2021 NBA Champion Jeff Teague recently spoke about one specific game, that he played against Klay Thompson, back in May 2016, during his appearance, on the Club 520 podcast. Thompson went off for 60 points as the Golden State Warriors eased to a 142-106 victory which left Teague more amazed, than anything else. The 35-year-old claimed that Thompson did not dribble the ball too much, but ended up scoring a whopping 60.
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“He gave us 60 points, on 11 dribbles. That n***ga didn’t dribble the ball but 11 times. Aye it was so bad. I was on them getting cooked.” Teague said and was quick to claim that he was not directly at fault.
“I didn’t guard him. That wasn’t me this time. You all can look it up, I wasn’t doing that. I was guarding Steph. It was Monta, and PG, yep, calling them n***gas out, it was them two. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me at all,” he said, deflecting blame on his former teammates in the form of Monta Ellis and Paul George.
Teague claimed that while PG did not start the game guarding Klay Thompson, he had switched after Ellis initially could not handle him. Teague revealed that George had claimed that he “f***ing got him then!” to no avail.
“25 this quarter. I was like, ‘Damn!’ I was like ‘man, this n***ga is crazy. What’s so funny, we were only down like 15 or something like that half. And we were like, ‘We eight there!’” he said, suggesting that the Pacers thought they were still in the game, at halftime.
Of course, things never went to plan, as Teague revealed he was left looking at the stat line in disbelief, after the game. This the former Pacers star did alongside his then-teammate, Aaron Brooks.
Klay Thompson was benched for the fourth quarter during a 60-point display
When on form, Klay Thompson is undoubtedly one of the scariest players to guard. The 5-time All-Star and 4-time Champion can be unstoppable with his shooting when hot and was actually benched after the third quarter in the game Teague spoke about.
Having scored 17 in the 1st, Thompson added 20 and 23 in the 2nd and the 3rd and did not play in the final quarter of the game. That, instead of being aimed at resting Thompson, might have been related to how far ahead the Warriors were.
The Warriors were already ahead by 30 points at halftime and were in game-management mode in the second half. Thompson might have not been in the best of form in recent months. However, the 33-year-old is completely capable of destroying teams on his own accord, and once scored 37 points in one quarter, against the Sacramento Kings.
He has also produced 11 3-pointers in a Playoff game, 14 in a Regular Season game, and scored 43 points on just 4 dribbles, according to NBA.com.
