In response to not being in the starting lineup, Klay Thompson scored a career-high 35 points on Thursday night in Salt Lake City, helping the Golden State Warriors hold off a late comeback to defeat the Utah Jazz 140-137.
After starting 727 straight regular-season games since his rookie debut in March 2012, Thompson flourished as a backup. He led the Warriors to victory going into the All-Star break by scoring 10 points at a crucial stretch in the first quarter, hitting 7 of his 22 free throw attempts, and shooting 13 of 22 from the field.
In the victory—their sixth in seven games—the Warriors achieved two significant benchmarks. Steve Kerr won his 500th game in charge of the Warriors, and Thompson became the sixth player in franchise history to score more than 15,000 points.
Following a Wednesday night loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in which they had blown a 15-point lead, the Warriors rallied behind a season-high 23 points from Draymond Green and 19 points from Andrew Wiggins.
In the defeat, freshman Keyonte George scored a season-high 33 points with six assists, while Utah’s Collin Sexton led the team with 35 points and nine assists. John Collins added 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Lauri Markkanen finished with a total of 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Up to 19 points ahead at one point, the Warriors led by 18 points going into the fourth quarter. Similar to their defeat on Wednesday, the Jazz closed the gap to one point in the final seconds and looked like they could win until Sexton’s attempt to tie the score at the buzzer was unsuccessful.
With 3:55 left in the fourth quarter, a basket by Sexton brought the Jazz within seven points, having opened the period with an 11-3 surge. Later, Markkanen scored one of Utah’s season-high tying 22 3-pointers, and Sexton’s basket and free throw cut the lead to two points.
Collins’ dunk with 41 seconds left brought Utah within 138-137. With three seconds left, Collins pulled in an offensive rebound but then threw the ball out of bounds for a costly turnover, giving the Jazz a great chance to win it.
With 2.4 seconds remaining, Golden State’s star player Stephen Curry, who scored 16 points on 4-of-14 shooting, added two more free throws to extend the margin to three points.
In the second quarter, the Warriors grabbed charge, outscoring the Jazz 48–32. As a result, Golden State overcame an 11-point hole to lead 84–71 at the half.
The Warriors finished with a season-high 42 assists, made 20 of their 42 3-point tries (47.6 percent) and shot 53.3 percent overall. Utah made 46.2% of its shots from the field.