SAN FRANCISCO — On a night when Steph Curry wasn’t at his best, Jordan Poole elevated his game.
It’s been a mercurial ride for the third-year shooting guard, who entered the season with Salesforce Tower-level expectations following his impressive finish in 2020-21. Poole put together his best performance of the young campaign Wednesday night, dropping 31 points in a 114-92 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
"We needed his scoring," coach Steve Kerr said after the game. "Especially in that first half, we had a really rough first 24 minutes, just turning the ball over and not finding much rhythm. I think having three days without a game, you could feel a little bit of rust."
Kerr said Curry was "under the weather" and never got in a rhythm all night. He came out for an early substitution with 3:49 left in the first quarter after scoring no points but having three turnovers. Ironically, Curry came to life in the fourth quarter after he struggled all year in the final period. The superstar finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four turnovers while playing second banana to Poole, if only for a night.
At one point in the third quarter, Curry tried one of his patented turnaround 3-pointers but the ball clanked off the rim as he faced the Hornets bench. It just wasn't his evening.
Remarkably, the Warriors were outscored by a point when Curry was on the floor, despite the 22-point win.
Poole exploded in the first half for 22 points -- matching his season high -- and went 6-of-9 from 3-point range to match his career high.
Poole said he had a feeling he'd have a big shooting night.
"Yeah definitely," Poole said. "Went to sleep a couple nights ago and felt it."
His premonition was right. After he knocked down a trifecta with about three minutes remaining in the first half, he yelled and tried to fire up the Chase Center crowd.
"I been kinda wanting to do that since my rookie year," Poole said of pumping up the crowd. "Chase is back and you feel the energy. You feel how electric it is. They were a huge, huge part to our win tonight. They're so loud and they're so consistent in their cheering. ...
"I just been kinda holding that in for three years. I just wanted to go ahead and get that out. Let Chase Center, let San Francisco, let Oakland, let the whole Bay know, like, we're here."
He kept it going in the second half, knocking down a three just 17 seconds into the third period to set a new career high for 3-point makes. He finished 7-of-16 from 3-point range. Poole also had the crowd fired up with his defensive effort, as he laid out on the floor multiple times and made four steals.
"Just trying to get better every day, on the offensive end, on the defensive end," Poole said. "The coaching staff, they do a really good job of lighting a fire under me."
If the Warriors want to get to where they’re going, they’ll need to win when Steph is struggling. Even Curry is human, after all.
While Poole has been up and down so far this year, the Warriors are convinced he will continue to have a key role on the team this season.
