2016 NBA Finals Updates: Warriors’ Klay Thompson Calls Cavs’ Timofey Mozgov a Dirty Player after Game 3 Hit

By Carlo Monzon
Klay Thomspon
Cleveland, OH, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) handles the ball against Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith (5) during the fourth quarter in game three of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena.   Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Golden State Warriors got a rough match at Game 3 of the NBA finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers after the latter finished with a 120-90 win. One of the players who are still feeling the effects of that game is Klay Thompson, who called out opponent Timofey Mozgov for his dirty play.

The incident that Thompson was referring to occurred during the last seconds of the first quarter. As he was guarding Kyrie Irving, he collided with Mozgov, who was put in by the Cavs to temporarily replace Kevin Love.

However, for Thompson, the collision doesn't seem like an accident. He noted that as he was trailing Irving, Mozgov screened but stuck out his knee which collided with his thigh. The hit caused Thompson to drop to the floor in pain.

For the shooting guard, the play seemed kind of dirty.

"I didn't get it," he told reporters during a press conference according to Yahoo! Sports. "I'm guarding Kyrie, running full speed downhill, I just don't know who is trying to set a pick on me in the middle of the key. If it's on the perimeter, I understand. But didn't make sense to me."

"But I re-watched it," he added. "I'm just confused why he's trying to set a screen in the middle of the key when we're both running full speed downhill. It seemed kind of dirty to me. He stuck his knee out too, but, you know what? That's basketball."

Thompson noted that he's feeling fine now after taking a hit from Mozgov. As Mercury News noted, this could give him the motivation to play harder on Game 4. However, he probably wouldn't be able to set things straight with Mozgov since Love will most likely return to play for the Cavs in the upcoming game.

As for the rest of the Warriors, Thompson admitted that he and the team's other starting five were a bit soft during Game 3, which caused the Cavs to secure a very early and big lead over them.

"I mean, coach is right," he said. "Any time a team goes up 33-14 on you in the first quarter, that's pretty soft of us...We can't expect to just show up here. That's on us. That's on our starting lineup."

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