The video doesn’t lie. It tells a story about these Warriors that goes deeper than their rich, glossy veneer of talent, goes beyond the schemes designed by the coaching staff and straight to the heart of what really makes this team tick.
With 4:53 remaining in the third quarter Monday night, Klay Thompson drains a 3-pointer that gives the Warriors a 113-69 lead over the Chicago Bulls. It’s not just any 3-pointer. It’s his 14th of the game. It’s a record-breaker.
The record it breaks belonged to Thompson’s career-long teammate, Stephen Curry, who held it a week shy of two years.
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As the ball drops through the hoop, Thompson raises both arms in triumph. He knows what he has done. This is history.
A few feet away stands Curry, a witness to his name being erased from the record book. Curry’s response to this is . . . to raise both hands in triumph while completing a 360-degree spin.
“Records are meant to be broken,” Curry tells reporters at United Center. “I’m just happy it was my teammate, and nobody else. And I got to witness it in person.”
It’s not just Curry celebrating the moment. Draymond Green also raises both arms, as does Kevin Durant, who threw the pass that led to Thompson’s record shot. Damian Jones, generally understated, pumps his right fist.
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Over on the bench, every member of the Warriors is standing and smiling, arms aloft -- except Kevon Looney. He’s airborne, throwing right hooks into the space above his head. Quinn Cook rushes toward Thompson for a flying chest bump. Shaun Livingston, inactive with foot soreness, runs out with a high-five.
This is a very Warriors moment, and this is why they succeed. It’s camaraderie, a brotherhood. The joy of one is the joy of all.
“I can’t even tell you how lucky I am and how I feel every night watching these guys and how unselfish they are,” coach Steve Kerr says. “They basically take turns. They encourage each other. They want each other to do well. The key is that these guys are committed to each other, they play hard for each other and they want each other to have success. That’s why it works.”
No one typifies this more than Curry, who has more Warriors service time than anyone else who puts on the jersey. Aware that Thompson had tied his record about two minutes earlier, Curry shoveled his very next pass to Thompson, who missed the shot. When he missed three more shots beyond the arc, Curry got creative.
He set the screen that freed Thompson for the record-breaker.
“I was the best screen-setter out there today,” Curry said with obvious pride.
The man who leads the NBA in scoring -- the smallest Warrior on the floor -- sets a screen for his teammate to break the record he set.
“Even before I went out for the second half,” Thompson says, “Steph looked at the box score and said, ‘Go get it.’ That shows the unselfishness within him. And it’s the same with KD and Draymond and DJ and everyone else on the floor trying to find me and get me good looks.”
Thompson scored 52 points, more than he had in his three previous games combined. The 14 3-pointers were more than double what he had in the previous seven games this season. He was having an incredibly difficult time making the shots he always seems to make.
His teammates knew it and realized this would not last. Thompson is a shooter, and his shots would start falling. When his first four shots, two of them from beyond the arc, went in it became evident that Klay finally was ready to start eating. This was going to be his night, and his teammates were thrilled to finally feed him.
Just as Durant was thrilled for Curry last Wednesday, when Steph got into a groove and scored 51 points in a win over the Wizards.
Just as Curry was thrilled for Durant last Friday in New York, when Durant poured in 25 points in the fourth quarter in beating the Knicks.
The Warriors are the most talented team in the NBA. But talent isn’t always enough. They have a very capable coaching staff. But coaching isn’t always enough. Their desire is unsurpassed. But desire is not a direct line to prosperity.
They have each other, though, and that’s the tie that binds the talent and the coaching and the desire. They don’t always like each other, but they’re always there for each other, the latest example caught on video for posterity.
"That’s what I do this for, those moments you share with teammates,” Thompson said. “That's why we play basketball, because it’s a collective effort. I really believe that I don’t know if I would have been able to break these records I’ve gotten without the system I play in or the team I’m with, or the guys I play with.”