Klay Thompson’s Game Five was fueled by the ocean

At one point during his postgame press conference, after scoring 21 points and hitting five three-pointers in the Golden State Warriors’ Game Five win, Klay Thompson grabbed the bottle of Gatorade from in front of him, shook his head, and dropped it on the ground.

That’s because Klay Thompson doesn’t need sports drinks, colored liquids, or artificial sources of electrolytes for hydration and recovery. All Klay needs to do to get ready for a big game is to drop his body into the Pacific Ocean. He explained at length.

“When it’s one of those days in the low 60s, and the sun is shining, I make it a point to jump in the ocean. I just think the ocean has healing properties that a pool might not have, or a cold tub. Just to be immersed in nature like that, it really makes me happy.”

Klay’s affinity for boats and the water has been well-documented, but if you’re unfamiliar with the water outside San Francisco, just know that it’s quite cold. Definite wetsuit territory, especially if it’s only in the low 60s. But for Captain Klay, it’s perfect. Sometimes people say great clutch shooters have ice water in their veins, and for Klay, it’s literally true. Ice water in his veins, ice water outside his veins, ice water in his hair and beard.

At this point, after seeing Thompson calmly shredding Boston in the second half - he had four of his triples and two steals after halftime - we should start seeing the Polar Bear Plunge become a bigger part of pregame NBA routines. Boston Celtics fans are probably frantically reserving boats all over town in advance of Thursday’s Game Six, just to try to keep Klay out of the water.

He continued:

“Your whole body feels so great when you get out of that cold water. And you honestly feel a little closer to God when you look up at the beautiful skies. And in the ocean...I’m an Aquarius, so I’ve loved the water my whole life. It really is my happy place besides the hardwood.”

Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the zodiac, symbolized by the Water-Bearer. Klay has certainly carried water for the Warriors in big playoff games, but according to Greek myth, the Water-Bearer is beautiful young man named Ganymede, the son of a great champion, who was abducted by Zeus himself to be the cup bearer for the Gods. Ganymede gained immortality but his main job was to bring wine and water to the thirsty immortals. Young, beautiful jumper, father was a champion, taken from his normal life by an act of God while in his prime, loves intoxicating spirits and the water, achieved sports immortality - how does all of this not describe Klay “Ganymede” Thompson?

All basketball players are motivated by different things. For Steph Curry, it’s his wife Ayesha’s cooking. For Draymond, it’s growing his podcast audience and finally getting a sponsorship from Squarespace. For Gary Payton II, it’s making sure his dad doesn’t trash talk him from the sidelines. For Andrew Wiggins, it’s not playing like Karl-Anthony Towns in the playoffs. And for Jayson Tatum, it’s dressing up like his sports heroes - he wore a Tiger Woods t-shirt to Game Five, because he knew his game was going to be subpar.

Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

Klay just needs the ocean, though I suspect a lake or a river would do in a pinch. And if the ocean keeps rejuvenating him like it did this week, he’s going to be taking the Larry O’Brien trophy on a bay cruise very soon.