Klay Thompson believes the shot he took from Timofey Mozgov that forced him out of the game was dirty.
The Golden State Warriors lost 120-90 in Game 3 to the Cleveland Cavaliers as the home team cut their deficit to 2-1. Earlier in the game, the Warriors lost Klay Thompson to the locker room after he took a shot to the thigh from Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov.
The play occurred with 34 seconds remaining in the first quarter and the Cavs up 33-14 when Thomspon took a lingering left knee from the Cavs center at the free throw line. Thompson laid on his back for a few seconds in visible pain before getting up and attempting to walk it off. He bent over a few steps later and asked Warriors head coach to get him out.
Thompson went to the locker room where he was diagnosed with a thigh contusion and wore compression shorts with thigh pads, according to in-game reporter Doris Burke.
Warriors' Klay Thompson takes knee to thigh, leaves game pic.twitter.com/S5I0uhgnnA
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) June 9, 2016
Thompson returned to the game but was ineffective as were his teammates who trailed the entire game. Thompson had 10 points on 4-13 shooting and 1-7 from three-point range. In 31 minutes, Thompson team-worst minus-27 in the 30-point loss.
After the game, Thompson was asked about the foul he took from Mozgov and didn’t mince his words when he called it “dirty.”
Mozgov played seven minutes, scoring two points and committing four fouls. His biggest impact was fouling Thompson late in the first quarter, but the foul was not the reason for the Warriors losing.
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The Cavaliers got their best game of the series from Kyrie Irving who had 30 points and eight assists and outscored the combination of Stephen Curry and Thompson by one point. LeBron James had 31 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. J.R. Smith added 20 points as the Cavs looked like a dramatically different team without Kevin Love in the lineup.
It was a hard foul, nothing uncommon in basketball, but it wasn’t dirty.
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