Klay lets loose to inspire Warriors

Klay Thompson is finding his groove.

In his 12th game back from injury, Thompson scored 21 points and the Golden State Warriors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-98 on Monday night for their ninth straight win.

Thompson went down with a torn ACL in his left knee in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. While recovering from surgery, he tore his right Achilles tendon in November 2020. He's been slowly adding minutes to his workload, and it appears the five-time All-Star might be ready for the stretch run.

After the Thunder rallied late in the fourth quarter to cut Golden State's lead to five, Thompson hit two 3-pointers－including one with just over a minute remaining－to put the Warriors up nine.

"It was great to see Klay hit those back-to-back 3s to kind of seal the win," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "Just fun to have him back, and he looks great out there. He's moving great. It's fun to be able to play him."

Thompson's late shots came in the same building where he made 11 3-pointers during a playoff win over the Thunder in the Western Conference finals back in 2016 that forced a Game 7. He said that didn't cross his mind during this game.

Oklahoma City's Darius Bazley said Thompson is still tough to guard, even at age 31 and after all the setbacks.

"He's so good at shooting the ball, I feel like my hand doesn't really do anything," Bazley said. "You've kind of like just got to bank on him missing. There're some players that are just so good that they don't even see you."

Stephen Curry added 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for the Warriors, who shot 50 percent from the field.

Agencies via Xinhua