The Warriors fell behind early to the maimed but extremely disciplined San Antonio Spurs, but managed to claw back to a tie in the third quarter. At this point the Warriors defense went up a notch in intensity and a surprise dunk contest broke out. The contest electrified the Warriors so much that they went on a run that would create separation that they’d keep to the end.

You see, Klay Thompson and Zaza Pachulia have surprised everyone by becoming big buddies, and they have a good-natured dunk competition going. It’s not obvious who has the upper hand here. Thompson plays more minutes but plays from the outside-in, and when he has a layup he doesn’t usually dunk. Pachulia plays inside but doesn’t have the hops to dunk over a defender, nor does he usually dunk.

According to basketball-reference.com, Thompson actually lost last year’s dunk competition to Pachulia, 10 dunks to 5. This year, they came into the game with Pachulia leading by 2 dunks.

Here’s a short video about the competition, how they got their dunks versus the Spurs, how the Warriors spring Thompson for a couple of threes, and finally Thompson’s prediction for who will win this year’s Klay vs Zaza dunk contest. Co-starring Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green

The Great Klay vs Zaza Dunk-off The Great Klay vs Zaza Dunk-off! Klay Thompson and Zaza Pachulia have an ongoing contest over who will dunk more in a season. They continued their dunk contest in the Spurs game and ignited the GSW rally that won the game. Co-starring Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green. See full articles by @EricApricot at http://tinyurl.com/ericapricot Posted by Golden State of Mind on Sunday, February 11, 2018

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See other full GSOM articles by @EricApricot at http://tinyurl.com/ericapricot.