 narrow victory over the Thunder and dragging the series into the seventh. Laying the groundwork for the subsequent victory, the Warriors owner directly offered Thompson his knee after the game. Desperate to see Thompson, the truth of the Warriors. Today's game against the Lakers, the same is true, to be able to have such a performance, thanks to Thompson's super psychological quality, he is a player born for the big scene, no moment is fearless.
Seriously injured for two and a half years, the return of the king was staged. Thompson's career has experienced two serious injuries in the left knee anterior cross cruciate ligament tear, right Achilles tendon tear twice, these two injuries are natural enemies of basketball players, many players are one of these two injuries, and Thompson has encountered both, it can be said to be very unfortunate, which also directly led to his two consecutive seasons of reimbursement, the long recovery process, will make many players collapse, but in Thompson here is fine, after two and a half years, more than 900 days of long waiting, he staged the return of the king, This season averaged 24.7 minutes per game, can score 17.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.5 blocks, the performance is very good, although the three-point shooting rate is the lowest 38.9% of his career, but for the average player, it is already very powerful, as the season progresses, his three-point shooting rate will still reach more than 40%, which I am still very confident.
The adaptability is invincible, and the role players play at the superstar level. Thompson this player, he is not like James, Westbrook and Harden such players, need to have the ball in hand to play the strongest power, Thompson does not occupy the ball, does not stick to the ball, take the ball to shoot, run the league top without the ball, his play style is more like a role player, but to give you the level of playing a superstar, to score he can also give you points, there have been 37 points in a single quarter, 60 points in three quarters, invincible fit, almost perfect for any team, to say who is the most perfect partner in the league with James, Thompson should not let go.
Of course, no one is perfect, Thompson has a certain weakness, that is, his ability to hold the ball is weak, the ability to dominate the ball is poor, he can't be like Jordan and Kobe Bryant, the top guards, if the team needs, you can play the team's main controller, so in the assists, it has not been very high. In addition, Thompson is really the perfect player, if a team to choose people, Thompson will be most of the general managers like the player.
In addition, although in terms of personal honors, Thompson has fewer, only 4 weekly bests, best rookie first team, 2 best lineup three-time, 5 all-star, 1 all-star three-point contest champion, 3 championships, 1 best defensive lineup second team. But he's a team player, and the stats don't fully reflect his importance, but he's no less important to a team than the team's number one star. His return this season has put the Warriors back in the ranks of strong contenders for the championship.