Warriors vs. Mavericks as it happened: Reaction, analysis of Dubs' win in Klay's return

Deebo Samuel and Ricky Pearsall had a courtside view of Steph Curry's late heroics in the Warriors' 120-117 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.

And like the rest of Chase Center -- and the NBA world watching -- the San Francisco 49ers wide receivers went ballistic after a Curry dagger capped off a 12-point flurry to secure Golden State's thrilling victory in Klay Thompson's emotional Bay Area return.

Both Samuel and Pearsall belted out loud cheers as they jumped out of their seats to join a roaring Chase Center crowd.

After the game, the Bay Area athletes linked up for an epic crossover.

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SAN FRANCISCO – On a night when emotions ran high on the Chase Center court and in the crowd, the Warriors’ most passionate player did a great job keeping his own feelings in check.

Draymond Green put together a typical scoreline that has come to define his brilliant and temperamental career – 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks – all while playing a pivotal role in the Warriors’ 120-117 win over Klay Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

It was Thompson’s first game back at Chase Center since leaving the Bay Area basketball dynasty that he helped build and signing a free-agent deal with the Mavericks.

The always popular Thompson was cheered wildly by the crowd while a pregame tribute video played on the scoreboard above the court -- and the good feelings for the former Splash Brother continued throughout the night.

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SAN FRANCISCO – How many times have we seen this movie before? One made shot ignites the flame. The next make sees flames turn to fire, ready to grow. Blink, and flames are fully developed, decaying all opposition in the fire’s way.

Klay Thompson’s right hand was impossible to extinguish when on a heater countless times over his 13 years with the Warriors. In his return to Chase Center on Tuesday night, playing the Warriors for the first time as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, Thompson felt what it’s like when Steph Curry catches fire with no answers for his inferno. 

“It hurts to be on the other side of one of his flurries,” Thompson said. “Guy got hot at the end and made some ridiculous shots. I know I’ve been on the other end, and it sucks.”

Curry scored the Warriors’ final 12 points in the last three-plus minutes of the Warriors’ 120-117 win against Thompson and the Mavericks, giving him a game-high 37 points, which also was a season-high for him. 

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SAN FRANCISCO – No figurative fratricide can be sweeter than it was Tuesday night at Chase Center, where at the end both brothers stand hugging each other.

Stephen Curry had rescued the reeling Warriors, surviving the attempted vengeance of longtime backcourt partner Klay Thompson.

The Warriors get the 120-117 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, with “Splash Brother” Steph getting the W and “Splash Brother” Klay taking the L. Literally.

“We did our pregame scout,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “and we went through the matchups and it’s almost surreal saying, ‘Steph, you got Klay.’ And Steph smiled as soon as he saw the matchups.”

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BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO – Cheers turned to drama with every breath taken Tuesday night at Chase Center. The score felt secondary in Klay Thompson’s return against the Warriors. The emotions of Steph Curry, Draymond Green and all of Dub Nation said otherwise in a 120-117 win over Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks. 

Curry took over by scoring Golden State's final 12 points in the last three-plus minutes, giving him a game-high 37 points. On top of that, Curry also had six rebounds, nine assists, two blocked shots and made five 3-pointers.

The Warriors were a plus-24 in Curry’s 35 minutes played.

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Klay Thompson again has asked Steph Curry not to do something on his behalf.

Curry was scheduled to give a speech to fans at Chase Center before the Warriors and Dallas Mavericks tip off Tuesday night at Chase Center, but that no longer will happen.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters before the game that Curry and Thompson spoke Monday night and agreed to nix the pregame speech, which was going to take place after player introductions.

"It often is in circumstances like these, whether it's ring night or something like this where a player returns," Kerr told reporters before the game when asked about the heightened emotions of the game. "I know we had talked about having Steph address the crowd. He's not going to do that now. He and Klay talked about it last night. They both have a game to prepare for.

