Why Steve Kerr's decision to keep Klay Thompson on the court in a blowout game was the right move
Klay Thompson
© Kyle Terada - USA TODAY Sports
Just when the Boston Celtics thought they would pick up where they left off in Game 1, the Golden State Warriors bounced back and derailed the NBA Finals newest’ hype train.
As always, Steph Curry spearheaded the Dubs to victory as he produced a game-high 29 points that went along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Draymond Green, on the other hand, did not really stand out in the box score, but as usual, the veteran forward made a huge impact by intangibly helping the Warriors pull off their gameplans.
The game was close throughout the first 24 minutes of action until Golden State took off in the second half, limiting the C’s to just 14 points in the third quarter. From that point on, Boston never managed to fight their way back, and the Warriors stole Game 2 with a blowout 107-88 win.
Still finding his way back
Many may have already noticed that Klay Thompson has yet to make his presence felt this series, having struggled in his first NBA Finals game since 2019. It can be recalled that the Splash Brother only registered 15 points on 6 out of 14 shooting from the field. Aware of his lackluster performance, Thompson vowed to be among the Warriors players who will “play with desperation” in Game 2.
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“We’re gonna play with desperation tomorrow,” Thompson said before Game 2 via Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. “I think that’s when we are at our best.”
Indeed, the Dubs appeared to have fixed the problems they had in Game 1 aside from Thompson, who appeared to be still struggling to get back to his swoosh ways, having logged just 11 points in Game 2.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr seemed well aware of what Thompson needs to find his rhythm back. With the Dubs up big in the fourth quarter, Kerr decided to sit Curry out for the rest of the game but played Thompson until the 3:35 mark, risking him getting hurt again.
The possible reason? Kerr wanted his five-time NBA All-Star to regain his confidence and relish the feeling of dominating the opposing team again, something that the Dubs will benefit from as the series goes on and maybe even until the following season.
Faith in Poole
With Thompson still a work in progress, another Warriors player filled his spot as Curry’s partner in crime- Jordan Poole. The youngster took some workload off Curry as he finished the game with 17 points.
“Jordan is still a very young player, learning on the fly,” Kerr said of Poole’s performance in the post-game presser. “But he’s had such a great season and he’s so talented and confident that I have a lot of faith that he’ll figure this out and I thought tonight he did a pretty good job of finding his way.”
The series is far from over, but with a blowout win by the Warriors like that in the Finals, the Celtics better admit that they messed up big time and come up with a rebuttal heading into Game 3.
