The last time Klay Thompson was on the court for the Warriors, he finished off a poor-shooting night in Orlando by fouling Franz Wagner on a 3-point attempt, essentially sealing the Magic's stunning win over the Warriors.
Thompson was clearly distraught on the bench after the play and he didn't speak to the media after the loss. When the Warriors shocked the Heat the next night in Miami, Thompson was in street clothes on the bench, resting on the second night of a back-to-back.
On Friday night, Thompson poured in a game-high 37 points in the Warriors' 121-110 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. He finished the game 14-of-26 from the field and 9-of-16 from 3-point range. It was Thompson's first game with nine or more 3-pointers since March 8, 2019.
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While Thompson finished one point shy of his season-high (38 in win vs. Milwaukee Bucks on March 12), he did play a season-high 40:23 against the Hawks, more than two minutes longer than his previous high of 38:18 against the San Antonio Spurs last Sunday.
"[Warriors director of sports medicine and performance] Rick [Celebrini] may not be [happy] at home," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters when asked if he was glad to get Thompson to the 40-minute mark. "I may have a text on my phone."
Despite the text message Kerr might or might not have had on his phone, he was pleased with how Thompson responded after a rough game in Orlando.
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"I thought it was his best game," Kerr said. "The first half, he was so patient and this is where he has struggled. He's been rushing things. He's been forcing shots. And the first half was great in terms of his patience, moving the ball on and trusting that the ball would come back to him. As a result, he got way better looks. Once Klay gets hot and he sees a few go in, then the bad shots tend to go in anyway.
"So I didn't love his looks in the second half. I thought we were in a little bit of a rush but he was making them because he had gotten into such a groove in the first half. But that's the way he has got to play offensively. He has got to give up the ball when people are there and trust that it's going to come back. That was the silver lining in tonight's game, Klay's performance."
Thompson scored 22 points in the first half and added 15 in the second half as the Warriors' comeback attempt fell short.
After missing the last two and a half years rehabbing two serious lower leg injuries, Thompson revealed that he felt his 37-point outburst coming earlier in the day.
"Honestly, I kind of did because there's such a vivid memory for me," Thompson told reporters. "Last year when I was here and I was rehabbing and I was in the hallway, the team was going through a similar type of slump where things may not have been going our way and it felt like such déjà vu. That made me so appreciative of being here and being healthy and being able to play and seeing all the Warriors fans.
"I felt good pregame and it was just the strangest feeling of déjà vu and it really humbled me and made me so grateful ... kind of relaxed me too because I press, I'm my biggest critic and when I felt that, I was like 'Wow.' I pat myself on the back. My gosh, that was a lot of work to get to this point and I'm just grateful."
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It has been a long road back for Thompson. Not every game is going to be smooth sailing for the five-time All-Star. But performances like the one he authored Friday night prove he is capable of being the player he was before he tore his left ACL and his right Achilles.