Jordan Poole was the first draft pick of the Golden State Warriors following their last playoff appearance in 2019. In the three years since, the team has been ravaged with injuries to its biggest stars, rarely showing glimpses of the dynastic group that made five straight title appearances and won three.
There was never much doubt that once healthy again, the Warriors would return to glory. The only question was, when that happened, who would be a part of the complimentary pieces surrounding Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Poole used the last three years to make sure he was one of those players.
The 6-4 guard sharpened his game to the point he was considered a candidate for Most Improved Player this year. He’s been so good that the Warriors opted to start him in place of Curry on Saturday in Game 1 of their series against the Denver Nuggets, Curry’s first game back after a month out with a foot injury. Poole delivered, scoring 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting. No longer is he simply a role player, he’s become vital to Golden State’s playoff success.
"He’s not afraid of the moment"
Kerr wasn't surprised by Poole's electric playoff debut pic.twitter.com/PAGevh5om3
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 17, 2022
“This is kind of what we expected.”
— Steve Kerr on Poole’s Game 1 performance.
If this is what the Warriors are expecting from Poole, then so should bettors. Especially now that he’s shown he can do it in the playoffs. Poole’s scoring line for Game 2 on Monday is 21.5 points on Tipico Sportsbook and I’m mashing the over.
Poole averaged a career-high 18.5 points this season and increased that to more than 24 points since the start of March — 26 points since Curry was injured on March 16. He had at least 22 points in 12 of 14 games in that time, including Saturday’s game.
The Warriors revealed their new death lineup against the Nuggets, which included Poole next to Curry, Thompson, Green and Andrew Wiggins. In just five minutes together, they outscored Denver by 14. When he’s next to players of that caliber, it’s just impossible to give him an abundance of defensive attention. Increasingly, he’s making it hard for teams to give other Warriors too much attention – which is why the over on Curry at 20.5 points in Game 2 might also be a steal.
Eventually, once Curry is fully integrated back into the lineup, it’s fair to expect some slippage in Poole’s production. But I don’t expect it to be much. He plays starter minutes and he’s in the game to score. As he showed in Game 1, it’s something he does extremely well.