#SuperheroSeason KLAY THOMPSON Feature-THE HUMAN TORCH

Klay Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

Klay motions across court like Cassius. Floating like a basketball butterfly...waiting for his moment from his corner to sting like a bee! When he lands that rainmaker, hay-maker punch he looks like the best. Even if the greatest in the game right now is right by his side. His basketball brother. The Warriors' Most Valuable Player of the National Basketball Association. The chef of this Golden State house, Stephen Curry. This baby-faced assassin is making mice out of all the kings men in this league. Steinback couldn't write it better. And now in this closing, finals chapter of the season he's about to face the one that holds the throne in this game, LeBron James. He's going to need more muscle however to make meat out of the might of this Cavalier, Ohio basketball God. Kid barely looks like he weighs a buck and a half, even with the change that comes with sweating. That can't even buy you soda after a workout in most places, but Curry can still bring you water like what you need after all that heat. Splash! Making waves next to him in the Pacific is the man whose arc is so big and beautiful it's brought a bridge over Oakland to San Francisco that's more all-encompassing and welcoming than the Golden Gate. A man that's got everyone making the flight to this Californian coast for the way he throws it up in the air. Like the rest of everybody's hands in celebration, on his day like a DJ Khaled song...and then they stay there. This kid's so hot like the fire of Curry that he needs an ocean to cool off. Even taking some of the camera shine off Steph like the life of young Riley. At 25 years primed and looking ahead and up to the stars that name the jumbotron in lights of his likeness, there's nothing in Klay Thompson's ceiling but fans. Cool it!

Flame on! When Klay Thompson suits up for battle he may as well be engulfed in his own hot flames the way he runs through this city if fire. As this Human Torch flies through the game like a fireball of NBA Jam like video gaming set on easy, with the sliders turned WAY up. His combustion seems spontaneous but its strategic carnage. After the 52 point game against the Sacramento Kings in January, in which he made a record nine threes, along with a perfect 13 for 13 from the field (matching legend David Thompson like he was related to him), en route to an NBA record beating and breaking 37 points in one third quarter, the Fantastic Four memes where as warranted as they where hilarious. Now in this rebooted age and superhero season this guy is making defenses disappear the way he stretches the floor like a thing you've never seen before. Even in this league of Avengers, X-Men and a galaxy of guards you still have to marvel at what's truly fantastic. This force of nature is the Future Foundation of both California ballclubs and the world of basketball as a spinning, globetrotting ball whole. Alongside Steph, this guy could go from M.I.P. to MVP...and now even better...champion. Even in a House Of Guards league of perfect partner combos that draw lunch lines to the league like John Wall and Bradley Beal, everyone is saying when it comes to brilliant backcourts the west have it best with K and Steph. Even with the on paper looks of Kobe's and Nash's or Payton's (albeit past their prime) and legends like the Detroit Piston, Bad Boys of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, people are also calling these good kids in this mad city the best duo of all-time when it comes to shooting point. To pimp a ballclub. Like Batman and Robin, or Holmes and Watson...yet Thompson is no sidekick now. It's more like Schwarzenegger and Stallone, beating the hell out of you every night...even if these kids look like what Rocky and the Terminator would use for tooth picks. When K.T. adsorbs all this heat around him and inside him, Johnny Storm goes all Johnny Blaze in the methods of this man. Smoking like tical, this guy is ready to win the race like he was running with one of those nitrus, fuel-injected cars. If Steph's fast than Klay's furious...ready to take it to seven.

But this Mr. Fantastic could do it in four. Bringing the brooms to the clean, sweeping party that could leave the King with nothing but dust on the crowns in his trophy room. Even Michael Jordan is impressed with this Human Torch! Isn't that right B? And just like Chris Evans he wants to go all Captain America and be the hero that leads this free world. Klay is just that hot. Automatic like a gun of unlimited bullets and clips. BANG! Zap! Throwing cosmic rays that are out of this world. Setting the infinity stone that is the Oracle of Oakland's Arena on fire. So much so that their may not be any oxygen left in even the roof once all those banners and retirees make the rafters. Can you see about 11? As he flings balls of fire up there, if you look at this player predator in infa-red vision, his heat signature will be the one glowing the brightest the way he autographs the hardwood with his sneakers and signs the dotted line of the box-score, dotting the bottom of the basket. In his element this kid is a important to the wind of change as fire and water. In his generation, it's his game and world that he's setting on fire. Burn out never! Klay has nova heat! Maybe the only thing that can cool down the Human Torch is is his own wet splashes. We dub this part of this Californian nation a superhero because he's exactly that. Exhibiting his torch wielding, inhuman properties and powers, with the iconic Golden Gate in the background like a set-piece to the most magnificent movie moment. Like the dunks off the bench of Igudola, or the potential upside of Harrison Barnes. Coupled with the day that belongs to the Green of Draymond, Thompson's scorching shot and all round wrestling with the rock is just that Chef Curry cooking hot. No wonder they made a meal out of James Harden and his Rockets like the Base God Lil B's court curse. This pack is faultless like the dream of San Andreas. They are the best picture in a league full of big-budget blockbusters in this superhero summer season of monsters and machines. Rookie Coach (and one of the year) Steve Kerr hasn't seen downtown shooting this hot since he was clutch doing it himself in the city of Chicago to help Michael Jordan's greatest of all time charge to Bull-peating championships.

Mychal Thompson knows all about winning in California. Just like Stephen's father Dell Curry knows all about shooting the three-ball. The former number 43, first pick in the '78 draft was a great power forward/center who played for all the wild west best powerhouse from Portlandia to San An, Texas. Yet this former Trail Blazer and Spur truly won and found the glory of Showtime, when he joined Magic and Kareem in Los Angeles in the late eighties, when Hollywood became Lakerland. Cap's former back-up plan was a defensive shield, but now the changing of the guard see's his smaller son be an offensive weapon that even his almost seven-footer size couldn't block out. Thompson senior runs play-by-play for Lakers radio, but you can bet he still follows his junior every move like concerned parents stalking social media and not just when the Warriors are in Laker-town for a coastal, California clash. Pops couldn't be prouder the way his son makes it rain in Southern California, when people said it couldn't happen with all that heat. Wouldn't happen because of this number 11, selected 11th in the draft of '11. But an All-Star, All-Team and record 484 three-pointers shared with his MVP in 2014 sets the record books straight and differently. Now Kevin Love's former Little League teammate in Ohio is going to be the latest thing LeBron hates every time his shoulder releases. James' royal decree says Curry, can't be stopped, but he doesn't want to even get Klay started. If the unstoppable MVP and immovable King end up canceling each other out in this upcoming Cavalier and Warrior Finals then it will be up to Klay or Kyrie Irving to be the ex-factor of this champagne aiming, championship campaign. Now do you remember the way Kyrie shot the hell out of last years champion San Antonio this March in that last quarter and overtime? Well Klay treats the rock and it's place like that every game. And it's time for a new name to be champion now. Time for Cleveland to end the curse, or Golden State their 40 year drought in the Pacific. I know someone who will be wanting to make a splash in a champagne glass. Right now it's more than just Klay's day...it's his time. The guiding light that ignites all that's Golden is the human that bears this torch.

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