Jordan Poole carries the Warriors to a 1-0 lead against the Denver Nuggets.
Jordan Poole plays like Steph Curry, Steph plays meh, Draymond Green defends and runs Nikola Jokic ragged on both sides of the court, Playoff Klay Thompson returns, and more.
Shortly before tonight’s playoff opener against the Denver Nuggets, Steph Curry, who was initially expected to start the game, reportedly approached Steve Kerr and told him he wanted to come off of the bench. Pre-game, ESPN’s loud talking heads wondered about The Meaning of It All and fretted that Curry was, perhaps, not at full health or full strength. This was cause for concern, Stephen A. Smith mused with a smirk on his face. What would this Warriors team look like in the playoffs if Steph Curry wasn’t at his peak?
Pretty good, it turns out. The Warriors blew out the Nuggets behind the explosive and wildly efficient scoring night of Jordan Poole, who scored 30 points in 30 minutes on 13 shots and looked absolutely lethal exploiting Nikola Jokic in drop pick-and-roll coverage with casual and ruthless precision. At various points in the night, Poole showed a sense of the moment reminiscent of the player that he so clearly initiates — and absolutely outplayed tonight — Steph Curry. Whenever the Warriors needed buckets, Poole took the ball and made shit happen. Whether it was stepback threes, pocket passes out of trapped pick-and-rolls, or ridiculous and-one finishes, Poole knew exactly when the Warriors and their playoff-virgin Chase Center crowd needed a bucket.
Poole’s performance mostly made it irrelevant that Steph Curry looked very out of sorts in the first half and finished the game with a pedestrian 16 points on 5/13 shooting. Despite some silly passes that should have been turnovers and some ugly misses, Curry managed to finish the night shooting 3/6 on deep and by the fourth quarter, which was mostly garbage time in all but name, he started to look more himself. That bodes well for the Warriors.
Two other positive developments: Klay Thompson looked like Klay Thompson and Draymond Green looked like Playoff Draymond, a dragon slayer of small proportion who is amongst the best playoff performers of his generation.
Klay Thompson scored only 19 points, which feels very low considering how potent his shots felt, and he went 7/14 from the field and 5/10 from deep. Klay’s timely shooting gave the Warriors much-needed momentum early in the game as they struggled to get their bearings and he looked perfectly capable of guarding the Nuggets’ low-wattage offensive backcourt and wing collection. As the Warriors gear up for what hopes to be a deep playoff run, Thompson’s ability to defend like he used to will be incredibly important, especially as Jordan Poole stakes a claim to 30-35 minutes a night and most likely, closing minutes alongside Steph and Klay. This Nuggets team is hardly an offensive juggernaut outside of Jokic, but that might actually be a good thing for Klay Thompson as he gets more and more reps at playoff intensity, even if it is against lesser competition.
As for Draymond... the Warriors spent most of the night guarding Nuggets’ superstar point center, Nikola Jokic, in single coverage with Kevon Looney and Draymond Green doing the bulk of the work. Looney got the first bite at Jokic and he held up reasonably well even when Joker scored impossible layups and spin moves against him, but it was Green who bothered Jokic immensely and made him pay on the other side of the court by making him defend in space on pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs.
This sequence, where the 7-foot Jokic gets moved off of the right block by the 6’5 Green, was iconic:
Jokic finished the night with a mere 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists on 12/25 shooting from the field and 2/6 shooting from deep. The Warriors’ reliable single-coverage defense of Jokic minimized his ability to spray passes to shooters and cutters and the Nuggets finished the game shooting 11/36 from deep. Will Barton, noted Warriors’ killer, finished the game with 24 points, but only two other Nuggets hit the 10-point threshold. The Nuggets might find more success getting the ball to Nikola Jokic on the move than asking him to post up over and over again in single coverage against Draymond and Looney.
I thought this play was a good example of how the Nuggets could do what the Lakers did to the Warriors in last season’s play-in game by getting the ball to their big man on the move and forcing the Warriors to make multiple rotations, and hopefully, get Looney or Draymond off of Jokic:
But that type of adjustment really only amounts to putting a bandaid on a bullet wound. This Nuggets team doesn’t have the defensive prowess to bottle up the Warriors, especially when they go to the Curry/Poole/Thompson backcourt. The Nuggets’ only real chance at survival is winning a shootout, but that seems unlikely and the only possible reinforcements Denver might receive are star guard, Jamaal Murray, who is currently listed as doubtful to return and hasn’t played a game in nearly a year since tearing his ACL at... the Chase Center in San Francisco.
The Warriors play the Nuggets again on Monday and with another day for Steph Curry to get his conditioning and rhythm back, I expect another win and hopefully, a quick series.
Rotation watch:
1st Q:
12:00 — Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green/Looney: 0-0, tie game.
5:38 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/OPJ/Green: 15-17, Nuggets lead.
3:34 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/OPJ/Bjelica: 22-23, Nuggets lead.
3:15 — Curry/GPII/Wiggins/OPJ/Bjelica: 22-23, Nuggets lead.
