Klay Thompson will embarrass your team when you least expect it

Sixty points in 29 minutes. That’s just flat-out ridiculous even from Klay Thompson, a man who once scored 37 points in a quarter. The last time a player scored 60 points or more in three quarters was Kobe in 2005.

If we look at the most players have scored in fewer than 30 minutes, the next closest is Larry Bird with 43 in 1986. That’s 17 fewer points than Klay Thompson.

Not only is the feat ridiculous, but it’s random as hell. Before that historic quarter against the Kings, Thompson scored 27 points against the Rockets, 22 against Denver, 27 against the Rockets again, 32 against the Thunder, and 19 against Miami. In the five games before this performance, he had 26, 15, 20, 23, and 18, respectively. There’s never an indication that a game like this is just around the corner for him. They just happen.

And you never really know until the exact moment it starts, either. What begins as a routine game in a long line of routine games quickly becomes a historic night. When Thompson gets hot, he goes supernova. That’s what makes him so fun.

This one is especially weird because he’s had some off games this year. When Kevin Durant signed in Golden State, many thought Thompson would be the one that had to sacrifice to accommodate the former MVP. Thompson was flippant when asked about that, insisting that he wasn’t giving up his shots.

You can understand the thought. While the Warriors move the ball very well, it does usually cycle through their best players first, as it should. And with Durant there, Thompson would be the third-best offensive player on the team rather than the second.

And early on, Thompson struggled, uncharacteristically. He scored 11 points against the Spurs in the first game, going 1 for 6 from the three. Two games later, he missed all six three-point attempts against the Suns and scored only 14 points. He missed all seven treys against Portland, and after a 4-for-8 bounce-back against the Thunder, he fell back down to 2 for 10 as the Warriors surprisingly lost to the Lakers. Even this performance against the Pacers is two games removed from a 3-for-13 performance when Houston visited Oracle on Dec. 1.

But that makes this 60-points-in-29-minutes masterpiece all the more incredible.

It started off innocently enough. The Pacers were bad, so he took some very easy layups. Indiana would miss a shot, forget to hustle back, and Thompson scored under little pressure. He got plenty of easy looks at the rim because of a failed defensive assignment. That happened so often that his 17 points in the first quarter felt disturbingly quiet.

Then he decided to up the tempo in the second and remind everyone how un-guardable he can be. When he’s in his zone, his eyes glaze over and he cares so little about the other human tasked with making his job difficult. It makes you pity the defender a bit, knowing that his efforts are futile.

When Thompson gets into these zones, it’s impossible to look away. His performance engulfs you. It’s such a breathless spectacle that seizes the audience in a perpetual roller coaster of suspense and release. He makes a shot, everyone cheers, and before they can even settle down, the opponent turns the ball over or misses a shot and he has the ball again. Your eyes widen as he spots up, and another celebration erupts when it goes in. Over and over and over he goes.

This frenzied atmosphere also demoralized the Pacers so much that they fell into the trap of taking quick shots to shut the audience up. All that meant is the Warriors got the ball back faster and Thompson had even more opportunities. Every time he scored, the crowd and his teammates hyped him up even more. They purposely made it the Klay Thompson show.

Halfway into the second quarter, Thompson ran across the court from the left to the right corner, where the Warriors bench sits. Steph Curry excitedly bounced up and down as he came towards them. Thompson received the pass from Shaun Livingston with a defender on his back, but in rhythm, already hot, and uncaring for such things as shot difficulty, he turned around and instantly shot the ball while fading away to his right.

A group of his teammates behind him huddled up and watched at that moment. When the shot went in, they rushed and pulled at him, and Curry ran down and back on the sideline celebrating like a madman. So, Thompson left his arm hanging in the air arrogantly with all the commotion around him, before hustling back with a huge smile on his face.

It was mesmerizing. The fans and his teammates celebrated so openly that it frustrated the Pacers into making mistakes, which led to yet another opportunity for him to score again. Again and again and again. And it happened enough that the only real question about the game was if Thompson could outscore the Pacers as a team.

And he definitely could have if he stayed in. The atmosphere helps, but the crux of these games is that Thompson has the uncanny ability to score loads of point really quickly. He doesn’t need to dribble or even attempt to get open when he’s like this. He catches and shoots regardless of where he’s at or who is defending him. He sets his feet and goes through his shooting motion so fast that by the time the camera pans to him receiving the ball, the shot is already through the basket.

The theater of the moment is overwhelming. The repeated climax of watching him shoot, get it back, and shoot again is emotionally draining. The only true respite when he’s going off are those rare misses, but he gets the ball back after so fast that those moments are fleeting.

So when he’s finally taken out of the game, you’re disappointed because you want to see just how much he can score. But you’re also grateful because the rush can be intoxicating. His substitution is an act of mercy, not only for the Pacers, but also for everyone watching.