The Golden State Warriors seemed headed for a disappointing loss in arguably their biggest game of the season to date. Once the ball was inbounded for the second half, though, a struggling Jordan Poole immediately put his comeback plans in place.
Behind Poole's 22-point third-quarter explosion, the Warriors rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit on Thursday to blowout the Clippers 115-91 at Chase Center. The win broke an effective tie between the teams for fifth-place in the West, moving Golden State to within one game of the Phoenix Suns for fourth in the conference standings.
After the game, a beaming Klay Thompson explained why he's so “proud” of his younger teammate for shaking off early struggles and spearheading the Warriors' furious rally.
“Just a great overall night by Jordan. I mean, he led us tonight,” Thompson said. “I'm just incredibly proud of him for bouncing back after not the best shooting games in the last two or whatever, but that does not affect him. He's such a great player.”
Poole finished with a game-high 34 points, all of which came after a scoreless first quarter. He found the range from deep after intermission, finishing 5-of-12 on triples, but arguably made just as big an impact by consistently creasing the paint. The result? Poole made all eight of his free throws in the third quarter, going 11-of-12 from the stripe at large.
“I can't necessarily sense it, but I know it's always possible,” Steve Kerr said of Poole's third quarter scoring outburst. “That's why he's so important for us. At the point of attack, he can get right by his guy and get to the paint and finish. If he can do that, break the defense down, it opens up a lot of things for us.”
Just imagine how much more the offense will open if Jordan Poole maintains that sense of off-dribble aggression once his team is finally back at full-strength. It might not be too much longer, either. Steph Curry is set to return on Sunday.
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