Watch Los Angeles Clippers Game 5 live on Sky Sports Arena in the early hours of Thursday morning (3:30am)
Thursday 25 April 2019 09:51, UK
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said the 'Pacific Ocean reset' Klay Thompson credited for his breakout 32-point performance in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers made "perfect sense" to him.
Having endured two 12-point outings in Games 1 and 3 of the Warriors' first-round series, Thompson erupted for 27 first-half points in Game 4 on Sunday night, hitting each of his first seven shot attempts. He finished the game with 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting as Golden State powered to a 113-105 victory that earned them a 3-1 series lead.
In an interview on ABC7's 'After the Game' show following Game 4, Thompson said: "You know when I don't have a game that I think is of my standards I try and do something different. So yesterday I went and jumped in the Pacific Ocean. It was cold but it was worth it.
"It [woke] me up and healed in body and mind so I think it worked and it paid off."
Speaking at Warriors practice ahead of Game 5, Kerr backed his All-Star shooting guard's offbeat idea.
"I think the ocean is probably the best way to clear your mind," he said. "Being a southern California kid [myself] and growing up at the beach and spending a lot of time in the ocean, that made perfect sense. I know people laughed and joked about it because it's Klay but it made perfect sense to me."
Thompson's Game 4 performance earned high praise from Sky Sports NBA studio guests Ronny Turiaf and Mike Tuck.
"He did everything on the court: posting up, scoring from three [point range], being involved - just being typical Klay Thompson, not [taking] many dribbles but still being super-efficient and picking his spots," said former Turiaf, who spent two of his 10 NBA seasons in a Warriors uniform."[Klay] should be studied by young kids. Watch how he does it on the court. Not flashy, but super-sexy!"Tuck, who has starred for the Sheffield Sharks
in a 10-year BBL career, said of Thompson: "He is such a fun player to watch. He had 32 points and hit six threes [in Game 4] and he's not a guy who is ball-dominant. He lets the game come to him. His usage rate isn't crazy. He takes very few dribbles. He gets the job done.
"With his [shooting] stroke, once he gets it going, he is unstoppable."
Watch Thompson and his Warriors team-mates in action tonight live on Sky Sports Arena (from 3:30am) as Golden State host the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 5 of their first-round series.
