Klay Thompson and the Warriors entered the 2016 NBA playoffs with the best regular-season record in the NBA history.
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The Golden State Warriors faced off the James Harden-led Houston Rockets in the Western Conference first round. Despite the injury to Stephen Curry early in the series, Klay & co beat the Rockets in 5.
Klay led the Warriors with 23.4 points per game. He carried the form in the second series facing the Portland Trail Blazers without his partner in crime Stephen Curry. He was the leading scorer in 3 out of the 4 wins and averaged 31.0 points for the series.
While the Warriors beat the Rockets and Blazers comfortably, the OKC posed them with the first real challenge. The Thunder took a 3-1 lead on the Warriors behind huge scoring nights from both KD and Russ.
Klay Thompson earned his ‘Game 6 Klay’ nickname with his performance versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After playing second fiddle to Steph in a Game 5 victory, Klay stepped it up in game 6. His performance down the stretch earned him his nickname – Game 6 Klay. He ascended his game to a point where Steph played second fiddle to his hot hand.
Klay ended the night with 41 points with a team-high +16 +/-. The former All-Star netted 11 threes setting the record for most threes hit in a playoff game by a player. Klay ended the series averaging 25 points and hit 30 three-pointers.
Klay Thompson’s contribution in the 2016 playoffs gets overshadowed by the Lebron James-led comeback in the finals. While he ranked 9th in the points scored per game, he topped the points scored chart with 582 total points scored and made a playoffs-high 98 three-pointers.
Do you know that Klay Thompson was the 2016 playoffs points leader Not Lebron KD or Steph . pic.twitter.com/Ey6jh46iuA
— Real Talk 🏀 (@RealTalk900) January 9, 2022
He played as the primary scoring option for the majority of the first two rounds. In addition, both the conference finals and finals went to 7 games which allowed Klay to play 24 games in the postseason. More than any other player scoring more points per game.