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via Imago
Credits: Imago
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via Imago
Credits: Imago
After a bit of a disappointing season in the NBA, Klay Thompson engaged himself in another challenge. This time, the four-time NBA Champion had to overcome the obstacle of another legendary duo to come out victorious. The entire event made him extremely tense, reminding him of the first NBA Final against LeBron James.
Klay’s Golden State Warriors had to go up against LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 NBA Finals. He believed that the pressure of his recent event was equivalent to that of eight years ago.
NFL stars made Klay as nervous as LeBron James
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This summer, the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson participated in The Match, an exhibition golf tournament. They had to face the NFL duo of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce from the Kansas City Chiefs. Opening up about it in the Podcast P with Paul George episode, he said, “The Match stuff was intense,” implying he had not been that nervous since facing LeBron James’ Cavaliers in Game 1 of the 2015 Finals.
Klay mentioned how difficult he was finding it to perform well, as the combination of play from Patrick and Travis was making it more complicated. “I knew it wasn’t our day,” he said while talking about his experience from The Match. “We tried our hardest,” he highlighted and shared, “I played every other day for the month of June”.
Eight years ago, in the NBA Finals, the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers, but it was not the case this time around. The NFL stars defeated the NBA duo. Eventually, though, Klay seemed to have accepted his fate and made peace with the outcome.
LeBron is the next barrier, once again
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In the off-season, Klay’s Warriors made interesting moves. In the previous season, the Warriors lost to LeBron’s Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs. So, the next challenge for Klay would be overcoming that.
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via Getty
Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (23) drives against Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11) in the second quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on on Thursday, June 16, 2016. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) (Photo by MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images)
Klay played an integral role in the Warriors’ dominance over LeBron James’ teams on several occasions. The Warriors’ 3-1 record against Cavalries in the finals in the last decade was a particular highlight. He reportedly loved playing against Cleveland, as his return game against them was his all-time favorite.
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The iconic rivalry between the Warriors and Cavaliers would go down in NBA history as one of the greatest ones ever. Their match-ups in the NBA finals for four straight years changed the face of the game. As both Klay and LeBron eye for their fifth ring, it would be interesting to see how their match-ups pan out this time around.