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The Warriors, in what should be an emotional night, will welcome Klay Thompson back to Chase Center on Tuesday.

After leaving in the offseason to join the Dallas Mavericks, Thompson will face off against his former team for the first time in the first Emirates NBA Cup matchup of the 2024-25 season.

NBC Sports Bay Area asked Warriors players and coach Steve Kerr at media day to share their message for Thompson leading up to his return to the Bay Area on Tuesday.

Here is what they had to say:

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No matter how deep one dives into the history of the NBA, they won’t find a more decorated teammate tandem than Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the twin pillars of the remarkable Chicago Bulls dynasty that won six championships.

Jordan and Pippen were excellent as individuals but incredible as a duo. Though their offense was superb, it was their role as lead dogs in Chicago’s famed “Doberman” defense that formed the backbone of those teams. Michael and Scottie, all arms and legs and sinewy athleticism, spent 691 games terrorizing opposing offenses.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, just as symbiotic, spent 666 games as Golden State Warriors teammates doing the same thing to opposing defenses.

Just as there has never been paired wings as menacing as Jordan and Pippen, there have not been paired guards more perfectly suited to abuse defenses than the pair that earned their “Splash Brothers” nickname.

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Avoidance is a mask everyone has worn.

Klay Thompson can call his return to Chase Center to play against the Warriors for the first time Tuesday night “just another regular-season game in November.” He’s entitled to say, “basketball is basketball” and that “there is no point in missing anything” as he tries to focus on his new chapter in Dallas. 

Thompson, 34, is doing his damndest to stay in the moment, something he begged reporters to do during and after his final season with the Warriors when he clearly was distraught. Truth be told, his return will be deeply emotional, but for more than just himself. 

Fans rode the highs of Thompson’s countless memorable, and even historic, moments in his 13 years with the Warriors, and the lows of him missing two-plus of those seasons to leg injuries. His pairing with Steph Curry created an iconic nickname and the greatest backcourt in NBA history for more than a decade. Add in Draymond Green, also drafted by the Warriors, and you have one of the best trios basketball ever will witness, with each having uniquely generational skills. 

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Klay Thompson, the Warriors and Dub Nation are preparing for an emotional day on Tuesday at Chase Center.

The veteran guard returns to the Bay Area to face his former team for the first time since joining the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason, and Golden State will pull out all the stops, including a pregame ceremony and a commemorative fan giveaway, to honor its franchise legend.

Thompson will be prepared for it all, and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd revealed in a Monday interview with 95.7 The Game's "The Morning Roast" that he recently spoke with Thompson about the big game.

"We talked the other day about this opportunity," Kidd told Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. "It really doesn't happen a lot when you do leave a team that you've been with your whole career. To have the opportunity to come back and play at the home that he built, with Chase [Center], and also the excitement and the championships over in Oakland at the Coliseum. Just understanding that it's going to be an emotional two days here when you talk about today with practice and then tomorrow's game.

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If Klay Thompson is looking forward to facing the Warriors on Tuesday night at Chase Center, the Dallas Mavericks guard is doing a great job hiding it.

The Warriors franchise icon makes his highly anticipated return to the Bay Area this week, and while the Warriors and Dub Nation are making a big deal out of the occasion, Thompson isn't embracing the hype.

"Be good to see people that you grinded with obviously, but to me, it's just another regular-season game in November," Thompson told reporters after the Mavericks' loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night. "Obviously, there's bigger implications with the NBA Cup. So, that's what's on my mind, just to win that because I haven't been a part of it yet. I know it's young but before to play for that title."

Everyone in the Bay Area circled Nov. 12 on the calendar when the schedule was released this summer, and emotions surely will be heightened when Thompson takes the court for pregame warm-ups, is introduced to the crowd before tip-off and whenever he touches the ball during the game.

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The Warriors conquered their five-game road trip, and now they can turn their attention to Klay Thompson's highly anticipated return to the Bay Area on Tuesday.

But Steph Curry isn't ready for all the emotions that are about to hit him, the Warriors and Dub Nation.

"Don't do this to me," Curry said on "Warriors Postgame Live" after Golden State's 127-116 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night. "Don't do this to me. I'm not ready for this man. It's going to be a lot to look forward to and I'm excited to see him, obviously as a friend. But I'm trying to conserve all of my mental energy for Tuesday because it's going to be a lot."

Thompson's first game against the Warriors since leaving this summer will be one of most emotional homecomings in Bay Area history, and Golden State is planning to honor the franchise icon with a sailor hat giveaway to fans and a tribute video.

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Moses Moody was lucky enough to play with two future Hall of Famers in his rookie Warriors season, competing alongside the iconic Splash Bros duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

And, unsurprisingly, both gave Moody a couple of hilarious "welcome to the NBA moments" when he was tasked with defending them in practice during the 2021-22 NBA season.

"My welcome to the league moment was probably before the season started, guarding Steph in training camp and practices and all that," Moody said on the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show." "And it's different than seeing him on TV, when he hits you with that same move. That was my welcome to the league moment.

"[You're] thinking you're playing good defense because he's not going past you, but it's like, he ain't trying to. He's trying to get space for the shot."

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Draymond Green knows Klay Thompson well enough to know when the former Warriors guard is joking -- and when he's not.

The two spent 12 memorable seasons together in Golden State before Thompson joined Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks in free agency before the 2024-25 NBA season. And it didn't take long for the trash talk and subtle jabs to fly.

Green recalled on "The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis" an offseason encounter he and his skills trainer Travis Walton had with Thompson while working out at the same gym, and he explained why what initially might've been perceived as friendly banter quickly became much more.

"I'm working out this summer, and Dallas comes in," Green said. "Kyrie, Klay, and a couple other guys come in after I finish my workout. And I had to run that day cause I had Pilates right after. So as soon as I finished, I cut. And I didn't get to see Klay, but I had saw some of the other guys. And then Trav saw Klay come in, and Trav was talking to Kyrie. And Klay walks up to Ky like, 'Ky, don't be talking to the opps.' So then Trav came and told me that Klay said that, and he was like, 'You think he was serious?' And I was like, 'Well, it's Klay so he's joking -- but he's definitely serious.'

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Moses Moody continues to have a close relationship with his former Warriors teammate Klay Thompson, which includes some spirited chess competition.

The Golden State guard explained that Thompson is a purely authentic and real person when recalling their chess matchups on the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show."

“Klay’s really just a real dude,” Moody told Green and Baron Davis. “He doesn’t have an ulterior motive for anything he does. He would let you on the boat because he wanted to hang out with you for a while, not because of any other reason. We’re still playing chess all the time, it’s just an authentic relationship with an authentic dude.”

Green then asked if Moody still played chess with Thompson and who has been winning recently.

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Klay Thompson’s return to Chase Center on Tuesday when the Warriors welcome home the franchise icon in their game against the Dallas Mavericks will be full of smiles, tears and a rousing standing ovation. It also will feature a special wrinkle from Golden State that perfectly fits Thompson’s unique persona off the court. 

The Warriors quite literally will be tipping their cap to Klay – a captain’s hat to be exact. Thompson’s first game back in the Bay is being called “Salute Captain Klay” for an interactive experience all of Dub Nation can participate in. 

Every fan will receive a captain’s hat with the Warriors’ logo in honor of Thompson’s love of the water as he often commuted to home games and practices in his beloved fishing boat.

During pregame player introductions, Thompson will be announced last in the Mavericks’ starting lineup, and as part of the Warriors’ tribute video that will last about one minute his fellow Splash Brother Steph Curry will be wearing the same cap those in attendance will have, taking his off as an invitation for all 18,000 fans to join in on a salute to the Bay Area’s favorite captain, always and forever. 

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