Kerr accepts Klay’s late 3-point attempts in Dubs’ Game 4 loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
It was a challenging night for Klay Thompson as the Warriors fell 104-101 in Game 4 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Thompson scored nine points on 3-of-9 shooting from the floor in the loss and was 1 of 3 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter as the contest went down to the wire.
Despite the loss, Warriors coach Steve Kerr had Thompson’s back regarding his shot selection late in the game.
“Yeah, I trust Klay,” Kerr told reporters postgame. “I mean, think of everything that he’s done for this team. So part of who he is is he’s going to fire away. And there were a couple of shots late that he probably would like to have back, but it’s part of who we are as a team.
“We’re going to fire; we’re going to Steph or Klay, gets an opening. They’re going to let it go. And they’ve had a ton of success over the years. Obviously, they both had some looks down the stretch, but give the Lakers credit. They played good defense and we couldn’t get anything to go.”
Playing a playoff game in his hometown of Los Angeles against the Lakers with family and friends in attendance may have played a role in Thompson’s subpar performances in Game 3 and Game 4, as he scored a combined 24 points in the two losses.
Nevertheless, there hasn’t been a bigger critic of Thompson than himself as the Splash Bro. called his shooting performance in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series against the Sacramento Kings “disgusting.”
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While Thompson has struggled, Kerr understands that the veteran only needs one game to build momentum to carry him through the series as Golden State attempts to climb out of a 3-1 deficit with the series shifting to the Bay.
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