Klay Thompson appears ecstatic to be heading back to Boston

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What a difference a few days can make.

After sounding like someone who couldn't get out of Boston fast enough, Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson all of a sudden appears eager to return -- and may have provided the Celtics some bulletin board material in the process.

In the aftermath of Golden State's 104-94 win over the Celtics to take a 3-2 lead in the 2022 NBA Finals, Thompson was asked about his play defensively in the series. After noting it meant nothing if he went out and laid an egg for the Warriors in Game 6, Thompson shifted gears and sounded all too eager to ship up to Boston.

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"I'm just excited to build on it, and wow, I'm just going to be -- I've never been so excited to go to Boston, I'll tell you that," Thompson said.

Thompson has already drawn the ire of fans at TD Garden this series based on his comments after Game 3ย in response to the chants directed at Draymond Green.

Now, with the Celtics' season on life support headed into Game 6 on Tuesday, Thompson can surely expect the fans to be ready to let him hear it once again.

Credit where it's due to Thompson, though. He was a relative nonfactor over the first two games of the Finals, averaging 13 points on 30 percent shooting. Since then, he's averaging 20.5 points on just under 44 percent from the floor -- including 41 percent from 3-point range, up from 27 percent over the first two games of the series.

Thompson does have familial history in terms of being a rival of the Celtics as his father, Mychal, won a pair of titles for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.

"When you face a team with the history like the Celtics, it's awesome," Thompson said after the game. "They have had some of the greatest players to ever dribble the ball, all the way to Cousy, and Russell, to Bird, McHale, Parrish, and watching Paul Pierce and Kobe go at it, and now to add to that legacy, it's great.

"So to kind of be able to be a part of that with Golden State and Boston, it's a new chapter, and it's just awesome to be here. It's like a dream, honestly. Like compared to what I was doing last year in this building at this time of the year, it's a dream."

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