Miami Heat guard Klay Thompson (11) celebrates after shooting a three-point basket next to referee Eric Lewis during the third quarter at Kaseya Center.
Isabella Frias
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Even after guard Klay Thompson’s rough preseason and slow start to the regular season, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra continued to express confidence that one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history would eventually find his way.
“I think this will get better as the season goes on,” Spoelstra said of Thompson before Friday’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers. “And he’s had a long offseason, really the last two offseasons, where he hasn’t played deep into the playoffs like he’s used to playing. So this will take a little bit of time. He’s getting acclimated to a new system and getting his legs under him. And I think once he really hits his stride, I think that’s going to just have like an exponential effect on our offense.”
Just a few hours later, Thompson’s effect on the Heat offense was on full display.
After averaging just 7.8 points per game on 12-of-37 (32.4 percent) shooting from three-point range through the first five games of the season, Thompson broke out of his early-season slump with a season-high 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting from behind the arc in 26 minutes to help lead the Heat (2-4) to a 145-125 win over the Pacers on Friday night at Kaseya Center.
“I think that’s just an example of what I was talking about before the game,” Spoelstra said after Friday’s victory, which marked the Heat’s second straight win following an ugly 0-4 start to the season. “He has an exponential possibility factor for this team. And you can see why, because he always will provide the gravity, but he is the definition of ignitable. And when he gets on a roll like that, he is really tough to stop. We’ve all seen it or been on the other end of it, but it was fun seeing it tonight in a Miami Heat jersey.”
It was also fun for Thompson, 36, to get hot in a Heat jersey for the first time since signing with Miami in August following a buyout agreement with the Dallas Mavericks. He has started in each of the Heat’s first six games this season.
“I really enjoyed it,” Thompson said, with the Heat now in the middle of a two-day break before beginning a five-game West Coast trip on Monday against the Lakers in Los Angeles. “You can probably tell by my emotion. For me, it wasn’t the best start to the season. But to come out here and play with poise and confidence, I knew I was due for a night like this.”
Thompson’s new Heat teammates also knew it was only a matter of time before he caught fire from behind the arc after he shot just 3 of 20 (15%) from three-point range in four preseason appearances and only 32.4 percent from deep through the first five regular season games.
“The thing I respect about Klay so much is he stayed consistent in his work,” Heat captain and three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo said. “He always talks positivity, he always manifests his big nights. You’ve been seeing that throughout his career. But to be firsthand and watch him talk himself into a moment like that. Because we knew at some point it was going to fall. You can’t leave him open too much.
“For him to have a moment like that, man, you feel the arena embrace him. And you see how emotionally he connected in that game. I feel like it all clicked for him. And we rally around that as a team. We enjoy seeing guys have moments like that.”
Thompson’s best stretch of the night (and the season, so far) came in the third quarter, when he found his rhythm to score 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range in the period. Thompson even put up a heat check that went in, hitting a step-back three or his seventh three-point make of the night.
“That was just a heat check, and I was in great rhythm, and I knew it was going up the minute I had the ball in my hands,” Thompson said of his step-back three that sent Kaseya Center and the Heat bench into a frenzy. “I’m going to look forward to giving [Heat fans] a lot of great memories this season. It was truly a special night for me, just to lift the lid off the rim and give me confidence to keep going.”
When asked about Thompson’s big night, Heat star Giannis Antetokounmpo added: “Just being on this side and seeing a guy that views the rim as the ocean, like throwing a rock into the ocean, it’s fun to watch. It’s fun to witness greatness. He’s one of the best shooters of all time. Just to be on this side and experience it, it’s fun.”
The Heat went on to score 77 second-half points on the way to totaling a season-high 144 points in the victory, which is the eighth-most points that the Heat has scored in a regular-season game in franchise history.
“Tonight was probably our best game of flow that happened all season,” Thompson said. “I know it’s a very young season still, but the way us guys in the perimeter were able to play off Bam and Giannis in the post was something we needed to build off. I mean, those guys command so much attention in that mid-post area. Then when I’m able to fly around the perimeter, it’s so much easier to get clean looks when you just let them do their thing and draw the defense in. I’m feeling really comfortable.”
Thompson, who is in his 14th NBA season, is comfortable because he knows exactly what his role is in his first season with the Heat.
“It’s a huge reason why I’m here is to play with a talent like Giannis and help him, hopefully, do what he’s done before. That’s win a championship and an MVP trophy,” said Thompson, who ranks fourth in NBA history in all-time threes made (2,918) behind only No. 3 Ray Allen (2,973), No. 2 James Harden (3,390) and No. 1 Stephen Curry (4,248). “Spo defined my role very clearly when the season started. It’s to play hard-nosed defense and space the floor and give our best players room to operate, and I thought I did a good job of that tonight. It’s something I’m definitely going to build on.”
Next up for Thompson is a trip back to familiar places, as the Heat opens its West Coast trip in his birthplace of Los Angeles for games against the Lakers on Monday and Clippers on Wednesday before making a stop in San Francisco to face his former team (the Golden State Warriors) on Thursday.
Thompson spent his first 11 NBA seasons with the Warriors. As part of an iconic duo labeled “The Splash Brothers” with Curry, Thompson was named an NBA All-Star five times (2015-19), selected for the All-NBA Third Team two times (2014-15 and 2015-16), picked for the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2018-19 while winning four NBA championships (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022) with the Warriors.
“I love going to L.A. I love seeing my parents, my brothers, my niece and nephew,” Thompson said. “I love being in Crypto.com Arena because the memories I have of my dad [Mychal Thompson] in that arena are so dear to my heart. That’s where I really fell in love with basketball.
“And then you go up the interstate and you go to the Bay and all the memories I was able to make up there are second to none. I see so many guys I grew up with and I want to beat them bad. We’re all still very competitive in our mid-30s. I love to go compete against them because they’re some of my best friends. I just can’t wait to go back and see familiar faces.”
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Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.