What we learned from the late rally fuels the Warriors’ victory upon Klay’s return

What we learned as late rally fuels Warriors win on Klay’s return originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX score

SAN FRANCISCO — Cheers turned to drama with every breath Tuesday night at Chase Center. The result felt secondary in Klay Thompson’s return against the Warriors. The emotions of Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the entire Dub Nation said otherwise in a 120-117 victory over Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks.

Curry took the lead by scoring Golden State’s final 12 points in the final three-plus minutes, giving him a game-high 37 points. Additionally, Curry had six rebounds, nine assists, two blocked shots and five three-pointers.

The Warriors scored a plus-24 in Curry’s 35 minutes played.

Thompson totaled 22 points, his most since scoring 22 in his Mavs debut, and made six three-pointers himself.

Here are three takeaways about the Big Three from Thompson’s first game against his former team.

He’s back

As the cheers died down and the Splash Brothers hugged each other just before kickoff, it was time to focus solely on the game and not all the celebrations outside. There were a lot of questions about how Thompson’s return would go. An early surprise was who opened the game and guarded him.

This role did not belong to Green, Andrew Wiggins or De’Anthony Melton. It was Curry who had the first tackle on Thompson, and the ball was immediately in the former Warrior’s hands. Thompson backed him up by drawing a foul on Curry attempting a mid-range turnaround jump shot and making both free throws for the first two points of the night. His first basket of the night was a three-pointer against Moses Moody with a minute and a half left in the first quarter.

As the Mavs came out firing to start the second quarter and ended up outscoring the Warriors by ten points, Thompson hit back-to-back three-pointers and let the crowd know about it. At halftime, he was up to 11 points on 3 of 8 shooting and made three of his five 3-point attempts. Thompson scored just three points in the fourth quarter and appeared to have a quiet night ahead of him.

But in the fourth quarter, Thompson scored eight key points, matching his season-high 22 on 7-of-17 shooting.

Steph’s house

Not even 20 seconds after Thompson scored the game’s first two points at the free throw line, it was time for Curry to remind him whose house this is. After a Trayce Jackson Davis screen, Curry lined up for a three-pointer and Thompson did his best to help, but it came too late. Squirt.

And Curry let him know it too.

Curry took eight shots in the first quarter, his most this season. He scored 12 points on five shots and had two rebounds, one assist and two blocked shots in the first 10 minutes of play, including a shot down on Thompson. In the Warriors’ lackluster second quarter, Curry took just two shots and had 14 points and six assists at halftime.

The Warriors as a whole turned up the volume in the third quarter and Curry, as always, was the head of the snake. Curry scored nine points and had three assists as the Warriors outscored the Mavs by 11 points and held a seven-point lead heading into the final 12 minutes.

With the game tied at 100 with just over eight minutes remaining, Curry came back for the Warriors. With him on the pitch, every second was different. His clutch performance was the best ever, as Curry scored 12 of his 37 points in the fourth period.

Dray day

An invitation to compete always brings out the best in Green. While all eyes were on Curry and Thompson, the fiery side of the Warriors’ Big Three has been firmly in the picture since the beginning for more than a decade. Before he had to leave the first quarter early after being hit in the last spot anyone wanted to take, Green put in a drill in the first quarter.

In more than seven minutes, he was a plus-8 with five points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block and several contested shots. He also hit a three-pointer against Thompson and started chirping at him as the ball went through the net. Although the Warriors trailed by four at halftime, an energized Green was a plus-11.

The play of the first half, and perhaps the entire game, consisted of Green’s effort to block a three-pointer and keep it from going out before hitting Melton for a layup.

It cannot be emphasized enough, Green was everywhere on the court.

His second half wasn’t quite as impactful, and a crucial miss with more than four minutes left turned into a five-point swing that increased the Mavs’ lead to seven points. Green then made up for it several times on the defensive side against the much larger Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively.

Green finished the game with a plus-18 and filled the box with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots. When it was needed most, the Warriors’ heartbeat helped them to an emotional victory.

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