Sunday NBA Playoffs: Klay Thompson Showing Alpha-Dog Swagger Without Steph Curry
Beating the Houston Rockets without Stephen Curry was one thing. While James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to coalesce and the entire team displayed a stunning lack of chemistry, the Golden State Warriors had no trouble slaughtering their overmatched opponent and advancing out of the first round.
The Portland Trail Blazers were supposed to be a bigger challenge. Instead, they found themselves facing a massive first-quarter deficit and eventually wound up on the wrong end of a 118-106 final margin.
From the opening tip, Klay Thompson took over and proved he could be a potent alpha dog in Curry's absence.
In the first 12 minutes alone, the shooting guard exploded for 18 points, two rebounds and an assist on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and a 4-of-7 performance from beyond the arc. He alone managed to outscore Rip City, which could only muster up 17 points during the first quarter.
We've known for a while that Thompson could catch fire. Arguably even more so than Curry, he possesses that tantalizing microwave gene, and he can rise and fire over virtually any defender when he begins heating up.
Shots like these don't usually look so effortless for anyone not named Curry or Thompson:
Thompson wound up recording 37 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals by the time the final buzzer sounded, but he was by no means the only standout on the terrifyingly deep Golden State roster.
Draymond Green went for a triple-double, finishing with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. Marreese Speights and Leandro Barbosa helped provide the second unit with some offensive stability. Andrew Bogut protected the rim with aplomb and even got involved on the scoring end with some close-range touch. Harrison Barnes served as a steady two-way force.
Everyone helped, and that's exactly how the Warriors are overcoming the presumptive two-time MVP's absence.
It's Thompson and Co. on offense, but the defense in particular has been as suffocating as possible.
Curry is not a bad defender—if you still hold on to the antiquated notion that he's a liability, you can enlighten yourself with this video by BBallBreakdown—but Shaun Livingston has been even better in his place.
The length and height of the backup point guard allow Golden State to switch on even more screens, and that helped the defending champions handle Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum with relative ease.
During the regular season, the Portland backcourt combined to average 45.9 points per game while shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from beyond the arc. While knocking off the injury-riddled Los Angeles Clippers, the duo produced 41.7 points per contest with a 40.1 field-goal percentage and 35.4 three-point percentage.
Not so much in Game 1.
Lillard may have scored 30 points, but he needed 26 shots and de facto garbage time to get there. He was blanketed by bigger defenders all afternoon and greeted with a rim protector whenever he found his way into the paint.
Meanwhile, his backcourt mate—hounded in the same manner—struggled his way to a dozen points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field.
At some point during the second-round series, Lillard will start heating up. He's too talented a scorer to go cold for a prolonged stretch, even when a dangerous defensive scheme is being implemented to shut him down. Already, he began to prove that during the fourth quarter—albeit when the game was out of reach.
But these Warriors are only building confidence, and it all starts with the All-Star 2-guard's offense. He's pulling the inverse of the Rip City backcourt, using these high-pressure moments to show just how good he can be without his fellow Splash Brother.
Check out his numbers with Curry off the court below:
It's not just the scoring, impressive as that may be. Before Game 1, head coach Steve Kerr compared Thompson to Reggie Miller, per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
"I think honestly he's becoming Reggie Miller-like in that regard, and what that does for our team is dramatic. It opens up driving and passing lanes for other people. Sometimes he'll make a back cut. He won't touch the ball, but we'll score on the possession because of the attention he drew on the back cut, and I think he's understanding that more and more.
"
That's a lofty comparison, but it may still be selling him a bit short after his Sunday performance.
Thompson is taking over as an off-ball weapon and an on-ball offensive threat by balancing his innate scoring ability with a willingness to make the right play. He's not forcing up his own looks but instead taking the correct shots and involving everyone else.
Recording five assists as a 2-guard isn't an easy proposition, especially when facilitating has been a longstanding weakness.
Throughout the regular season, Thompson was much more willing to attack and fill an on-ball role without Curry. He took an additional 1.9 free-throw attempts and recorded another 0.6 assists per 36 minutes, according to NBA.com.
That trend is just continuing during the playoffs, perhaps proving the 2-guard could thrive as the leader of his own team.
Still, when Curry returns, Thompson will once again accept his role as a No. 2. He's shown time and time again that he's willing to play Robin to Curry's Batman, and that selflessness is part of what makes the Warriors so dangerous at full strength.
