'No kind of regrets': Warriors stand by Jordan Poole shot attempt
SAN FRANCISCO -- As Warriors star Stephen Curry hunted his shot with less than a minute to go in Tuesday night's Western Conference series opener, he found himself double-teamed by the Lakers' Austin Reaves and Jarred Vanderbilt.
Curry managed to get the ball out to Draymond Green, who then found Jordan Poole, who was waiting on the opposite side of the court, several feet outside of the 3-point arc. With no defender in front of him and a clean look, Poole launched a 28-foot attempt that had it gone in would have tied the game at 115 before the end of regulation. But the shot missed, and the Warriors went on to lose Game 1 by a final score of 117-112.
Despite there being 10 seconds left on the game clock when Poole put up the deep 3 -- and with Golden State still in possession of one timeout -- the Warriors stood by the shot attempt.
"I thought Jordan did a really good job," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I have the time-out stuff, I saw them double-teaming Steph at halfcourt, so I knew somebody was going to be wide-open if we could just get the ball out, and Steph did a great job. He got the ball out of the trap and Jordan was wide-open, and pretty good look, and you know, that's a shot he can hit."
Poole finished the night with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 6-of-11 from 3 -- four of which he hit in the second quarter. He also played a pivotal role in the Warriors' late-game run when they went to a small-ball lineup that brought them back from down 14 and put them in position to steal the game.
"It was a shot he was open and flowing," Curry said. "Considering how they guard us on that possession, you know, trapping me at the halfcourt, Draymond swinging it over to him, it's kind of an in-rhythm shot.
"I'm sure he felt pretty good about it. That's why he shot it. There are no kind of regrets about that. It's just a make-or-miss type situation and a lot of trust in him and his ability to put the ball in the basket."
Poole did not speak to reporters after the game.
After a poor shooting series against the Sacramento Kings that saw Poole shoot 29.1% from the floor and 25.9% from 3 -- and never hitting more than eight field goals in a game -- his finding some sort of rhythm against Los Angeles was a positive sign for Golden State.
"I think this will be a series that will go his way and that's great for us," Green said.
It's also necessary for the Warriors, as they try to outshoot the Lakers who thrive inside the paint.
"If we can rebound, going small is to our advantage," Curry said. "There's probably three, four possessions where you can see we got a stop, we got the rebound, we got the push. Somebody was open. That's kind of how we like to play."
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