Klay Thompson dropped a team-high 28 points and splashed six triples against the Miami Heat on Tuesday, leading the Golden State Warriors to a pivotal 113-92 victory as they fight for their postseason lives. The future Hall-of-Famer is now averaging 18.4 points per game in March while hitting 41.0% of his three-point attempts, putting dire early-season struggles firmly in the rearview mirror.
The move that helped spark Thompson's midseason turnaround, though, was reversed in South Beach. He opened alongside Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green on Tuesday for the first time since February 14th, shifting Brandon Podziemski back to the bench while providing Golden State's starters some much-needed additional spacing and scoring punch.
After the game, Thompson—who notched 31 minutes against Miami, right in line with his typical playing time off the bench over the last few weeks—was asked whether getting back in the starting lineup felt any different.
“Not really,” he said. “I just try to keep the same approach. Have fun, communicate, get great looks.”
Thompson shot 11-of-20 overall and 6-of-14 from three-point range, also grabbing five rebounds and handing out two assists. His +25 plus-minus was an easy team-high, and not just because the second Splash Brother had his jumper going from all over the floor. The mere threat Thompson posed to the Heat's defense playing with Curry made life much easier on the Warriors, too.
Take these consecutive possessions to open the second half. Involving the diminutive Patty Mills in ball-screen action for Andrew Wiggins, Golden State played directly off the fear Thompson stokes in the heart of defenses popping to the arc.
The result? Initial miscommunication between Mills and Jaime Jaquez that ultimately led to clean, in-rhythm look from deep for Thompson, then a finger roll for Wiggins after he ate up space provided by Jaquez going under the screen and Mills sticking close to one of the several greatest shooters ever.
Look how Terry Rozier is guarding Curry, too.
Instead of scrambling to Thompson after Mills and Jaquez both take the ball on the first possession, he's hugging Curry on the left wing, wary of a potential corner dribble hand-off with Draymond Green—a staple of Golden State's offense. Neither Rozier nor Mills even feigns digging down toward Wiggins on the Warriors' next trip, essentially affording him a one-on-one with a retreating defender.
Wiggins and Kuminga, streaky shooters at best collectively, need all the space they can get to best leverage their physical gifts going downhill. The same holds true for Curry when he's forced inside the arc, so often subject to help defenders laying way off four teammates without Thompson playing next to him.
The Dubs just can't consistently muster this type of wide-open space in the halfcourt when Podziemski starts instead of Thompson.
Is Klay Thompson re-entrenched as a Warriors starter?
The numbers still say the Warriors' starting five with Podziemski in Thompson's place is superior offensively. That group's 117.4 offensive rating comes courtesy of a ridiculous 71.9 assist percentage, 60.1% true shooting and minuscule 9.9% turnover rate, per NBA.com/stats—the kind of gaudy statistical profile you'd expect from pairing Thompson with Curry next to Wiggins, Kuminga and Green.
The ‘peak' starting unit including Thompson, by contrast, sports an ugly 111.7 offensive rating, just above the Washington Wizards' 25th-ranked season-long mark. Its assist rate, true shooting percentage and turnover rate all pale in comparison to those of the quintet including Podziemski in Thompson's place.
Under the postseason pressure cooker, though, is there any doubt which lineup you'd expect to produce efficient offense more consistently? Opposing play-in or playoff defenses won't just make Wiggins and Kuminga prove it from deep while actively encouraging Green to launch, but also force Podziemski into seeking his own offense, neutering the space Golden State has to operate in the halfcourt.
Kerr understands that reality as well as anyone, and reacted accordingly by pushing the right buttons in Miami. Yet as each game from here gets more and more significant, he's not committing to keeping Thompson in the starting lineup.
“Just felt like get a little more spacing on the floor to start the game,” he said of the change. “It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s permanent. Just felt like tonight that was important.”
Thompson starting for Podziemski was definitely important versus the Heat. Based on Tuesday's game as well as other recent offensive trends, it could be really important to the Warriors' hopes of falling out of the play-in tournament, too.
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