In what was one of the biggest games of the season for the Golden State Warriors, Jordan Poole only played 10 minutes on Monday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
He has had a rough postseason, and while Stephen Curry claimed the team remains confident in him, Poole playing so few minutes in Game 4 raised some eyebrows. So, Steve Kerr was asked about it during an appearance on the “Willard and Dibs” show.
“Well, last night was more about Moses (Moody) and Gary (Payton II),” Kerr said. “And both guys were playing so well that we just stayed with them. I thought Jordan did some nice things offensively, he was under control, he penetrated, he got the ball, swung into good spots… I think he was playing fine, it’s just that we had other guys who were playing well and we had a good game going with those guys so we just stayed with them.”
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Kerr was somewhat struggling to come up with positives, as you’d expect when talking about a performance where someone scored 0 points on 0-6 shooting from the field. Whether they admit it or not, the team is losing confidence in his abilities and the fourth quarter was perhaps the best indicator of it.
The Warriors scored just 17 points in the fourth, but despite what he could potentially bring to the table offensively, Kerr didn’t sub him on for even a minute. It isn’t a fact that would be lost on Poole either and it wouldn’t have done his confidence much good.
Jordan Poole Has Looked Like A Shell Of Himself In These Playoffs
It is easy to forget now, but Poole actually had a good regular season for the Warriors. He averaged career-highs of 20.4 PPG and 4.7 APG, which makes the drop-off in the postseason all the more puzzling. Poole is averaging just 10.5 PPG while shooting 34.2% from the field and 27.8% from beyond the arc over the 11 games.
It’s not as if he is someone who just doesn’t deliver in the playoffs either, as last year, he had put up 17.0 PPG while shooting 50.8% from the field and 39.1% from beyond the arc. If the Warriors had gotten this kind of production out of him, they might not be down 3-1 in this series. Curry said there is no point in isolating Poole as the whole team needs to play better and that is true, but he has struggled more than anyone else, hence why the spotlight has been on him for the most part.
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