After the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 110-77 in Game 2 Sunday to get one step closer to winning another title, Klay Thompson said the Warriors, who finished the regular season with a record 73 wins, were better than his dad’s old team, the “showtime” Lakers.
Klay Thompson: “We are better than the “Showtime” Lakers.” He was smiling, knowing his father played for them back in the day.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) June 6, 2016
Mychal Thompson agreed with his son, and said the Warriors’ defense was as good as the Lakers’ defense, and that 3-point shooting would be the difference.
“We shot eight a game, they shoot eight a quarter,” Thompson said in an interview with USA Today. “If we played them, they would outscore us 50-16 in 3s. So do the math from there.”
However, one member of the “showtime” Lakers doesn’t agree with Thompson’s logic, and came out in defense of his old team. That would be five-time champion and three-time Finals MVP Magic Johnson.
I disagree with Mychal Thompson and his son Klay, my “Showtime” Lakers would beat the Warriors.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 7, 2016
“We’ve never seen two guys who can shoot like Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson], and I give them that,” Johnson said Tuesday on ESPN’s First Take. “But they’ve never ran up against somebody like us. I’m telling you, whoever is going to dog me, I’m going to be wearing them down. I’m going to be wearing them out. James Worthy will be wearing them out, wearing them down. Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] is going to be wearing them out, wearing them down.”
“Klay’s dad, Mychal Thompson, is one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with in all of basketball,” Johnson said. “But, the Warriors would have bad matchups against us. There’s no way they’re going to deal with Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. There’s no way they’re going to deal with James Worthy. The thing that we could do, that would affect them and cause some problems, is that we could set up and we could run on them on the fast break.”
“I think what [Curry and Thompson] have done for the league has been amazing,” Johnson told First Take. “They are going to be great for this league, the NBA, for a long time, especially if they sign Steph to a long-term contract. But at the same time, I’m never going to give in to nobody — I don’t care who it is. I don’t care what Mychal said. … My ‘Showtime’ Lakers would beat the Warriors. I don’t care what you say or anybody else. I’m coming at them and I’m coming hard at them.”
The reality is we’ll never see the “showtime” Lakers go against the Warriors, so this debate will go on forever. That’s why comparing teams from different eras is a waste of time.
[ESPN]