2:41 — Curry/GPII/Iguodala/OPJ/Bjelica: 22-23, Nuggets lead.
Through the first four minutes of the game, the Nuggets took 9 shots to the Warriors’ 5 field goal attempts. During that span, the Warriors committed three turnovers and goosed the Nuggets’ transition game. Four of the Nuggets' first points of the game came off of turnovers, which effectively negated some pretty very Warriors’ offensive sets. With the score at 11-6 and the Nuggets leading, Draymond Green fired the ball cross-court to Klay Thompson for his first three-pointer of the game, just as the Warriors’ crowd started to titter nervously. A few possessions later, Green found Thompson curling off of a pindown screen for his second three of the night. You can see those possessions below:
At the 5:38 minute mark of the game, Steph Curry came in for Jordan Poole alongside Otto Porter Jr., who replaced Kevon Looney. These substitutions put Draymond Green on Nikola Jokic and they got the Warriors’ offense going. Steph Curry didn’t take a single shot in his first-quarter minutes, but his presence opened up the floor for other Warriors to make plays. This two-man game sequence with Draymond Green was quite comforting:
2nd Q:
12:00 — Poole/GPII/Iguodala/OPJ/Bjelica: 26-27, Nuggets lead.
7:38 — Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/OPJ/Looney: 36-35, Warriors lead.
7:31 — Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Iguodala/OPJ: 36-35, Warriors lead.
7:07 — Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green/Looney: 36-37, Nuggets lead.
6:25 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/Green/Looney: 38-37, Warriors lead.
4:23 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green: 40-43, Nuggets lead.
Steve Kerr turned to his “grown up” bench unit to start the second quarter and notably, this group, led by Jordan Poole, did not include Klay Thompson. Predictably, that lineup, which was basically the same group that closed the first quarter with Steph Curry, also struggled to create easy shots and kept nearly throwing the ball away. By my count, in the 6 or so minutes where the Warriors played Steph Curry and then Jordan Poole without an accompanying Splash Brother, the only easy looks they got were created by Jordan Poole. Between the 10-minute mark of the period and the re-insertion of Klay Thompson at the 7:38 mark, Poole hit a midrange jumper and two layups, one of which was assisted by Andre Iguodala in transition. You can see that play below:
Poole was fouled on a three-point attempt at the 7:07 mark of the period and less than a minute later, Steph Curry checked in for Poole. Shortly after, Curry took his first shot of the game, a deep transition three, and missed badly. Curry proceeded to take two more shots within the span of 60 seconds and missed both of those as well. But it wasn’t just missed shots that concerned me. Curry’s balance on drives seemed off — ESPN announcer Doris Burke noticed that too — and he made a few irresponsible and poorly throw passes. But for whatever reason, those bad passes didn’t turn into turnovers either!
The Warriors trailed 43-40 at the 4:21 mark of the second quarter when Jordan Poole subbed in for Kevon Looney and Steve Kerr got to deploy Death Lineup 3.0 for the first time: Steph Curry/Jordan Poole/Klay Thompson/Andrew Wiggins/Draymond Green. By the time both teams went back to the locker room, the Warriors led 58-47. Jordan Poole got the scoring started by putting Nikola Jokic into a high pick and roll and draining a three over his head and making an acrobatic and-one layup on the very next possession. You can see that sequence below:
Klay Thompson scored 5 points before the end of the quarter to end the half with 14 points, Andrew Wiggins hit a pair of free throws (!), and Steph Curry finally scored on a layup, and to add insult to injury, he hit his first three-pointer of the game with 4 seconds left in the half. That three put the Warriors up by 11 points for a 58-47 lead and capped off an explosive 18-7 run for Death Lineup 3.0.
3rd Q:
12:00 — Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green/Looney: 58-47, Warriors lead.
7:44 — Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/OPJ/Green: 66-58, Warriors lead.
5:45— Curry/Poole/Thompson/OPJ/Green: 74-60, Warriors lead.
3:52 — Curry/GPII/Iguodala/OPJ/Green: 76-67, Warriors lead.
1:29 — Curry/GPII/Iguodala/OPJ/Bjelica: 87-68, Warriors lead.
At the 7:44 mark of the third quarter, Steve Kerr made his first substitution of the half and pulled Kevon Looney, who only had two fouls, in order to go small. His replacement was not Steph Curry, but rather, Otto Porter Jr. With the floor spread out, the Warriors sought out Nikola Jokic and dragged him into actions, which frankly, felt like bullying. Jordan Poole hit two threes, one in transition, and another in a high PNR that targeted Jokic, and the Nuggets seemed to wise up to the fact that they’d have to change their defensive coverage to show higher and this is what happened on the very next possession:
That play, by the way, was the first offensive possession of the half with Steph Curry on the court. This marked a significant change in Steve Kerr’s rotations to put Curry/Poole/Klay on the court outside of high-leverage moments — that’s not surprising in the playoffs — and it felt like an attempt at a kill shot. The Warriors’ lead actually shrank from 14 points to 9 points in the Curry/Poole/Klay trio’s numbers, but after Jordan Poole came out of the game, Steph Curry hit an off-ball three, and right around then, Doris Burke pointed out that Nikola Jokic looked absolutely exhausted. Curry was fouled on a three-point attempt on the next possession and the next trip down the floor, Draymond Green tried to find Curry for another off-ball three, but when an opening didn’t manifest, Green took bailout three with seconds left in the shot clock... and... he made it!
