Jordan Poole’s playoff-long struggles reached a nadir at exactly the wrong time.
The Golden State Warriors guard went scoreless in his team’s nail-biting Game 4 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night, on the bench for the fourth quarter’s duration en route to a season-low 10 minutes of playing time. The defending champions now trail the Lakers 3-1 in the Western Conference Semifinals, their backs against the wall of elimination in large part due to Poole’s rank ineffectiveness.
If anyone on the Warriors has reason to be extra frustrated with Poole, it’s certainly Stephen Curry. The reigning Finals MVP was Golden State’s only consistent source of offense in Game 4, finishing with 31 points and 14 assists in a low-scoring contest despite drawing mass attention from Anthony Davis, LeBron James and the Lakers’ fearsome defense.
After the game, though, Curry wasn’t interested in singling out Poole for a team-wide performance that just wasn’t good enough to beat a quality opponent on the road.
“We get questions about him a lot and it’s our whole team, we’re all together in the sense of trying to figure out how to win playoff games. We all have to make adjustments, we all have to play better considering we’re in a 3-1 hole. So, there’s no sense in isolating him in this situation,” Curry said of Poole. “It’s all about collectively what can we all do to be better? The conversations we have in film sessions and on the bench, in the locker room, are all consistent throughout the season—especially in this playoff run—of trying to answer that question.”
Poole was instrumental in Golden State’s title run this time last year, averaging 17.0 points and 3.8 assists per game on red-hot 65.4% true shooting during his playoff debut. His penchant for being targeted in pick-and-roll by opposing star ball handlers diminished Poole’s playing time throughout the postseason, but there’s still no denying the Warriors couldn’t have won a fourth championship in eight years without the offensive electricity he so readily provided.
Those days are just a hazy memory now, replaced by image after image of Poole throwing up errant jumpers and charging wildly toward the rim all while remaining an imminently exploitable defender. Poole is averaging 10.5 points and 3.5 assists per game in these playoffs, with a hideously inefficient 46.2 true shooting percentage. He’s reportedly let those on-court labors affect his attitude in the locker room, too.
Still, Curry knows Golden State won’t be able to climb from its current hole unless Jordan Poole—just like the rest of his teammates—turns it around come Game 5 Wednesday night at Chase Center.
“He’s a part of that, we’re all a part of that,” Curry said of Poole and the Warriors searching for answers. “And if we’re going to get out of this hole, we all have to play better.”
