It’s only Game 4 of the season for the Warriors, but this trip to Valley Arizona has already turned the heat up a notch, if not two, in the Western Conference tonight.
During an intense third quarter, Klay Thompson and Devin Booker began to bicker nicely, with the former chambering the latter after a big defensive streak that saw the Suns fullback get rid of the ball in their duel against the Warrior. “He kept saying, over and over, that they had four rings. Yes, they have them! », Booker narrated afterwards.
The two men were quickly punished with a double technique, one each, a classic of the genre. But Thompson returned to the charge, literally, by going to send a few bird names in the direction of the referees, and Ed Malloy in particular.
Already launched in a dirty evening at 2 points at 1/8 on shots including 0/5 at 3-pointers, Thompson was kindly invited to join the locker room before the end of the match, his very first career expulsion, after 759 games, regular season and playoffs combined! As surprising as it may seem when you know the competitor, Klay Thompson had never been expelled from an NBA game since his debut in 2011!
The student surpasses the master
“I love Klay Thompson and I have since my debut [en NBA] »reacted Booker on TNT just after the match. “From my Draft, I announced that I wanted to play like Klay Thompson. But that doesn’t stop us from being competitive when we face each other, and from throwing a few spades along the way. It was fun, I’m one of his big fans, I love his competitiveness. That’s all there is to it. »
Again questioned about his spat with Thompson, Booker tried to defuse the bomb, placed in his way by a Thompson reassembled like a cuckoo clock, who in particular insulted the Phoenix bench before joining the locker room…
“He had a bad night, and that plays a lot on the frustration. I know because I’ve been there.” Booker continued at a press conference. “Afterwards, they won four titles and they will therefore inevitably use it in their trash talk. And with good reason of course! You have to respect it. But that’s not going to stop me from being competitive either. (…) I admire his game but we are two different players. We play two different types of basketball and therefore there is no reason to compare us. »
| Klay Thompson | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2011-12 | GOS | 66 | 24 | 44.3 | 41.4 | 86.8 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 12.5 |
| 2012-13 | GOS | 82 | 36 | 42.2 | 40.1 | 84.1 | 0.4 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 16.6 |
| 2013-14 | GOS | 81 | 35 | 44.4 | 41.7 | 79.5 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 18.4 |
| 2014-15 | GOS | 77 | 32 | 46.3 | 43.9 | 87.9 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 21.7 |
| 2015-16 | GOS | 80 | 33 | 47.0 | 42.5 | 87.3 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 22.1 |
| 2016-17 | GOS | 78 | 34 | 46.8 | 41.4 | 85.3 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 22.3 |
| 2017-18 | GOS | 73 | 34 | 48.8 | 44.0 | 83.7 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 20.0 |
| 2018-19 | GOS | 78 | 34 | 46.7 | 40.2 | 81.6 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 21.5 |
| 2021-22 | GOS | 32 | 29 | 42.9 | 38.5 | 90.2 | 0.5 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 20.4 |
| 2022-23 | GOS | 3 | 23 | 40.5 | 34.8 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 14.0 |
| Total | 650 | 33 | 45.7 | 41.7 | 84.9 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 19.5 | |
