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Jordan Poole’s struggles have turned into frustration for the entire team
Coming into the 2023 NBA Playoffs, there was reason to believe the Golden State Warriors were going to get the same Jordan Poole who was the breakout star of the 2022 playoffs.
Poole averaged 17 points per game on 39.1 shooting from three-point range, providing the Warriors with much-needed offense off the bench during their championship run. This season didn’t start well for Poole and the Warriors, as Poole and Draymond Green argued during an off-season practice that led to Green sucker-punching Poole. That lead to a suspension for Green and couldn’t have been the best thing for locker room morale.
Despite that, Poole had the best regular season of his career by the per-game numbers. Career-high in point per game and assist (4.5). Poole started 43 games this season, and despite his shooting numbers dipping slightly from last season, he had a career year in his fourth season. It seems the four-years, $140 million extension the Warriors gave Poole before the start of the season was a wise investment.
Then the playoffs started, and the Warriors are now looking at 1-3 hole in their series with the Los Angeles Lakers. For the playoffs, Poole is averaging 10.5 points per game on 34.2 percent shooting from the floor and 27.8 percent shooting from three. If Golden State wants to claw out of a huge hole, they need Poole to be better.
Jordan Poole struggles in the NBA Playoffs
There may have been some signs of what was ahead for Poole at the end of the regular season. In the last four games before the playoffs, Poole was up and down to say the least. Poole had games of 7-of-13, 8-of-19, 0-of-10, and 7-of-9 from the field. Despite the up-and-down play, the Warriors won three out of their last four regular season games.
Unfortunately for Poole and the Warriors, this was just the beginning of his struggles. Since the start of the playoffs, Poole has only shot over 50 percent once, is a combined 15-of-54 from the three-point line, and has not made a shot from deep in the last three games, going 0-8.
Of course, the three-point miss that sticks out the most is the ill-advised game one 3-point attempt where Poole decided to shoot a 30-footer with the game on the line that clanked off the rim.
Poole hasn’t been much better inside the arc. In the last two games, while not making a 3-pointer, he is shooting a meager 2-7 from inside the arc and looks out of place on most possessions. This is the complete opposite of what we saw last postseason from Poole.
In his first postseason appearance, Poole surprised a lot of people on his way to averaging 17 points per game and even put up 30 points in his first-ever playoff game, which was a victory over the Denver Nuggets. Poole scored 86 points in his first three playoff games last season. In this year’s playoffs, in almost four times as many games (11), he has only scored a total of 116 points. His defense has been subpar at best. Never known as a defensive stopper, Poole has been consistently beaten off the dribble and by back-door cuts.
Frustrations have started to show, especially for Poole, who spoke post-game on Monday in a reportedly tense locker room after the Warriors loss in Game 4. Poole played only 10 minutes in the game, went 0-for-4 from the field, and had two turnovers.
The Warriors now trail the Lakers 3-1 in the second round series.
The entire team has been answering questions about Poole, including Steph Curry.
“There’s no sense in isolating [Jordan Poole] in this situation.”
Steph explains that everyone on the Warriors needs to play better to get out of the 3-1 hole pic.twitter.com/CpsiivaqL1
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 9, 2023
It is probably wise not to alienate Poole at this point, considering the Warriors are on the brink of elimination. One thing is for sure unless Poole returns to his 2022 playoff form, the Warriors will be heading to Cancun a lot sooner than they were hoping.
