After the Thursday’s battle in BostonSteve Kerr decided to rest him in the back to back in Cleveland four of the five players who started for the Warriors against the Celtics: Golden State showed up without Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins or Draymond Green. The only one who repeated? Jordan Poole. And with him it was enough for the Californians to add their own best win of the season.
Prior to this game, the Warriors had won just five away games in the era: in Houston, Minnesota, Toronto, San Antonio and Washington. What unites these five groups? Everyone has loses the brand.
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Golden State had yet to win its first home game against a team with a winning record and without its starters. Friday night didn’t seem to be the same to end the drought. even with Donovan Mitchell being low on the Cavs.
However, based on a incandescent pool (32 points, 5-12 3-pointers), great game by him Ty Jerome (22 points and 8 assists), plus the key contribution of names like Donde DiVincenzo (17), JaMychal Green (13) and Anthony Lamb (12), ended those of Ker winning 120-114altough 31 + 10 scored by Darius Garland for the space.
Jordan Poole just became the FASTEST Warrior to hit 500 triples 🎯 pic.twitter.com/1x6LO136jT
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 21, 2023
These scoring bursts from Poole are no longer surprising. With his 32 points tonight, the former Michigan native is averaging 26.9 points in 24 games as a starter in 2022-2023, playing about 33 minutes per game. star numbers. Or superstar.
To put in context, Klay Thompson has never averaged more than 22.3 points in a season. So, taking out the Kevin Durant years, Poole is clearly the best wing Steph has ever had purely in terms of scoring (of course the best Thompson was superior in many other areas).
Secondly, in 9 of those 24 games in which Poole started, Curry was also presentso his nearly 27-point average can’t be explained by performances like tonight alone, with no other offensive references on his side. You can also shine in a Golden State complete.
And one more key point in favor of Poole and his path to stardom: He is making clear steps forward defensively, looking stronger and more physical. The numbers bear it out: not counting tonight’s game, Poole is allowing it 1.07 points per possession scoring one-on-one actions. A much improved mark from that of the previous two campaigns, where 1.16 points were allowed for each of these individual defense goods.
The challenge for Kerr and Golden State is now over determine the best way forward from now on. Keep one Pool as starter (like against Boston), to take advantage of that scoring opportunity or continue to trust him drives a second unit This has been the Warriors weak point all season.
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