Splash Brothers take — and give — their best shots in Klay Thompson’s first game against Steph Curry and the Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO — Given their history — the four championships they both captured, the shooting records they both set, the thousands of 3s they both splashed — the moment bordered on surreal.

As the second quarter’s final seconds evaporated away, Stephen Curry found himself guarded by Klay Thompson. The night, one where the Warriors beat the Mavericks 120-117 in their first game of the , belonged to Thompson. This moment — and many others — belonged to Curry.

After receiving a toss from Draymond Green, Curry drove strong to his right. Thompson couldn’t stay in front. Curry, understanding the advantage, stopped, jumped and tossed up a wild shot. It was more of a shot put than a true floater. It found net, regardless.

Thompson picked up the foul; Curry stared him down. This was not a mean mug. This was not a side-eye. Curry hunched over, tensed his body and looked wide-eyed in the direction of Thompson, who finished with 22 points and made six 3-pointers. For all the love that Thompson received in his return to Chase Center — and there was a lot of love — there was still a game to be won. There was still trash to be talked. As Curry has proven on countless occasions, sentimentality owns no real estate on the hardwood.

But off of it?

“That’s my guy. That’s my friend, my road dog for 13 years,” said Curry, who finished with 37 points and nine assists. “There’s a lot of history, so you’re going to have to have a lot of back and forth. Some of it was competitive, some of it was fun. Thankfully we were all able to just focus on the game and hoop and compete. It was an unreal night all the way around.”

When winning time arrive, Curry and Thompson, as they did so many times together, took center stage. With a little over five minutes remaining in regulation, Thompson hit a 3-pointer that extended the Mavericks’ lead to five points and forced head coach Steve Kerr to call a timeout.

Curry responded in the following minutes with a midrange jumper, a 3-pointer and a go-ahead finger roll, one that gave the Warriors a 115-114 lead with 1:48 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Thompson clanked a go-ahead 3-pointer. With a little under 30 seconds remaining, Curry hit Dereck Lively II with a series of moves before hitting his fifth 3 of the evening. Curry hit the “night night” celebration, jumped up and chest bumped Buddy Hield, then roared straight into a television camera. When asked what he said, Curry replied that he “really had no idea.”

“I gotta go look at it myself,” said Curry, who outscored the Mavericks, 12-3, in the final three minutes. “That type of moment with all that angst, that much raw emotion, I really don’t know what I said.”

“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.”

Curry admitted that the “night night” celebration was premature. Following a Mavericks timeout, Quentin Grimes hit a three-pointer over Curry that trimmed Golden State’s lead to one point with 20 seconds left. The early celebration could’ve very well backfired, but Curry sank a pair of free throws after being fouled and Luka Doncic missed the game-tying, step-back 3-pointer.

The in-game bouts between Curry and Thompson began well before the fourth. On the very first play of the game, as if it was preordained, Curry and Thompson were matched up against one another, the latter posting up the former.

Related ArticlesGolden State Warriors | Photos: The Warriors and their fans give Klay Thompson a fitting homecoming Golden State Warriors | Steph Curry steals the show for Warriors in emotional Klay Thompson homecoming Golden State Warriors | Klay Thompson showered with love during pregame celebration in return to Chase Center Golden State Warriors | Golden State Warriors | Klay Thompson’s return a chance for closure between the Warriors and their franchise legend

Thompson, owning the height advantage, spun towards the rim and went up for the layup. Curry picked up the personal, and Thompson earned two free throws. As Thompson sank both shots from the stripe, the capacity crowd serenaded him with a cacophony of cheers and jeers.

“I literally blacked out,” Curry said. “I felt like I was back in training camp again.”

“We did our pregame scout and we went through the matchups. It’s almost surreal saying, ‘Steph, you’ve got Klay,’” said head coach Steve Kerr. “Steph smiled as soon as he saw the matchups. I looked over at him and he smiled and shook his head like, ‘This is weird.’ It was a strange night in that regard.”

Curry soon had a response. On the game’s second play, Curry received a pass from Draymond Green at the left wing and knocked down a 3-pointer over Thompson’s outstretched arms. As Curry jogged back, he pointed in Thompson’s direction.

Those first 30 seconds of game time foreshadowed the drama that awaited the thousands of fans donning white Captain Klay caps.

A little under three minutes into the game, Thompson sprinted to the paint on a fastbreak and sealed Curry under the basket. Curry, in turn, swiped the ball from Thompson and ignited an explosion of cheers — cheers that quickly turned to groans when Curry airballed a 29-foot transition 3-pointer.

With a minute-and-a-half remaining in the first quarter, Thompson received a pass on the right wing in transition and splashed home his first 3-pointer of the night. Midway through the second quarter, Thompson knocked down his second and third 3s of the night on back-to-back possessions, forcing Kerr to use a timeout. Thompson hit Curry’s signature shimmy; Curry and Green both described the attempt as “awful.”

“That’s the competitive nature,” said Green, who finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks. “You don’t win four championships together without that competitive fire. He has that. We’ve known that forever. We have that, and he’s known that forever. So, that’s always going to happen. … When you play against somebody you’re close with, you want to beat them even more.

“I couldn’t imagine it going any other way,” Curry said. “He played well, the crowd got an amazing show, it went down to the wire. Can’t really draw it up any better.”