A mysterious Klay Thompson recovery was perhaps the Golden State Warriors' best kept secret after escaping Game 1 with an overtime victory and landing strong in Game 2 with their four All-Stars ready to take the floor.
Thompson had hurt his ankle early in the game, being undercut by a slipping J.R. Smith, who was hoping to close out on the shooter. After missing the last six minutes of the first quarter and heading to the locker room, the Warriors marksman played 34 of the next 36 minutes of the game, including all five minutes of the OT period.
The deadeye shooter looked just fine, putting up 24 points and a crisp 5-of-10 from deep, but the swelling in his ankle made reporters and even teammates concerned that there might be a lingering problem.
His father, Mychal Thompson, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 80s and early 90s, felt his son's miraculous recovery was due to a “miracle worker” by the name of Chelsea Lane, the Warriors' head physician, often spotted by Steve Kerr's bench.
“Chelsea, the Warriors trainers, man — I told her last night she's a miracle worker,” Mychal said on KNBR 680 on Monday evening, per Drew Shiller of NBC Sports Bay Area. “The Klay Thompson that I saw on Friday night… I almost told him, I said, ‘Man, Klay, maybe you should just wait until Wednesday to play.”
“The way he was walking, the pain he was in, his ankle looked all puffy and swollen … Saturday night he started bouncing on the ankle and said, ‘Man, I'm doing much better.' He went to treatment twice a day, and at home he was sitting down with the ice, had the compression sock on.”
Even Draymond Green had reportedly called onto Nick Young, telling him he was bound for major minutes in light of Thompson's ankle swelling.
Yet Lane seems to be the basketball version of a soccer's magic spray, which has done wonders for many players, able to get up and continue after a rough tackle.
Thompson would go on to score 20 points in 34 minutes of action in a blowout 122-103 win, prompting his father's gratitude for this coaching staff.
“The Warriors training staff — you have to give them all the credit,” he said.
Thompson claims he's yet to take any cortisone or pain-relieving shot throughout his career, which holds true to this day — a surprising fact given his reputation as the iron man of this All-Star core.
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