NBA 2021-22: How Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson bounced back with a bang?
At 32, of two ACL injuries, Klay Thompson is playing as well as he ever has for the Golden State Warriors and will be looking to finish off his redemption season with an NBA Championship.
FollowOn January 9, 2022, Klay Thompson returned from injury after a 941-day absence from an NBA game. While it was indeed a morale booster for the Chase Center crowd, many wondered about Klay’s impact on the team’s championship aspirations. There were growing pains, to begin with. They were breaking the flow of the offence and not making the correct defensive rotations. Not having Draymond Green in his first 30 games back didn’t help either. While the Warriors’ process and record were hampered in the second half of the season, Klay started returning to normalcy. Even when Stephen Curry was injured in the last stretch, Klay was one of the reasons the Warriors didn’t fall from the third seed, as he averaged 26 points per game while making 40% of his three-point attempts in his last 12 games of the regular season.
Keeping the third seed meant the Warriors went up against the sixth seed Denver Nuggets in the First Round of the Playoffs. With Steph Curry still not starting games, Klay had to take more responsibility, and he did just that. 22.6 points per game in the series while shooting 51% from the field and 46% from three.
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There were some lean patches like any player who relies heavily on shot-making without the ball, such as the first few games against the Memphis Grizzlies. But, with a chance to take the Warriors to the Conference Final in Game 6, Klay again delivered. Thirty points, including eight threes, gave the Warriors the win.
Except for Game 3, Klay was also broadly consistent in the Conference Finals. And, once again, Klay delivered in a closeout game as he scored a game-leading 32 points to give the Warriors their sixth Finals appearance in eight years and himself a sixth Finals appearance in the same number of years. Klay Thompson is back with a bang, and he’ll be playing for an NBA championship to complete his redemption story.
