Warriors brief: Klay Thompson bouncing back this postseason

The Warriors are now in Cleveland awaiting the start of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, leading the series two games to none. Here are some notes regarding the team.

Klay Thompson is making you forget all about his substandard playoff performance last season.

It was just about a year ago that the Warriors were wrapping up a tremendous 16-1 playoff run to win the NBA title, but apart from Klay's consistently strong defense, he was not much of a factor. Through 17 games last postseason, Klay scored 15 points per game on 39.7 percent shooting (which was second-worst on the team) and 38.7 percent from deep. With Durant and Curry's great success, the Warriors were able to overcome Klay's cold streak and march to the title.

However, this postseason has been a completely different story. To begin with, Curry's injury hindered the Warriors at the start of the playoffs and thrust Klay into the scoring spotlight. He has not disappointed.

Even with the pain of a knee injury in the Western Conference Finals, and a pretty severe leg injury in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Klay has put up playoff totals of 20.7 points per game on 47 percent shooting overall and 43 percent from deep through 19 games. With his health recovering, expect more of the same from Klay Thompson.

Andre Iguodala's absence from the Warriors during these last six games cannot be overlooked.

Because the Warriors have four All-stars on the team, including a couple of MVP's, no one will pity the team for being down a man. But outside of the Bay Area, not many know how much Iguodala actually means to the team. Yes, he is the fifth piece in the famous "Hamptons 5," but he also is the most senior and fundamentally sound of the group.

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So far in the playoffs, Iguodala is second on the team in assists-to-turnovers ratio. That's only behind David West, who does not play more than 10 minutes per game. Iguodala was third on the team in steals per game and fourth on the team in assists per game before his injury. If you exclude West's one make from deep last game, Iguodala is also third on the Warriors in three point percentage at 35.5 percent during the playoffs.

Do not forget that he is also the second-best defender on the team, and would have been the primary defender on LeBron James (as well as James Harden late last round).  He may come off the bench most of the time, but Andre Iguodala is anything but a simple role player on the Warriors.