The Golden State Warriors played their penultimate game of the regular season against the New Orleans Pelicans, an important one for both sides because of playoff implications. However, the Louisiana side looked much more determined, grabbing a 16-point lead during the third quarter. While the Dubs Nation could not grab a comeback win, the chirpy encounter witnessed Klay Thompson and CJ McCollum trash-talk each other.
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The Warriors outscored Zion Williamson and Co. 34-26 in the fourth quarter to make it a 3-point game. However, the Bay Area side failed to capitalize on their momentum. At one point, things between McCollum and Thompson got heated. Both the guards trash-talked, constantly using expletives.
Popular X (formerly Twitter) user ‘legendz_nba’ leaked the audio of the contest and the interaction between CJ and Klay can clearly be heard.
McCollum: Post up again, ni**a.
Thompson: I’ve been busting your a** for years… For 10 motherf*cking years.
By the “10 years” comment, Thompson referred to all the matchups between the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trail Blazers when McCollum was part of the franchise. He spent almost a decade representing the Oregon side. In his stint with the Trail Blazers, he matched against Klay Thompson 32 times.
As the Splash Brother rightly mentioned, McCollum was on the losing side in 26 of those encounters. Not only was McCollum outscored by Klay in those matchups, but the latter was also on the winning side in each of their three playoff series, per ‘Land of Basketball’.
However, McCollum had the last laugh in this specific outing. While the four-time champ recorded 19 points and 6 rebounds, the Pelicans guard lodged 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, leading his team to a five-point victory, per NBA.com.
There could be a huge possibility of a rematch of this matchup. Being the 7th seed, the Pelicans are set to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first play-in game of the Western Conference. On the other hand, the Golden State Warriors are playing the Sacramento Kings in the second play-in game.
A scenario wherein the Pelicans lose to the Lakers and the Warriors defeat the Kings will result in a do-or-die matchup between them for a chance to clinch the 8th seed in the playoff.
