The last three years have been the most emotional 36 months of Klay Thompson's NBA career.
The five-time NBA All-Star was at the height of his powers during the 2019 NBA Finals, playing the best basketball of his career. Then he tore his left ACL in the deciding Game 6 against the Toronto Raptors. On the verge of returning from that injury in Nov. 2020, he then tore his right Achilles. Those two injuries stole away the game he loves for 31 months. The agony was clear as Thompson sat on the bench watching game after game while rehabbing.
Thompson triumphantly returned on Jan. 9 and at times, he struggled to regain his pre-injury form. But over the last few weeks of the 2021-22 season, he has looked like the Thompson of old, and in the Warriors' 128-107 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night, Klay capped it off with his best performance of the season.
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For the first time since returning, Thompson eclipsed the 40-point plateau, hitting a late 3-pointer to give him a game-high 41 points.
With that shot, the Pelicans called a timeout and Thompson unleashed an emphatic, emotional fist pump before getting to the Warriors' bench.
Thompson scored 21 points in the first half and added another 20 in the second half to help the Warriors wrap up the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
By scoring 41 points, Thompson also will finish the season averaging at least 20 points per game, finishing at 20.4 PPG.
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It's been a long road back for the Splash Brother, but he is peaking at just the right time.
Next up for Thompson and the Warriors: Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
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Next Saturday, Thompson gets to experience playoff basketball for the first time in nearly three years and Dub Nation gets to watch Playoff Klay for the first time since June 13, 2019.
That is worthy of a solid fist pump.