Commentary: The Warriors need more from Klay Thompson to beat the Grizzlies

Andre Iguodala grabbed Klay Thompson at the end of the Warriors’ Game 1 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

“Keep your composure,” the Warriors’ sidelined veteran told Thompson.

“I played angry,” Thompson said after Game 1.

Whether he was in that same state for Game 2 is unknown, but what’s indisputable with the semifinal series heading back to the Bay tied 1-1 is that the Warriors need Thompson to play better.

The numbers are damning.

The eye test is tougher.

And if this kind of play continues in Game 3 and beyond, the Warriors’ season will not last much longer.

There are plenty of reasons to explain Thompson’s poor play as of late – anger, leg injuries, or even his new knee knock, picked up in the final moments of Game 1 – but whether those excuses are still needed in a few days will tell us everything about the Warriors and their chances of winning a title this season.

And yes, the onus falls on Thompson. Gary Payton’s absence will test the Warriors’ defense and the Grizzlies are pushing around Steph Curry and Jordan Poole when the Warriors have the ball. Thompson is one Warrior who can pick up the slack in both areas.

Scratch that – he’s the one Warrior who needs to pick up the slack in both areas.

In the regular season, it’d be easy to look to Andrew Wiggins to up his game, but he’s been marvelous in the postseason. What more can you ask of No. 22?

Now it’s Thompson who is slumping.

Over his past three games, Thompson has been a bricklayer. He’s made only 16 of his past 51 shots (31%) and 6 of 28 3-pointers (21%).

I don’t need to tell you that those numbers won’t help the Warriors win games.

There is one area for clear improvement on the offensive side – regression to the mean, even: In the past three games, 24 of Thompson’s 28 3-point attempts have been open looks where the defender is 4-plus feet away.

He’s shooting 21% on those shots.

It’s hard to imagine that lasting.

Then again, it’s hard to imagine three straight games of Thompson missing open shots, too.

But just as critical to the Warriors’ success moving forward in this series and beyond is Thompson’s defense.

While he remains a quality team defender, Thompson is looking more like a one-on-one liability on that end of the court.

Through seven games this postseason, Thompson is allowing his primary mark to shoot 53.8% against him – five percentage points higher than the expected field-goal percentage of those players, per the NBA’s official stats.

That difference of 5% is far and away the worst of any player Warriors coach Steve Kerr has played in all seven postseason games.

And for reference, defensive genius Draymond Green is at minus-11.2% this postseason. Payton was at minus-5.1% before his injury.

Thompson’s statistical defensive decline – which is easy to corroborate with the eye test – shows the difference between regular-season and postseason basketball.

Thompson was a solid defender in the regular season. Opponents only shot 41% against him in the regular season, a minus-5.3% rating.

The 10-percentage-point swing from the regular season to postseason might be a small-sample-size mirage, but it’s more likely a byproduct of the increased intent opposing offenses show in the playoffs.

Now, with Payton out and the Warriors down one of their two reliable perimeter defenders for big moments, Thompson’s defense needs to reach a new level.

A level we haven’t seen in Games 1 and 2.

Denver didn’t have the dudes to do it, but the Grizzlies have honed in on Thompson, attacking him and his limited side-to-side movement.

Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant has taken a particular liking to Thompson. He was running high pick-and-rolls to specifically switch onto Thompson late in Games 1 and 2.

The Warriors tried to counter by putting Thompson in the corner – making it harder for him to be pulled into the action – but that left Curry or Poole an island.

Curry is an underrated defender, but that’s not a viable model for success for the Warriors, especially considering the Warriors’ foul troubles in this series and their now more-limited rotation.

Primary perimeter defender was a role Thompson played as well as anyone before he tore his ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals and his Achilles tendon in November 2020.

Now he’s about to be thrust back into it.

He’s about to be thrust back into it all.

The Warriors need Thompson to play like the All-Star he once was. The all-time great he is.

This team’s margin for error is too slim against Memphis. It’ll be even thinner if the Warriors advance to the Western Conference finals.

And that means, ready or not, Thompson’s feeling-out period has to come to an end.