Nikola Jokic committed a turnover on the very next possession and came out of the game with 1:29 left in the period and the Warriors leading 87-68. By the end of the quarter, that Warriors’ lead would stand at 20.
4th Q:
12:00 — Poole/GPII/Iguodala/OPJ/Bjelica: 90-70, Warriors lead.
9:54 — Poole/GPII/Wiggins/OPJ/Bjelica: 94-76, Warriors lead.
8:11 — Poole/GPII/Thompson/Wiggins/Bjelica: 102-78, Warriors lead.
7:10 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Bjelica: 102-80, Warriors lead.
6:28 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/OPJ/Green: 104-68, Warriors lead.
3:47 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green: 114-94, Warriors lead.
3:37 — Poole/Lee/Moody/JTA/Kuminga: 115-94, Warriors lead.
3:21 — JTA/GPII/Lee/Moody/Kuminga: 116-96, Warriors lead.
In the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, the Nuggets hit four threes and got the Warriors’ lead down to 18 and 16 points at various points in the period. The Warriors’ lead actually got as high as 24 points after Jordan Poole hit a deep three in transition for his 28th points of the game, but that lead felt oddly precarious. You know how sometimes it feels like one or two threes by the opposing team would be all it took for it to become a game again? That must have been what Steve Kerr felt it too, because he put Steph Curry back in the game at the 7:!0 mark with the Warriors up 18 to try and put the game away. A few possessions later, Kerr, called a time-out and turned to another quasi-closing unit: Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/OPJ/Green.
That lineup did what it needed to do and held onto a 20-point lead while Steph Curry got some conditioning in and fired up (and made) a step-back three and a midrange jumper. In the lower-stakes environment of a looming blowout, Curry looked far more at ease. Hopefully, these fourth-quarter minutes can provide a building block for Steph’s rhythm. At the 3:37 mark of the quarter, Steve Kerr pulled his veterans while Jordan Poole was at the line shooting free throws. At the next stoppage, Poole came out to a standing ovation and received effusive praise and tight hugs from the Warriors’ playoff-tested veterans, and the game gave way to playoff garbage time, the first in the Chase Center’s history.
POOLE WATCH BABY!!!
Nearly a decade ago, Steph Curry went to the playoffs for the first time in his career. In a second-round series against the Spurs, however, much was made of the high-scoring output of a rookie Harrison Barnes, who averaged 17.3 in that 6-game series playing primarily at the power forward position. Barnes hit tough shots in that series — a lot of them of the Kobe/Wiggins nature — as Greg Popovic stuck smaller players on Barnes and the Warriors went mismatch hunting. Barnes earned a nickname that series, one that might seem hilarious in retrospect: Playoff Barnes.
That nickname carried over to his sophomore season when Barnes stepped up his game in a first-round series after an absolutely putrid sophomore season. Barnes even had some big playoff moments, particularly in game 5 of the Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets, in the Warriors’ first championship run. But as I’m sure most Warriors’ fans remember, Harrison Barnes fell apart in brutal fashion in games 5 through 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. He hasn’t been to the playoffs since.
Jordan Poole was arguably the Warriors’ second-best player in the play-in games last season. When the Warriors’ season was on the brink and they were nearly down double digits to the Memphis Grizzlies in the fourth quarter, Poole put the team on his back and carried them to overtime, where he hit big shots, and yes, made the game-clinching turnover that all but decided the game for the Grizzlies.
In the final stretch of that bizarre and frustrating 2020-21 season, Poole stepped his game up and averaged 20.3 points a game, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists on 58/45/96 splits over the Warriors’ last six games. He stepped up his game again late in the season this season and averaged what more or less amounts to Damian Lillard’s career averages during Steph Curry’s absence. This is all to say, there’s a body of work in meaningful games that suggested that Jordan Poole would probably be a capable playoff performer. But as the example of Harrison Barnes demonstrates, reputations can change in a minute and you never know what’s going to happen to an unproven player when the bright lights are on.
Jordan Poole finished tonight’s game with 30 points on 13 shots. I still can’t believe that. He’s one of four players under the age of 22 — Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Maxey, and Ja Morant included — to score over 30 points tonight. He’s in great company and he’s showing at every opportunity that he is, simply put, Him.
More difficult tests lie ahead for Jordan Poole. The Denver Nuggets’ defense is soft and if the Warriors go deeper in the playoffs, he will face heavy scrutiny and see the same type of physical defenses that Steph Curry does/has for most of his career. Poole’s incredible night was not yet a coronation, but it was at the very least, proof that Jordan Poole has a sense of the moment and that he has every intention of showing that he belongs in the upper echelon of NBA players.
30 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers on 9/13 FG, 5/7 3P, and 7/8 FT’s in 30:06 minutes.