Klay Thompson’s homecoming game was (almost) perfect

From start to finish, the celebration of Klay Thompson was incredible

Klay Thompson is a Golden State Warriors legend, and his return home on Tuesday night as a Dallas Maverick felt like a scene straight out of a movie. Before the game even began, the Warriors had nearly 400 staffers lined up to welcome Klay to the arena. The Warriors pregame celebration was even better. Everything from the 18,000 free boater’s hats that they handed out to the fans, to the video tribute that played before Klay was introduced was perfect.

As the game tipped off, fans didn’t have to wait very long to get what they were hoping to see. Dallas ran Klay to the left side of the floor, where he got his Splash Brother on a post up. That play resulted in free throws, which Klay made to score his first of 22 points in the game. Steph described after the game what that moment was like, saying he “blacked out” in the moment and fouled because he couldn’t let Klay score on him. The photo of the moment is an instant classic. The Captain and the Chef, competing one on one at the foul line extended. A moment that had happened thousands of times in practice, now happening for the first time when it counts.

Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

Steve Kerr said postgame, “it was almost surreal saying ‘Steph, you got Klay’” during the pregame scout. It kind of felt that way for the entire game, as a fan. Klay’s been playing games as a Dallas Maverick for almost a month now. But in a way, it felt like this game needed to happen before Thompson really became “one of us”. To fully close the book on what was and focus on what is, Tuesday night in San Francisco needed to happen.

Klay Thompson was 3 minutes and 11 seconds away from having his perfect ending to this story, with his current team beating his previous team by 6. However, Steph Curry’s continued brilliance combined with the Mavericks continued struggles in the clutch gave the storybook ending to the home team. Steph finished the game on a personal 12-3 run to say “night night” to that chapter of Warriors basketball, while Thompson’s 22 points weren’t enough to keep Dallas from falling to 5-6.

Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

On this night, though, things were much bigger than one game. It was about closing a chapter of NBA history that was unlike almost anything else the NBA has seen before. The hype machine was firmly focused on this game, and it delivered everything you could’ve asked for and more. While the result turned into something Mavs fans will soon forget, the story was almost as perfect as it gets.