As long as he’s on a team with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson will be the third-biggest worry of any opposing team. But that doesn’t necessarily make him a third banana, as anyone who has watched the Warriors and Thompson knows. Not even Durant or Curry matched Thompson’s efficient 60-point blast a few weeks ago; Thompson constantly proves that he can go ballistic along with the rest. Here’s Marc Stein of ESPN with a question-and-answer with the Warriors’ guard:
Klay on how hard it is to score 60 points in a game in which you take only 11 dribbles:
“I know … that’s efficiency for you. That’s actually funny, because when I go on my social media and I see some people on there like, ‘God, guy can’t even dribble and he took 11 dribbles.’I’m like, ‘That’s all I needed to take.’But you know what, it’s all fun.
“That was a big moment in my career, and hopefully I’ll be able to eclipse it one day. I know it’s tough, but I never thought I’d be able to outdo 37 points in a quarter, and this is kind of special in its own right. I surprised myself again, and hopefully it won’t be the last time.”
Klay on whether he’s gone back to rewatch the game on video:
“I watch it … just to see what I did well. I was in such a good groove and, like you said, I only took 11 dribbles, and I was efficient in all of my movement. So, yeah, I watch it to see what I did well.
“A few [more] shots I could have made, but mainly to remind myself I can do great things in this league if I just play as hard as I can and bring great focus every game, and that’s the biggest challenge for a lot of athletes in this league. The 82-game schedule, it’s hard to focus every night. But the best ones do this — they bring it — so I just remind myself of what I could do by watching that film.”
Klay on how the Warriors are meshing as of the 25-game mark:
“I gotta give us an A-. I think we’re playing at a really high level right now. We have the best record in the NBA. [But] we expected to, just with the talent we have, and the system we run, and the amount of great players you have.
“We knew it was going to take time. Obviously, out the gate, personally I didn’t play that well. But I knew it was early in the season, so I wasn’t really worried. I knew if I went to the gym, put the time in, I was going to get back on track.
