Klay Thompson calls Mozgov’s thigh-bruising screen ‘kind of dirty’
The Golden State Warriors had many things to be upset about with regards to their own performance in the aftermath of Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. One of the few things they could be thankful for, though, was the apparent health of Klay Thompson.
The All-Star guard left for the locker room in the final minute of the first quarter after taking a knee to the thigh from Cavs center Timofey Mozgov and initially looked in serious pain. Thankfully for the Warriors and the NBA, Thompson returned after a few minutes of treatment and put forth his strongest stretch of what was obviously a poor game overall.
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Yet Thompson did not forget the Mozgov screen that sent him out of action. In fact, he took issue with it in his post-game press conference. Check out his response around the 1:40 mark of this video:
And here’s the transcript of his answer (emphasis added):
I didn’t get it. I don’t know. I’m guarding Kyrie, running full speed downhill, I just don’t know who is trying to set a pick on me in the middle of the key. If it’s on the perimeter, I understand. But didn’t make sense to me. Obviously didn’t feel good. But I’ll be all right. Luckily for us I’m going to take the day off tomorrow and get healthy. But it’s The Finals. Nothing’s going to keep me out of it.
But I re-watched it. I’m just confused why he’s trying to set a screen in the middle of the key when we’re both running full speed downhill. It seemed kind of dirty to me. He stuck his knee out too, but, you know what? That’s basketball.
Take another look at the play and decide for yourself:
Thompson’s left thigh contusion does not figure to limit him too much moving forward, but the bad blood caused by this incident could carry over to Game 4. Mozgov has fallen out of the rotation in recent months and played just seven minutes even with Kevin Love out for Game 3, so there’s not much reason to think he and Thompson will face off much in this series. Rather, Thompson could enter Friday’s matchup with extra motivation, and any potential dust-ups with other Cavs could escalate thanks to this context.
To put it another way, Mozgov’s screen and Thompson’s reaction are examples of the kind of bad blood that can develop during a long series with massive stakes for all involved parties. As long as no one gets hurt, it just makes the NBA Finals more dramatic.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
