“When Klay Thompson is balling the way he can ball.… The Warriors look like the Warriors” - NBA analyst says the Warriors will need Klay Thompson’s defense in the NBA Finals
Klay Thompson's performance in the closeout game against the Dallas Mavericks helped propel the Golden State Warriors to the NBA Finals. Stephen A. Smith believes Klay is inevitably the key to the Warriors' championship hopes, stating:
"When Klay Thompson is balling the way he can ball and the way he is supposed to ball, the Warriors look like the Warriors. ... In the end, what it comes down to is that he's incredibly pivotal to the success of this team.
"Even though he's not what he used to be defensively... he's still formidable defensively and you are going to need that with these upcoming NBA Finals."
Due to Klay's absence in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, he'll be playing in his sixth consecutive NBA Finals series in June.
Review: Klay Thompson finds form, Mavericks' third-quarter heroics
The Golden State Warriors have finally punched their ticket to the 2022 NBA Finals.
Klay Thompson came out of his slump. After a lackluster series, he scored 32 points, while shooting 50.0% from three-point range on eight made-threes.
The Mavericks shot 40.5% from three-point range. However, the Warriors outscored the Mavericks in the paint yet again, 50-32. They also held Luka Dončić to 23.1% from three-point range.
However, Luka did get going in the second-half, cutting a 25-point lead to under 10 with a 15-2 run in the final four minutes of the third-quarter. Dončić scored 15 of his 28 points in that quarter itself.
He cooled off in the fourth and the lead ballooned back up to 17. Garbage-time finally cut the deficit to 10 by the end of the game.
The Warriors bested the Mavericks in both total rebounds and total assists. They were also more efficient (albeit at a considerably lower volume) from three-point range.
The Warriors took apart the gaps in Dallas' game, exploiting their lack of interior defense.
They forced the Mavs, a team with an isolation-heavy offense, to pass the ball, thus forcing turnovers. In fact, one of the most notable stats from the series is how close both teams were in turnovers: 56-47 in Dallas' favor.
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It is common knowledge at this point that turning the ball over comes with the territory when you play the way the Warriors do. However, a margin this small in turnovers is a sign that bodes well for the Warriors. For example, the Warriors turned the ball over 107 times in the second round, versus the Grizzlies' 65.