What Warriors can do to fix their Klay Thompson problem
Klay Thompson’s signs of regression are subtle: a slow closeout here, an out-of-rhythm jumper there, the occasional frustrated facial expression.
The Golden State Warriors might not want to discuss it because they’re happy simply because he is back on the floor after missing more than 2 ½ years with injuries, but they know Thompson isn’t the same player he was before a torn ACL and a torn Achilles tendon. Anyone who watched the first two games of these NBA Finals could see a five-time All-Star trying to power through his sudden physical limitations.
Unable to throw into jumpers like he once could, Thompson rushed his shooting motion. On defense, he was consistently a step slow, even when matched against complementary big men instead of high-scoring wings.
Such shortcomings, once easy to overlook, are now glaring — not just 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 back more than ever. Jordan Poole has looked overwhelmed with Boston’s physicality, and Andrew Wiggins has too much defensive responsibility to be a reliable No. 2 scoring option.
This all has placed an even heavy 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 went a combined 2-for-13 from the field (1-for-6 from 3-point range) in the first half, Curry scored 14 of his game- high 29 points to push the Warriors’ two-point lead into a 23-point cushion.
During his postgame news conference, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr went so far as to call Curry’s timely flurry “breathtaking” — an adjective that Curry might warrant more often than any other NBA player. But Curry is still human. Without proper support from Thompson, he might struggle to lift the Warriors past the Celtics.
What makes Thompson and Curry such a special backcourt duo is that they have complementary skill sets. When Thompson is curling off screens, knocking down catch-and-shoot jumpers and posting gaudy point totals with minimal dribbling, Curry becomes almost impossible to stop.
But with Thompson laboring, Kerr had to tweak his system so Curry could manufacture offense. A team built around ball movement has given way to a more isolation-heavy style. In each of the Finals’ first two games, 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 Finals games, he averaged just 13 points on 32% shooting (27.7% from 3-point range). Combine that with Thompson’s shaky defense, and perhaps it’s no surprise that the Celtics outscored the Warriors by nine points with him on the floor.
Even when he shot better in the previous three series, he often failed to help Golden State win. The Warriors scored 13.6 more points per 100 possessions with Thompson off the floor than with him on it during these playoffs — the team’s worst difference among regular rotation players.
That stat can be attributed to a slew of factors, including the fact that Poole—Thompson’s primary backup—was a big asset until he encountered Boston’s size and tenacity. The Warriors’ offense has been significantly more efficient with Poole on the floor instead of Thompson.
Few can deny that Thompson hasn’t found a ton of consistency, on either end of the floor, since he returned in mid-January. And never have his issues been more pronounced than they are now.
Many of Thompson’s missed shots against Boston have come on open looks. On defense, the Warriors have put him on Al Horford instead of the Celtics’ perimeter threats. This has forced Curry to defend the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown at times.
As Curry showed Sunday, he is capable of handling all that well enough for the Warriors to win convincingly. But it’s fair to wonder: What if he endures an off night or two? Would Golden State be doomed?
“When you’re playing against a team like Boston,” forward Draymond Green said, “you have to get offense from other places and not just Steph.”
In Game 1, Curry propelled the Warriors to a 12-point lead at the end of the third quarter, only for Golden State to lose by 12 after he was held to four points in the fourth. Such over-reliance on Curry should concern Kerr.
Though Curry has long been the driving force behind Kerr’s offense, the Warriors needed to make good on their “Strength in Numbers” mantra to win three NBA titles in four years. In the 2015 Finals, Curry got 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.
“I think it’s different just because of the way the team is constructed,” Curry said. “There’s always the need for me to be aggressive, try to play-make, try to score. … I guess you compare it to years past, with the depth that we had, with the heavy load of scoring me, KD, Klay had, obviously looks a little different, and the game flows a little different.”
The emergence of Poole and addition of Wiggins were supposed to ensure that Thompson wouldn’t have to be so productive for the Warriors to hoist another Larry O’Brien trophy. But the Celtics have presented numerous challenges for Golden State, and Poole and Wiggins are hardly immune.
Outside of the 14 points he scored in garbage time Sunday, Poole has just 12 points through these first two games on a combined 3-for-12 shooting (2-for-7 from 3-point range). And given that he must defend Tatum for the bulk of the time, the Warriors probably can’t ask Wiggins to be a dependent secondary scorer. He was limited to 11 points in Game 2.
To get Thompson going offensively, Kerr might want to call more plays for him. Thompson was the Warriors’ most efficient pick-and-roll scorer during the regular season. By cuing up the occasional high screen for him, Golden State could help him find a much-needed flow.
If nothing Kerr does works and Thompson continues to deliver rough performances, the Warriors still can win their first title since 2018. That is a testament to Curry’s greatness more than anything.
But for the Warriors to prevail in the series, Thompson must at least limit the subtle reminders of his regression — quite a tall task.
What makes the Warriors optimistic is that Thompson has done much harder things. In comparison with returning from back-to-back career-threatening injuries that sidelined him nearly 1,000 days, some better showing in the Finals feel easy.
“We’re going to need contributions from a lot of people,” Kerr said. “I think we’re perfectly capable of winning games where Steph doesn’t have a huge night.”
Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron
