Klay Thompson may have been celebrating on Thursday night after winning the fourth championship of his career, but he still had some time to take a shot at one of his haters.
The Golden State Warriors guard scored 12 points in his Warriors’ 103-90 Game 6 win over the Boston Celtics on Thursday to clinch the fourth title of his career. While talking in his postgame press conference, something came to Klay’s mind that he couldn’t help but bring up.
Thompson recalled how annoyed he was by a tweet sent by Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. on March 28.
The Grizzlies, who finished as the No. 2 seed in the West, had beaten the Warriors 123-95 that night. Jackson did not play in the game and was proud of his team for winning without him.
Strength in numbers 👏🏾
— JJJ (@jarenjacksonjr) March 29, 2022
“Strength in numbers” is a motto the Warriors have used. It was an appropriate line from Jackson considering his team was able to win without him.
On Thursday, Thompson brought up that tweet and mentioned just how much it bothered him.
Klay Thompson calls out Grizzlies player for tweeting out “Strength in Numbers” after beating the Warriors earlier this season pic.twitter.com/pCPwYrV2z6
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) June 17, 2022
“There was this one player on the Grizzlies who tweeted ‘strength in numbers’ after they beat us in the regular season. And it pissed me off so much. I can’t wait to retweet that thing. Freaking bum. I had to watch that. I was like, ‘this freaking clown. OK, OK, OK.’ Sorry, that memory just popped up,” Thompson said.
“You’re going to mock us? Like, ‘you ain’t ever been there before, bro. We’ve been there. We know what it takes.’ So to be here again? Hold that.”
Thompson’s point is that his team had its eyes on the real prize — the NBA title — rather than a March 28 game.
He’s right.
But that doesn’t mean the Grizzlies were wrong for celebrating that win. For Memphis, that was a big win. Sure, they lost to the Warriors in the playoffs, but the Grizzlies are finding themselves and learning what it takes to win in the postseason. The Warriors know what it takes. For Thompson, getting to throw his championship ring back in someone’s face at the end of the season feels pretty sweet.
