Klay Thompson: How He Can Get Out of His Early Slump

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Nov 19, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson (11) dunks the ball over Dallas Mavericks shooting guard O.J. Mayo (32) during the fourth quarter at the American Airlines Center. The Warriors defeated the Mavericks 105-101. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Have our worst feels been realized? The one thing that we didn’t want to happen happened. Early in the NBA Season, our young phenomenon has been in a sophomore slump. I’m more than confident, however, that he will be able to break it. Last night against the Mavericks, Klay Thompson shot the ball miserably at 2/14 shots made. He scored 7 points. What he did, however, was get it back by being smart and working hard defensively.

Thompson needs to learn to be more calm under pressure. He should take notes from Harrison Barnes, who has now scored 10+ points in the past 3 games, with two double doubles. That’s incredible considering he’s a SF Rookie. He is playing great under the pressure. The only decent road game on this past trip that Klay Thompson has had was against the T-Wolves, scoring just 12 points.If he wants to get out of his slump, he’ll need to do these things:

Get Confident: Klay is forcing shots and is getting down on himself when he misses. He needs to envision that ball going through the hoop and act like all his shots are going to fall. If he does this, his shots will start to fall again, He will be the Warriors most dangerous threat again.
Have a Huge game vs the Nets:This is more of a moral boost, but then again he has the home crowd to encourage him and cheer for him. This should energize him and motivate him to make more shots and have a 20 point night. It must be nice to hear your name screamed out after making a three point shot.
Recognize and Analyze: Since Klay is usually up against teams who don’t recognize him as dangerous, ie teams without a superstar, they don’t put a great defender on him. Because of this, Klay should be able to get to the basket easily, he needs to know when to do it. If he finds ways to get to the basket, he will be given space. That means the ball will go through the Net.

If Klay does all of these, it’s bye-bye slump! Hello, buckets. Stay tuned for more Warriors action against the Brooklyn Nets tomorrow, November 21st.