Since that tie between Warriors and Raptors that would end up elevating the Canadians to the top, Klay Thompson has not been seen playing an NBA game. That was in 2019. Durant’s injury and his own put an end to Golden State’s cataract of success during that five-year period and the franchise entered a new room, which was not the torture rack but a gloomy stay, and now, 941 days later, they can say they come out of it. They are there, in the absence of James Wiseman returning, all those of the troop. They were a threat this season and now they are the team to win. Klay has spent two and a half years traveling the hard road of injury recovery with two of them: first, the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee; later, when he was about to return, the Achilles. One of the best shooters in history has had to watch two and a half years of his useful life as a player from home or from the bench, but that is over.
Klay’s new home is the Chase Center, where he debuted this Sunday night. Since the move from Oracle Arena in Oakland to this new pavilion, this one in the city of San Francisco, he had not stepped on the floor. The NBA welcomed him with open arms. We are talking about a player who, at 31 and after this ordeal, has gone to 5 All-Star, has won 3 Rings and holds the current record for triples in a game, 14, that not even a superlative Curry in his absence has taken away. In case someone forgot who he is. For his return, the Cavaliers were chosen, a team that is developing a fast and committed game that reminds the Warriors in which Thompson was a fundamental piece. Asphyxiating the Cleveland team with defense, the weapon that never stood out so much of that roster of the three championships, and tying the Suns to regain the League leadership was the way in which the times were remembered in the that Mychal’s son didn’t have to watch out for two battered legs.
Thompson started as a starter and made the first basket for his team, a blocking action for the shooter prepared before the Californian began with a layup in many hands. It was his way of saying that he was back. His game, in which he finally signed 17 points in 20 minutes, is an example. Seeing himself against the Cavs, who are not the same as those who faced him four times in the Finals even if Love resists, was a retro image, but that first action and a later one in which it seemed that it was played no matter more injuries is why it is impossible not to surrender to this player. Fine stylist, orthodox shooter, in a penetration before the break he left Allen on the perimeter and went with everything to crush, avoiding the defense of Markkanen and Stevens and concluding with a one-handed dunk with which the public exploded definitively. Also before going to the locker room, on a later play, he was able to score his first triple. In order not to lose rhythm, he started pedaling on a stationary bike. His letter of introduction to the NBA was 3/8 on shots of three and 4/10 on shots of two, not according to his usual numbers but exceeding any expectations about someone who has been almost a thousand days without being able to play basketball. Those two plays that Klay broke through in the second quarter helped the Warriors go almost ten ahead, one they were able to extend in a good third period to close the game quietly. Although the result (96-82) was the least of it today.
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