Klay Thompson‘s torrid three quarters against the Indiana Pacers net him 60 points in 29 minutes, but perhaps the most impressive thing leading to his offensive explosion is the fact that he didn't need to dominate the ball in order to take over the game.
According to ESPN Insider Tom Haberstroh, the white-hot sharpshooter only took 11 dribbles en route to his 60 points. He was 21-of-33 from the floor, had 46 touches and only had the ball in his hands for 90 total seconds, per ESPN writer Brian Windhorst.
Thompson's first quarter mainly revolved around opportunistic layups in fast break opportunities, as he tallied 17. His 23 in the second quarter were a product of his outside shooting, but even then, he mixed up his three-point array with mid-range jump shots and got to the line effectively.
With 40 points at halftime, the 6-foot-7 marksman kept his hot shooting touch with 20 more in the third quarter, taking advantage of the attention from defenders and drawing fouls, even from the three-point line to the cheers of head coach Steve Kerr.
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Part of the reason why his teammates were so eager to pass him the ball during his scoring outburst was the fact that Thompson would put himself in the right spot and either let it fly or get fouled. He wasn't demanding the ball at the top of the key and forcing an isolation play — he did the dirty work of going between screens and losing his man to get open looks, or catch the ball at a great spot on the court to entice a foul.
Despite him shooting 63.7 percent from the field, the most impressive feat was his efficiency-per-minute, as Haberstroh illustrated here, making last night the most efficient scoring game by a player who played under 30 minutes in the last 30 years.
Most points w/ <30 mins played:
60 – Klay, tonight
59
58
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43 – Larry Bird 3/18/86
(via @bball_ref)— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) December 6, 2016
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