But by continuing to prove he can serve as a No. 1 in the MVP's absence, he's also making it abundantly clear that Golden State will be in an advantageous position when the point guard steps onto the floor once again.
Right now, nothing could be more valuable.
Toronto Raptors Survive, But Trouble Looms
Congratulations to the Toronto Raptors for winning their personal championship.
After years of futility, they finally won a best-of-seven series, advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001 with an 89-84 Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
The nervous feelings can now subside, since we're 100 percent sure there's no possibility of a collapse that leads to yet another postseason failure.
Characteristically, the Raptors did come close to blowing a big fourth-quarter lead, allowing Paul George and George Hill to spark a massive run that shrunk the gap to a single possession with less than 30 seconds remaining in the entire series.
But they managed to survive and advance, which is all that matters right now.
However, a personal championship isn't the equivalent of an actual championship. The road only gets tougher for Toronto now that the Miami Heat await in the second round, and the Canadian franchise desperately needs far more production from its star-studded backcourt.
Norman Powell was utterly fantastic off the bench, scoring 13 points while playing some high-quality defense in big moments. Patrick Patterson exploded during the third quarter, helping Toronto earn the lead it would never relinquish.
But Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan? They were merely mediocre, even if the shooting guard's point total would beg to differ.
DeRozan constantly fell into the hero-ball trap, rarely even thinking about passing as he navigated pick-and-roll sets and probed the Pacers defense in isolation.
He did provide some memorable moments—a stellar first quarter, a takeover stretch in the third period and the stunning spin you can see below—but his overall performance was anything but efficient:
To be fair, no one on the Pacers was willing to shoulder the offensive burden, and DeRozan took that responsibility into his own hands.
His shot selection was still downright putrid at times, leading to a gaudy final line that—partially—falls apart when you look at how many attempts he took. He finished with 30 points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks on 10-of-32 shooting from the field.
Lowry, meanwhile, struggled to find his shot yet again. He made only five of his 14 field-goal attempts en route to a mere 11 points—a far cry from his MVP-caliber performances during the regular season.
Toronto deserves to revel in its first-round victory, but a second-round defeat awaits if the backcourt can't make serious progress:
| Regular Season | 44.7 | 43.7 | 37.8 |
| Round 1, Games 1-6 | 30.1 | 31.6 | 17.3 |
| Round 1, Game 7 | 41 | 32.6 | 11.1 |
The truly troubling thing is that Toronto is still better with Lowry on the floor, even while he's struggling so immensely. Heading into Game 7, the team's net rating dropped by 16.9 points per 100 possessions when he went to the bench.
If you're a Raptors fan, feel free to celebrate. Watch the highlights over and over. Party it up and appreciate the fact that your team is now one of only eight still alive in the quest for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Just do so while fully aware that the end is near if Lowry and DeRozan can't start producing on offense like they did while carrying Toronto to the East's No. 2 seed.
Miami Heat Look Scary-Good
A Game 7 victory is never supposed to become an easy task, but the Miami Heat didn't so much as sweat during the second half of their 106-73 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
They emerged from the locker room and headed into the third quarter with a 12-point advantage, and that quickly swelled to an unreasonable margin after a dominant run.
By the time the teams took the floor for the series' final period, the Heat were up 30 points.
However, this performance was about more than surviving and advancing. Miami flat-out steamrolled the opposition, proving it could play at an elite level and test its second-round opponent—or any opponent, for that matter.
Every key piece thrived—the ideal scenario at this stage of the calendar, since the postseason is often about playing your best basketball at the best time.
Luol Deng continued his hot-shooting ways. Goran Dragic bullied Kemba Walker throughout the contest, slicing through the teeth of the Charlotte defense en route to 25 points, six rebounds and four assists. Dwyane Wade kept thriving and showing off his all-around game.
But for Miami, the best news of all was the inspired play of Hassan Whiteside. Finishing with 10 points, 12 rebounds, one assist and five blocks, he couldn't be kept off the offensive glass and set the defensive tone from start to finish.
Even when he wasn't recording momentum-shattering blocks like the one below, he was diverting attempts and asserting complete control over the painted area:
Whiteside is no longer chasing rejections for the sake of padding stats and upping his 2K16 rating. He's positioning himself perfectly on nearly every defensive possession and making his team significantly better at preventing points. And in doing so, he's wrapping up his case for a max contract this offseason.
Now, he'll receive even more opportunities to strut his ever-improving stuff in the second round.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from Basketball-Reference.com.
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