Klay Thompson’s signs of regression are subtle: a slow closing here, a leap out of rhythm there, some occasional frustrated facial expression.
The Golden State Warriors may not want to talk about it because they are happy simply because he has returned to the court after losing more than 2 and a half years with injuries, but they know that Thompson is not the same player he was before a breakup. of the ACL and a broken Achilles tendon. Anyone who has watched the first two games of these NBA Finals could see an All-Star five times trying to overcome his sudden physical limitations.
Unable to reach the jumpers as before, Thompson rushed his shooting range. On defense, it was consistently a slow pace, even when he faced complementary big men instead of high-scoring ones.
These shortcomings, once easy to overlook, are now blatant, not only because an opponent as formidable as the Celtics tends to expose a player’s flaws, but because the Warriors need the old version of Thompson more than ever. Jordan Poole has seemed overwhelmed with the Boston physique, and Andrew Wiggins has too much defensive responsibility to be a reliable No. 2 pick.
All of this has put an even heavier burden on Stephen Curry, who is responding as well as can be expected. In the third quarter of Game 2 on Sunday night, after Thompson and Poole were a combined 2 of 13 from the field (1 of 6 from the 3-point range) in the first half, Curry scored 14 of his game. 29 points high to push the Warriors’ two-point lead to a 23-point cushion.
During his post-match press conference, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr went so far as to call Curry’s timely outburst “impressive,” an adjective Curry could justify more often than any other player in the game. NBA. But Curry is still human. Without the proper support of Thompson, he could struggle to lift the Warriors above the Celtics.
What makes Thompson and Curry such a special track duo is that they have complementary skills. When Thompson curls up on the screens, knocks down the jumpers and catches and shoots and scores striking points with minimal dribbling, Curry becomes almost impossible to stop.
But with Thompson working, Kerr had to modify his system so that Curry could fabricate an offensive. A team built around the movement of the ball has given way to a more isolated style. In each of the first two games of the Final, Curry had 12 pick-and-rolls.
This is far from preferable, which raises an important question: What can the Warriors do to get Thompson back to his efficient ways? In the first two games of the final, he only averaged 13 points with 32% shooting (27.7% from the 3-point range). Combine that with Thompson’s unstable defense, and it may come as no surprise that the Celtics outscored the Warriors by nine points with him on the ground.
Even when he shot better in the previous three series, he often didn’t help Golden State win. The Warriors have scored 13.6 points more for every 100 possessions with Thompson off the field than with him during these playoffs, the team’s worst difference between regular-rotation players.
This statistic can be attributed to a number of factors, including the fact that Poole, Thompson’s main backup, was a major asset until he met Boston’s size and tenacity. The Warriors attack has been much more efficient with Poole on the ground instead of Thompson.
Few can deny that Thompson hasn’t found a lot of consistency, at either end of the earth, since he returned in mid-January. And their problems have never been more pronounced than they are now.
Many of Thompson’s wrong shots against Boston have been opened. In defense, the Warriors have put him in Al Horford instead of the Celtics’ perimeter threats. This has forced Curry to defend at times as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
As Curry demonstrated on Sunday, he is able to handle all of this well enough for the Warriors to win convincingly. But it’s fair to ask: what if you endure one or two nights? Would Golden State be doomed?
“When you play against a team like Boston,” said striker Draymond Green, “you have to take offense at other places and not just Steph.”
In Game 1, Curry pushed the Warriors to a 12-point lead at the end of the third quarter, only Golden State lost by 12 after staying four points clear in the fourth. This over-reliance on Curry should worry Kerr.
While Curry has long been the driving force behind Kerr’s attack, the Warriors had to do well with their “Strength in Numbers” mantra to win three NBA titles in four years. At the end of 2015, Curry scored 16.3 points per game from Andre Iguodala and 15.8 points from Thompson. In 2017, Kevin Durant (35.2 points) and Thompson (16.4) were more than worthy complements. In 2018, Durant averaged 28.8 points and Thompson averaged 16 points.
“I think it’s different just because of the way the team is built,” Curry said. “There is always the need to be aggressive, to try to play, to try to score. … I guess you compare it to years past, to the depth we had, to the big load of scoring me, KD, Klay, obviously it looks a little different and the game flows a little differently.
The appearance of Poole and the addition of Wiggins had to ensure that Thompson would not have to be so productive for the Warriors to lift another Larry O’Brien trophy. But the Celtics have presented numerous challenges for Golden State, and Poole and Wiggins are hardly immune.
Out of the 14 points he scored in the garbage time on Sunday, Poole only has 12 points in those first two games in a combined shot of 3 of 12 (2 of 7 from the 3-point range). And given that he has to defend Tatum most of the time, the Warriors probably can’t ask Wiggins to be a reliable secondary scorer. He was limited to 11 points in Game 2.
To get Thompson to go offensively, Kerr might want to call up more plays for him. Thompson was the Warriors’ most efficient goal scorer during the regular season. By occasionally displaying the high screen for him, Golden State could help him find a much-needed stream.
If nothing Kerr works out and Thompson continues to deliver tough performances, the Warriors can still win their first title since 2018. That’s a testament to Curry’s greatness more than anything.
But for the Warriors to prevail in the series, Thompson must limit at least the subtle reminders of his regression, a rather lengthy task.
What makes the Warriors optimistic is that Thompson has made things a lot harder. Compared to the return of consecutive injuries that threatened his career that left him sidelined for almost 1,000 days, some better performances in the finals feel easy.
“We’re going to need a lot of people’s contributions,” Kerr said. “I think we’re perfectly capable of winning games where Steph doesn’t have a great night.”
Connor Letourneau is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron