NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS: WARRIORS VS GRIZZLIES

May 7, 2022

Klay Thompson

Golden State Warriors

Game 3: Postgame

Golden State Warriors 142, Memphis Grizzlies 102

Q. I'll start off with the Ja Morant stuff: There was a Tweet and he deleted it, some feelings that Jordan broke the code. Is that playoff talk, or is there something serious going on between these two teams?

KLAY THOMPSON: That's playoff talk. Me personally, I've been through a tough knee injury, and I don't think there's any malicious intent from Jordan. I don't even think he's strong enough to affect somebody's knee. But we're not out there trying to hurt people or trying to club people in the back of the head on a fast break. We play the game the right way and I'm going to have his back. He's not out -- no.

Q. You found a bit of an offensive groove tonight. What went into that? Did anything feel different? Shot selection? Anything else?

KLAY THOMPSON: Just being patient. Getting great looks, early. I got a layup early. Getting the mid-range. Just not being overly eager just to shoot the ball and even the looks I got Game 2, I liked. They just didn't go in, and I plan on replicating this Monday.

Q. What is your sense of how Otto Porter affects the game? You're in the second unit with him a lot and he's plus 30 tonight. Does any of that make sense to you, that he's that kind of number without scoring a ton of points?

KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, Otto, you can't leave him open. He's an incredible shooter and has been his whole career. I knew he was going to have a great night soon because he's been getting great looks and been sticking with it.

What impresses me is his ability to rebound. He got some really great second chance opportunities for us and he's a great teammate and he's a true pro, a true test amount to our strength in numbers mantra. He might not have the shots go down the first couple games, but he's a real pro and just stuck with it.

Q. How restless were you to have a game like this? You shot the ball well in Denver but not as well in the two games in Memphis. Can you feel you're in a rhythm?

KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, I felt it when we landed from Memphis a few nights ago. Just being back home and being in your normal routine of getting outside and enjoying life is really good for the mental.

Although I didn't shoot the ball well in the first two games, we did what wore supposed to do and we stole home court. So I can choose to dwell on missing shots or I can be a real pro and see the positive in things and know I have more opportunities ahead of me to make shots at a high clip.

Q. Are you curling around that screen thinking you're going to take a one-leg leaner, or how is that shot?

KLAY THOMPSON: No, that's just how I feel. As long as my shoulders are squared up to the rim, I can take a one-footer, a two-footer. I think it's a good look and I've done it before. That was just in the flow of things and I'm happy it went in.

Q. Steve mentioned that your pump-fake was indicative of your patience tonight. Does that allow you to reset or just get the defender off balance or both?

KLAY THOMPSON: It's both. I mean, Steve has been on my head for eight years now to pump fake. He sees the game. So I took his comments to heart and you know, sometimes I forget how hard guys fly at me and that easy pump-fake, side-dribble or pump-fake reset is a great shot for me.

Q. You guys have never scored 142 in a playoff game.

KLAY THOMPSON: Wow.

Q. Does that surprise you?

KLAY THOMPSON: Not really. Because I mean, with the emergence of Jordan and Andrew doing his thing tonight and Steph and myself, we've got so much firepower on this team third page we are capable of nights like that.

Q. Shot selection was heavily emphasized yesterday after practice and then today you were pretty close to breaking the postseason record for field goal shooting percentage and true shooting percentage.

KLAY THOMPSON: Oh, wow.

Q. Do you feel like you were taking better shots collectively, and in that crazy shooting zone, what's that feel like?

KLAY THOMPSON: Yeah, myself, I felt like I was getting some good looks. The ball was really moving tonight. When we trust each other and we just hit the open man, we've got so much great shooting that we're capable of nights like this. So we've got to build on it. None of the guys in our locker room are satisfied. We did our job but we've still got two more to get.