What we learned as late rally fuels Warriors’ win in Klay’s return originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Cheers turned to drama with every breath taken Tuesday night at Chase Center. The score felt secondary in Klay Thompson’s return against the Warriors. The emotions of Steph Curry, Draymond Green and all of Dub Nation said otherwise in a 120-117 win over Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks.
Curry took over by scoring 12 points in the final three-plus minutes, giving him a game-high 37 points. On top of that, Curry also had six rebounds, nine assists, two blocked shots and made five 3-pointers.
The Warriors were a plus-24 in Curry’s 35 minutes played.
Thompson totaled 22 points, his most since scoring 22 in his Mavs debut, and drained six threes of his own.
Here are three takeaways on the Big Three from Thompson’s first game back against his former team.
He’s back
Once the cheers quieted and the Splash Brothers shared a quick hug ahead of tipoff, it was time to focus solely on the game instead of all the outside festivities. There were many questions surrounding how Thompson’s return would transpire. An early surprise was who opened the game guarding him.
That role didn’t belong to Green, Andrew Wiggins or De’Anthony Melton. It was Curry who had the first crack at Thompson, and the ball immediately was in the former Warrior’s hands. Backing him down, Thompson drew a foul on Curry while attempting a turnaround mid-range jumper and made both free throws for the first two points of the night. His first made basket of the night was a three over Moses Moody with a minute and a half remaining in the first quarter.
As the Mavs came out firing to begin the second quarter and wound up outscoring the Warriors by 10, Thompson hit back-to-back threes and let the crowd know all about it. At halftime, he was up to 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting and made three of his five 3-point attempts. Thompson only scored three more points in the fourth quarter and appeared to be in for a quiet night.
But in the fourth quarter, Thompson scored eight big points to tie a season-high of 22 on 7-of-17 shooting overall.
Steph’s house
Not even 20 seconds after Thompson scored the first two points of the game at the free-throw line, it was time for Curry to remind him whose house this is. Coming off a Trayce Jackson-Davis screen, Curry lined up for a three and Thompson did his best to help but was too late. Splash.
And Curry let him know it, too.
Curry took eight shots in the first quarter, his most this season. He connected on five shots to score 12 points, plus had two rebounds, one assist and two blocked shots in his first 10 minutes of action, including a swipe down on Thompson. In the Warriors’ lackluster second quarter, Curry only took two shots and was up to 14 points and six assists at the half.
The Warriors as a whole cranked the volume up in the third quarter, and Curry was the head of the snake as always. Curry scored nine points and dished three assists as the Warriors outscored the Mavs by 11 points to hold a seven-point lead going into the final 12 minutes.
With the game tied at 100 points apiece and a little over eight minutes left, Curry came back in for the Warriors. Every second was different with him on the court. His performance in the clutch was that of an all-time great, as Curry scored 12 of his 37 points in the fourth.
Dray Day
An invitation to competition always brings the best out of Green. With all eyes on Curry and Thompson, the fiery side of the Warriors’ Big Three for more than a decade was locked in from the start. Before having to exit the first quarter early after getting hit in the last place any man wants to take a blow, Green put on a clinic in the first quarter.
In seven-plus minutes, he was a plus-8 with five points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block with multiple contested shots. He also hit a three on Thompson and began chirping at him the moment it went through the net. Though the Warriors trailed by four at halftime, an energized Green was a plus-11.
The play of the first half, and perhaps the whole game, was Green’s hustle to block a three and save it from going out of bounds before hitting Melton for a layup.
It can’t be overstated, Green was everywhere on the court.
His second half wasn’t quite as impactful and a key missed layup with four-plus minutes to go became a five-point swing, pushing the Mavs’ lead to seven points. Green then made up for it on the defensive side in multiple ways against the much bigger Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively.
Green finished as a plus-18, stuffing the box score with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots. When needed most, the Warriors’ heartbeat helped them to an emotional victory.
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