What Golden State Warriors Need from Klay Thompson to Win 2015 NBA Finals

Klay Thompson was the only Golden State Warriors starter who didn't score at least 10 points in Thursday night's Game 4 win. But as tends to happen on a team with so many weapons, his pedestrian box score wasn't a huge problem. Thompson finished with nine points on nine shots, two assists and two boards in 39 minutes of action.

But even when Thompson isn't a human fireworks display, dropping acid-covered basketballs from above, the mere threat of his outside shot draws the attention of the Cleveland Cavaliers' aggressive defense.

Thompson spaces the floor, and LeBron James took it upon himself to make sure one of the league's best shooters never got going in the fourth quarter. He's respected and feared, even when his stats don't show it.

Here's a closer look at how the All-Star shooting guard is affecting the Finals so far and what Golden State needs from him the rest of the way.

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Here's a dirty little secret about the Warriors' multipronged offense: The team has maybe three players in the entire rotation who can consistently create quality shots off the dribble. That's it. Despite averaging the second-most minutes (40.6), field-goal attempts (16.8) and points per game (19.5) on the team in the Finals, Thompson is not one of them. 

But he's an integral member of a wondrous ensemble, and the Warriors offense wouldn't be as deadly without his on- and off-ball contributions. For the most part, Thompson played self-aware basketball in Game 4, rarely derailing the system to take his man one-on-one.

Yet he stayed aggressive. This is the fine line the third-team All-NBA guard walks along, and more often than not, he does a good job. 

But Thompson has forced his fair share of bad attempts in this series—well-contested and before the Warriors had an opportunity to make Cleveland's paper-thin lineup work for a defensive stop. The Finals do not forgive disobedience.

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Instead, Thompson's offense should come in more natural ways: curling off pin-down screens or attacking with a full head of steam after receiving a handoff on the perimeter.

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Thompson has experienced mental meltdowns in this series, including a contested deep three with 21 seconds left in the second quarter of Game 3—and 20 seconds on the shot clock. The Warriors should've held for the half's final shot but didn't, and Cleveland made them pay with a James Jones three on the other end. 

But for the most part, Thompson reads the defense like a book, hits the open man whenever trapped or doubled off a screen (he has two turnovers in 163 minutes for the series) and makes the Cavs pay whenever they screw up. This set play to spring Thompson open after he pretends to be the screener for Leandro Barbosa almost works too perfectly:

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On defense, Thompson is large, long and quick enough to fit perfectly into Golden State's small-ball units that suffocated Cleveland's offense in Game 4. He can trap LeBron and switch onto him every now and then.

The Cavs wings haven't presented much of a threat so far in this series, but if J.R. Smith or Iman Shumpert begins to show life, Thompson is more than capable of snuffing it out (or at least making either player work extra hard to get shots up).

And at 6'7", he's more than useful crashing the defensive glass when Cleveland has Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson in the game.

But offense is where Thompson needs to make his mark on this series. He's a smart enough mover without the ball to impact the entire dynamic of Golden State's attack. He's back-cutting Shumpert whenever the Cavs defender thinks he's about to fly out and over a screen and destroying Smith in too many ways to count. Whenever Thompson matches up with Matthew Dellavedova, he posts up and shoots over the top. 

As Grantland's Zach Lowe points out here, Golden State's coaching staff is using Thompson in creative and nightmarish ways: 

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Thompson and Curry do-si-doed under the rim, twirling Cleveland defenders into a daze before rocketing around screens on either side of the floor. The coaches scripted in actions in which Thompson screened for Curry up top and then immediately flew behind another screen for a Golden State big—actions that caught the Cavs off guard in Games 3 and 4.

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For opponents, Thompson can be a migraine. There's also the occasion when he resembles an aluminum bat to the jaw. Here's the San Jose Mercury News' Jimmy Durkin with more on Thompson's incredible Game 2 performance:

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The Warriors had their worst three-point shooting night of the postseason, making just 8 of 35 from beyond the arc. But Thompson's early offense was instrumental in keeping the game close, and he matched a playoff career high with his 34 points.

"I just let the offense come to me and tried to play as aggressive as I can," Thompson said. "But in the end, 34 points is meaningless."

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That quote is key. Thompson assertively looked for his own shot but didn't force anything. Even if the result isn't a 30-plus-point powder keg, this is the weapon Golden State needs Thompson to be from here on out.

The Warriors don't need a secondary ball-handler or for him to run pick-and-rolls. They don't need him to catch outlet passes and zoom the length of the floor before trying to score over three Cavaliers.

They need patience in the half court. Making shots is important, but the Warriors are essentially unstoppable when Thompson plays with discipline. So far, he's done a decent job, but against Cleveland's stout defense, with adjustments coming in Games 5 and 6, Thompson has room to improve where he's most capable of doing so.

All statistics are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com or NBA.com unless otherwise noted.

Michael Pina is an NBA writer who lives in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelVPina.