Klay Thompson’s Mavs debut a hit; ‘rusty’ Luka scores 28 in win

DALLAS — Klay Thompson folded the field rating positioned on the desk in entrance of him right into a paper airplane through the information convention following his debut with the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night time, persevering with one of many postgame customs he developed all through his 13 years with the Golden State Warriors.

Thompson was notably pleased with the aircraft’s flight after he launched it to the again of the room earlier than exiting.

“Oh, take a look at that!” Thompson mentioned. “It is like an F-16.”

Thompson’s takeoff together with his new franchise was fairly spectacular, too.

He scored 22 factors in 26 minutes throughout Dallas’ season-opening 120-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night time. He was 7-of-13 from the ground and 6-of-10 from 3-point vary, setting a report for 3s made in a Mavericks debut. He contributed within the gritty elements of the sport as properly, grabbing seven rebounds and three steals.

“He was nice, man,” Mavs famous person Luka Doncic mentioned. “Simply flattening a whole lot of pictures and he was shifting on the market. He performed nice protection, too.”

Doncic described himself as “rusty” after lacking the preseason due to a left calf contusion. He completed with 28 factors, 10 rebounds and eight assists, however was solely 9-of-25 from the ground.

It was the primary time Doncic and Thompson performed collectively outdoors of a pickup recreation and a handful of practices, however the chemistry between them clicked. Doncic assisted on 4 of Thompson’s seven buckets, one of many league’s premier playmakers establishing an all-time nice shooter.

“It is simple to play with a man like that,” Doncic mentioned. “It makes your life simpler. You bought to search out him.”

It was the kind of dynamic Thompson envisioned when he selected to return to Dallas in free company, a choice made partly out of a want to play with Doncic.

“What an unimaginable expertise,” Thompson mentioned of Doncic. “I imply, it does not make any sense, as a result of what we’re taught rising up so far as being the most effective basketball participant is you bought to leap the best, you bought to run the quickest, however in some way Luka defies that. He performs at his personal pace and manipulates the sport pretty much as good as I’ve ever seen anybody do it. And it is nice to be a recipient of that and get nice seems to be.”

4 of Doncic’s feeds to Thompson resulted in 3-pointers. On a type of within the fourth quarter, when Thompson popped out to the fitting wing after setting a again display screen in a “Spain” pick-and-roll, he was so large open that he had time to take a dribble earlier than the uncontested shot.

Doncic started trotting again on protection as quickly as he delivered the cross to Thompson. The massive smile on Doncic’s face indicated how assured he was that Thompson would hit the shot.

“Completely happy I made it,” Thompson mentioned. “Made him not look silly.”

Thompson, a four-time champion with the Warriors, acknowledged that he felt “a whole lot of nerves, anxiousness” in his first official recreation for a brand new franchise. He calmed down after his shot early within the first quarter, when he caught a cross from Doncic on the fitting wing, pump-faked to get former Golden State teammate Chris Paul to chunk and took one dribble earlier than flattening a 19-foot pull-up jumper.

“Nice debut,” Thompson mentioned. “It is just one recreation in October, however it feels good simply to get that first one out of the way in which. … Only a ton of pleasure, actually simply an superior feeling. And also you solely get the primary time of one thing so usually.”