What role will Klay Thompson play with the Warriors since coming off the bench? | SportsCenter

What role will Klay Thompson play with the Warriors since coming off the bench? | SportsCenter

This is Sports Center let us begin however top of the hour the NBA returns tonight from the break Lakers Warriors go at it two teams hitting ninth and 10th in the west respectively but according to ESPN analytics the Warriors have a 63% chance to make the postseason Lakers sit at

44% one key factor for those playoff chances will be LeBron’s availability he’s out tonight he’s nursing the ankle Lakers four and three in games without him this season for the Warriors they’re going to look to the success over the last 10 games in the second half of the

Season 8-2 in that span averaging almost 25 points per game they’re an intriguing story as they always are warriors reporter Kendra Andrews joins us now and and Kendra everybody talking about Klay Thompson I want to know what the head coach Steve CER is saying about his role going

Forward yat will clay roll coming off the bench is one that he’s going to have at least for the time being moving forward and Steve told me yesterday look it has less to do with Clay’s individual inconsistencies or struggles so far this season and really more to do with the

Warriers team struggles as a whole Kerr has been tinkering with his starting five his combinations his lineups all season long just trying to find something that works and he feels that right now he does have a group that works the way that Brandon psky plays he

Said the way he crashes the boards draws Charges better compliments Jonathan kaminga Andrew Wiggins helps unlock that group that of course is rounded out by Stephen Curry and Draymond Green and so Steve wants to stick with that but he did acknowledge look this is by no means

Going to be easy for clay who has started his entire career but Kerr likened this situation to that of Andre Iguodala who took a sixth man role in his first season with the Warriors and Kur said look how that ended up the Warriors won the championship That

Season and Iguodala won Finals MVP that really set the standard of sacrifice within this organization and right now everyone has to sacrifice to get the Warriors where they want to be they’re five games right now outside of that 5/6 seed and the Warriors feel that they

Could really make a push to get out of the play and into the playoffs where they feel Brandon psky said we can be anyone in a best of seven series The Warriors also feel that moving clay to the bunch is going to bolster that second unit you have Clay as a sixth man

And then you also have the impending return of Chris Paul you guys he is out tonight against the Lakers but he was a full participant in practice yesterday including on five and Kur said the next really big hurdle and really the final hurdle to get him back out on the court

Is just the training staff evaluating his conditioning making sure everyone feels comfortable with him returning to game action you saw him in the standings they sit 10th you wonder what any kind of boost can give the Warriors to go on a run in the back half of the Season

Kendra Andrews with the latest on the Warriors Kendra thank you NBA analist Tim legler joins us now and legs Klay Thompson came off the bench for the first time since his rookie season to score 35 against the Jazz last week when we saw them in action how do you view this role for

Clay going forward I think they’re going to take this as sort of a small sample size and see how it goes if Klay Thompson is receptive to it and Embraces it which he did and I gave him a lot of credit for that because I can’t overstate how

Difficult that is for a player of Klay Thompson’s caliber to accept that and embrace it and go in with the right mindset he obviously did that in the game against Utah and he admitted that it it worked it Unleashed him and I think the difference for clay is this

When you are a starter and you’re struggling you know you’re torn between trying to get yourself going at the start of the game and also finding that flow collectively for your team when you’re coming off the bench it’s a different mentality it’s come in and get cooking you know what you’re out there

To do and why you just entered the game and I think that helped clay he’s thinking Less in that role now will this be something they stay with well I think a lot of that’s going to depend on how he’s playing and is the team winning and

If that’s the case you might see the Golden State Warriors employ this the rest of the season I think Brandon psky gives them a great option as a starter he allows this to take place because of the way he has played and so everybody’s happy right now but it’s a one game

Sample size let’s see how they continue this out of the break yeah I mean clay hasn’t looked like this since we said his rookie season over a decade ago statistically just hasn’t been great whatever it takes I think at this point for the Warriors to get on track

Meanwhile Lakers they’ve won six out of their last seven games heading into the All-Star break what’s it going to be in terms of the key for LA to make a run here in the second half of the Season consistency consistency against good teams I look at their schedule and this

