The definition of a “slump” for the Warriors in 2018 is pretty laughable. Sure, they’ve lost four games in the past month, including a pretty brutal 26-point Christmas day loss to the Lakers, who only had LeBron for three quarters before he left with a groin injury. But they also won eight games this month and are now on top of the Western Conference. So, yes, a “slump.”
But what about individual performances—say, from Klay Thompson? Sure, he hasn’t been molten-lava hot lately. He went 2-7 from the field in that loss to the Lakers and is swinging low at 33.7 percent from behind the arc this season, garnering a lot of media attention around his “slump.” But the man still knows who he is:
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Klay talked about not losing sleep over his game and addressed what reporters thought was the elephant in the room. “I don’t think it’s a shooting slump. I don’t. Like I said I don’t really care… Aren’t we in first place? Exactly.” He later went on to assert that he was one of the greatest shooters in the game.
And you know, this might sound like hot air from someone who talks a lot of shit (say, a Draymond [who also isn’t playing so hot right now]), but Klay has always been the talk softly, but carry a big stick kind of dude. And so yeah, the player who holds the record for most points in a quarter, as well as most threes in a game by knocking down a whopping 14 of them, just in late October, might have a bit of a leg to stand on when it comes to defending his shooting.
The whole press conference felt pretty awkward, and almost had the tone of some low-key on-court shit talk. He even compared himself to some of the best shooters in the game:
So yeah, even if Klay is hitting a bit of a dip right now, he’s not playing mister nice guy anymore. Look forward to seeing him play angry tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers.
