Klay Thompson torched the Hawks for 54 points on 10 3-pointers on Monday, but it was Kevon Looney who played hero with the game-winning tip as time expired to give Golden State a wild 143-141 overtime victory. It was the Warriors’ fifth straight win, and their league-leading 17th at home.
Now if they could just figure out the road, on which they are a league-worst 3-16, but that’s a story for another day. Right now, it’s all about Thompson starting to round into his old form. The man has never been shy about jacking up shots, but his discretion has gotten decidedly better as the season has progressed.
Still, Thompson has launched an incredible 108 shots, including 60 3-pointers, over his last four games. He’s posting 46-41 shooting splits over that span. The Warriors will gladly take that, particularly with Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins still out.
Thompson finished Monday 21 for 39 from the field. He was 10 for 21 from 3. Most refreshingly, he was just 2 for 2 from the free-throw line. That’s not an efficient model, but for pure entertainment value, you can’t beat a guy dropping 21 buckets, mostly from jumpers, against just two freebies. No foul hunting to be found here.
This was the second-highest scoring output of Thompson’s career, trailing only his 60-point effort that came in just 29 minutes against the Indiana Pacers in 2016.
Monday was Thompson’s fourth career 50-point game, and seventh game in which he’s made at least 10 3-pointers. He has done the latter twice this season already, previously registering 10 triples against Houston back in November. Thompson is also the sixth player in NBA history to record at least 50 points and 10 3-pointers in the same game.
Don’t think I forgot about Looney, who went for 14 points and 21 rebounds, including 11 of the offensive variety, yet was somehow a game-worst minus-20 during his 32 minutes. Single-game plus-minus numbers continue to be worthless measurements. Here’s the winning tip:
The Warriors have three games remaining on their season-long eight-game homestand, and they’re all very winnable against Detroit, Orlando and Phoenix, which will still be without Devin Booker. Curry and Wiggins should be back soon. Are things actually starting to come together in the Bay?
