Warriors: A closer look at Klay Thompson’s mini-slump
LOS ANGELES — There are a couple ways to diagnose the Warriors’ recent skid. Chief among them: Steph Curry is getting mugged by defenders, and the Warriors don’t have many other options to score.
Klay Thompson, one of the NBA’s most prolific shooters, is certainly that guy. But not lately.
After missing two games due to a week-long illness, Thompson is going through an uncomfortable little slump magnified by Golden State’s gutting four-game losing streak to Western Conference contenders.
Out nursing a “raging headache” and sickness for the loss to Minnesota, Thompson flew into Dallas ready to play, or so he said.
In Thursday’s loss, he went 6-of-17 from the field, including an air-balled 3-pointer and another 3 that ricocheted off the side of the backboard. It was uncharacteristic for the shooting guard with textbook form and a career 42% 3-point percentage. He blamed himself for the 122-113 road loss.
“I gotta make some shots,” Thompson said after the Dallas loss. “I can’t be air-balling, shooting off the side of the backboard. I gotta be better. It’s on me. I did not play well tonight.”
Things didn’t improve in Los Angeles. Clearly trying to shoot himself out of the slump, he went 3-of-13 and 1-of-5 from 3. In 31 minutes against the Lakers he turned the ball over four times and couldn’t keep LeBron James, targeting him on switches, in front of him.
His poor shooting night culminated with the Warriors down five points with 90 seconds remaining — he missed a wide-open 3 that could have brought them within two. Thompson was visibly frustrated throughout the 124-116 loss.
“Klay’s pressing,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “He got into a pretty good groove over the month or so before the All-Star break, and I feel like the sickness, the illness that kept him out of a couple of games probably affected his conditioning and his timing. So, he struggled the last two games. He’ll get it back.”
A more consistent Thompson doesn’t seem too far off. He wasn’t that guy against the Lakers on Saturday, but he was in their previous matchup on Feb. 12. The lights-out shooter appeared with force, scoring 16 in the fourth quarter — 33 overall — to stave off a Los Angeles comeback and nudge Golden State to victory.
Though Thompson’s highs and lows are more extreme now, dictated by career-altering injures and inconvenient illness, Curry has seen his longtime teammate overcome plenty of rough stretches. Thompson has seen slumps before and isn’t afraid to shoot his way out of them.
“There are going to be ebbs and flows as he’s trying to find that consistency,” Curry said. “We’ve talked about letting the game come to him. But you don’t want to make him second-guess himself or get hesitant.”
Some of Thompson’s shots in these losses may have been ill-advised. In the loss to the Lakers, Kerr opted to pull a hotter Jordan Poole out for Thompson in crunch time. The loss wasn’t on Thompson, but those misses add up. With wins at a premium, it’s worth wondering if Poole, who had 23 points and four 3-pointers, should have stayed in the game over a colder Thompson.
It’s hard to hold Thompson on the bench when history tells us he’s likely to deliver in those moments. Though the misses hurt in the micro, the Warriors know a confident Thompson is far more important for the big picture.
“That’s what happens with injuries, you don’t just take two years off and come back in the middle of the season being the same as you were,” Kevon Looney said. “He’s going to have games where he looks great, he’s going to have games where he’s struggling. But we know how hard he works and how much he wants to win. So we’re going to help him get through whatever he needs to get through, but we expect him to figure it out and get through it and be himself.”
And even if Thompson is skidding now, he’s making his presence felt through his teammates. Rookie Moses Moody studies Thompson’s shooting form on film and made tweaks that have paid off.
Moody, working with assistant coach Jama Mahalelah, has shot perfectly this road trip. Literally. He’s 11-for-11 from the field, 5-for-5 from 3 in the Warriors’ last three losses to Minnesota, Dallas and Los Angeles. What he learned from Thompson’s film helped.
“He’s balanced on his shot, his feet – it doesn’t matter – they’re angled from his hip to his shoulders, they’re squared up to the basket,” Moody said of Thompson. “When I square my shoulders, it doesn’t come off my hand like I want to. He’s aligned, his shoulders are lined up and his release makes it possible to have his elbow squared, come off the right finger and have his shoulders squared. That’s what I like about his shot.”
Moody and the Warriors hope it isn’t long before Thompson regains that form to break them out of an ugly stretch.