Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson has found his stroke from beyond the arc after switching to his role off the bench.
Veteran sharpshooter Klay Thompson was a mainstay in the Dallas Mavericks starting lineup since joining the team ahead of last season, but this year, head coach Jason Kidd has shifted the starting five after the integration of top-pick Cooper Flagg, who got some action in the backcourt to start the season.
The backcourt of Flagg and Thompson showed a glaring lack of ball-handling and facilitating, which forced Kidd to move Thompson to the bench in favor of a more traditional point guard like D'Angelo Russell or Brandon Williams.
This week, Thompson has begun to show the three-point marksmanship he's known for after beginning the year shooting less than 30 percent from downtown in the starting lineup.
On Wednesday of last week, Thompson had one of his best performances as a Maverick with 19 points on six-of-16 shooting from three-point range. Initial observations suggested that Thompson was disgruntled by the change in the lineup, but the four-time NBA champ acknowledged that he's willing to do whatever is necessary to help the team.
“I'm enjoying it, I get to see the game develop so I can see where to pick my spots,” Thompson said about coming off the bench. “At the end of the day, I play 30 minutes in the NBA, Year 15, I'm just trying to be out there as much as I possibly can. I'm not saying the end is near, but it's such a privilege to be out there no matter if it's mid-November or early June. My goal this year is to be the most consistent presence in the lineup.”
That mindset carried into Sunday's win over the Portland Trail Blazers, in which Dallas outlasted Portland 138-133 in overtime. Thompson posted another solid line of 19 points on efficient shooting (5-11 on threes) as the Mavs saw seven players score in double figures. As a team, Dallas nailed 15 three pointers, the second-most in a game this season, on 44 percent shooting, a new season-high.
When Thompson is hot, no player attracts more attention on the perimeter, and the rest of the Mavs are capitalizing on that spacing.
“Getting him off a lot of off-ball screening,” Daniel Gafford said about how Thompson makes opposing defenses adjust. “Teams overplay him because of his gravity. It opens opportunities for everybody else. When he hits shots, it’s good for us. When he makes plays out of it, that’s good too. One of the best shooters in the world — you have to get the ball in his hands.”
“He’s being himself,” P.J. Washington added. “We need him to keep doing what he’s doing. He has so much gravity. Putting him in actions makes defenses react and opens everything up.”
Thompson has averaged 17 points on over 40 percent shooting from long range over his last three games coming off the bench.
Russell also came on in relief to add 12 points and a team-high seven assists in the Mavs' fourth win of the year, but first against a Western Conference team.
Washington and Flagg added 21 points apiece, along with Gafford scoring a season-high of 20 in the starting lineup. The rookie Flagg spoke postgame about the growth he's felt in getting more comfortable with his teammates.
“I think it’s the experience of being in these moments and just learning,” Flagg said to Mavs.com. “I think there’s so many different situations you can be in, and I think going through it with your guys who you’re going to be in it with plenty more times is huge for us having those experiences.
“I think we’re starting to figure it out a little bit. Obviously, it’s been really competitive the last couple of games. It’s been good for us to kind of show our competitive spirit and obviously it was really good tonight to close that one out with a win.”
The win stopped a three-game skid to move Dallas to 4-10 on the year. Thompson & Co. will look to stay sharp as they travel for a back-to-back - and grueling stretch of five games in seven days - to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves inside Target Center on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. CT.