As Klay Thompson watched the Warriors’ red-hot start to the 2021-22 NBA season from the bench in November, he made a bold proclamation.
“We are now the type of team where it’s championship or bust,” Thompson said at the time.
Now, just seven wins away from the team’s fourth NBA championship in eight years, Steph Curry is hoping Golden State can turn Thompson into a prophet.
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As expected, Curry downplayed Thompson’s prediction at first when speaking to reporters after Golden State’s Game 1 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at Chase Center on Wednesday night.
While the 112-87 rout gave Golden State a one-game-to-none lead in the Western Conference finals, there’s still plenty of series left.
“[Thompson] being away, I’m sure I expected him to say something like that just in anticipation of him coming back, but like I said, it’s an exciting time to be back on the stage,” Curry said. “We’re not skipping ahead any part of this journey. We understand that we won just one game in the Western Conference finals and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to get back to the Finals.
Golden State Warriors
“Would love to make him a prophet this year.”
Thompson was recovering from injury when he made his proclamation six months ago, and the Warriors were back to their winning ways despite missing one half of the Splash Brothers. They had the best record in the NBA at 15-2, and, as Thompson put it, plenty to look forward to.
“And I’m not back yet,” Thompson told reporters in November. “Think about that. Really think about that.”
Well, Thompson has been back since January and you could say things are going well. But like Curry said, the Warriors aren’t done yet.
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And Curry himself has already fulfilled one prophecy this season. After the Memphis Grizzlies eliminated the Warriors from last year’s play-in tournament, Curry warned the team that they didn’t want to see Golden State again in 2021-22.
The Warriors proved that prediction true with their conference semifinal series victory over the Grizzlies on Friday. The road to the postseason was an arduous one filled with injuries and setbacks for multiple players, but now a healthy Golden State team has their eye on another trophy.
During Game 2 at Chase Center on Friday, they’ll try and move one step closer to adding another moniker to Thompson’s growing collection: Prophet Klay.