Is a very important stretch for them so over the next 10 games they play seven teams that are ahead of them in the Western Conference standings so here’s your chance you want to make a case that you’re going to make things very interesting later in the year this is

Your chance to do that oh by the way in that 10 games they also have a game against Milwaukee so you’ve got eight teams ahead of them in the standings that they’re going to get here over the next three weeks and I want to see how they consistently bring an approach that

Shows you that they’re now serious because I don’t think the regular season is is that relevant to the Lakers they’ve always been a team that since they put this together that’s he let’s just be healthy when the right time comes in mid April and we’ll make a run

That’s not going to happen this year in the west I don’t believe it’s there’s too many minefields so you’ve got to position yourself to be in a favorable spot to make that run and you can help yourself here over the next three weeks so I want to see how they play against

Teams that are ahead of them in the Western Conference yeah and six out of the less seven before the break that’s when they found some consistency then had to take a long pause where they pick up tonight we will find out Tim legler hang tight we’ll talk to you in a little

Bit yeah speaking of those landmines in a western conference and all the good teams two of them play tonight two of the top three teams out west Clippers travel to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder Shay Gil just Alexander a monster first half of the Season

Averaging over 31 points a game but the Clippers of the trendy team right now to come out west look they’re healthy and looking for their sixth straight road win the Thunder are a half game ahead of the Clippers entering tonight’s match up with the defending Champion Denver

Nuggets a close fourth so that’s a look at your chest and tries it’s always leg day when we talk about how good the western conference is and legs which team do you have more questions about in the second half of the season and the playoffs the Clippers or the

Thunder I would say the Thunder and it’s primarily because of their age right this is a youth movement this is a bunch of young guys and they’ve got great rhythm with that starting five and they’ve got guys that are playing mature beyond their years but there’s still no collective experience together in winning

Uh in the postseason and so that’s what’s going to be interesting to watch Oklahoma City and you know Shay gilis Alexander we know what level player he is but it’s different now when you’re talking about getting into potentially a seven game series against a loaded team

That’s got a lot of talent at the top of their roster when you haven’t been through it I don’t have as many questions with the clippers because I I feel like what I’ve seen out of Kawhi Leonard this year I I believe that he will be great when the situation

Requires it if you want to say there’s questions around James Harden who has had some questionable spots in big playoff moments that’s fair Paul George as well but here’s the thing they’re in a different Lane they’re in that lane now that’s alongside that guy kawh Leonard who has proven beyond a shadow

Of a doubt if he’s healthy you know how he’s going to perform on the biggest stage so I I don’t have as questions about the Clippers as much as is Oklahoma city is this youth movement ready to make this leap in one year and make a serious run yeah remember that

Last youth movement Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook James Harden ironically on the other side of this one they just couldn’t get it done before that team was blown apart let’s switch gears to Luca donic and the Macks they host the Suns tonight Dallas they were hot going to the all-star break they won six

Straight give me the ceiling for this Dallas team uh ceilings Conference Finals I think and if look and that really means if you’re a conference finalist team you’re potentially a finalist team because now anything could happen in a seven game series I just think that the way Kyrie has played uh

Since he came back from his injury and and hopefully he stays back and he stays this locked in and engaged Luke and Kyrie have found the perfect Ean Flo it they finally are there and they went out and they added two significant pieces um when you add Daniel Gafford you add PJ

Washington they upgraded talent in the front court and at the wing and now they’re deeper they’ve got athletes they’ve got Shooters and they’ve got two of the best offensive players in the league and probably the number one guy when you talk about controlling the game

In Luca dones I think the m are scary they’re hot right now going into the break and they’re going to just have more time to get better with these new pieces I think Dallas legitimately looks like a team that could make a run through the West to the Conference

Finals or Beyond that’s their ceiling if everything falls right and oh by the way the Suns KD Booker Beal I mean they’re loaded with this West is going to be so much fun to watch here in the back half of the Season Tim legler will be here

With us on Sports Center thank you legs

What role will Klay Thompson play with the Warriors since coming off the bench? | SportsCenter
Kendra Andrews and Tim Legler join SportsCenter to discuss Klay Thompson’s role with the Golden State Warriors after coming off the bench.
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