Klay Thompson improved his defense to help Stephen Curry score more points

There’s nothing better than brotherly love — and part of what creates the lore of the Splash Brothers is how well they complement each other. Both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are world-class shooters, though Curry has established himself as arguably the greatest shooter the game has ever seen.

Thompson holds his own, though, as a premier shooter and a lockdown defender. The New York Times took notice of his two-way presence in a story this week, which touched on Thompson’s growth as a defender.

He also had an interesting motivation for improving defensively during the summer of 2012, when an injury-riddled Curry was just beginning to develop into a star.

“He was our anchor and such an offensive force,” Thompson said. “I was like, ‘I need to help this man out so he doesn’t have to chase these guys around.’”

That is true teammate loyalty if there is ever such a thing. Thompson’s improvement showed the next season, when the Warriors advanced to the second round of the playoffs and Thompson often guarded the opposing team’s best guard.

“I think that’s when I figured out I could be a two-way force in this league,” Thompson told The Times.

Case in point: The Golden State Warriors’ current second-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, where Thompson is locking down Chris Paul through two games after tying down the Los Angeles’ Clippers Lou Williams in Game 6 of the first round.

It is a tad incredulous that Thompson has not won any defensive awards in the NBA, because his defensive play is just as important to the Warriors as his shooting touch. Taking on the tougher guard assignment has allowed Curry to rest more on defense and then explode on the offensive end, which has led to back-to-back MVP awards. And though he has had a few injury scares, Curry has not had any long-term issues plague him like his ankle did early in his career.

A quiet, unassuming star, Thompson is often glossed over on the Warriors as their third-best player behind Curry and Kevin Durant. Even Draymond Green receives more attention as the loud, energetic force on the team.

But without Thompson, Curry might not have reached his full potential.

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