Getty Jordan Poole of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors are looking to make some serious noise down the stretch of the season. They’ve had an extremely up-and-down year thus far, and a big part of that has been their inconsistent bench unit and inability to win on the road.
However, on Wednesday night, both of those things went in their favor. The bench stepped up, and they took down the Dallas Mavericks on the road – their second road victory in a row. After the game, head coach Steve Kerr shouted out Jordan Poole and some other bench played for their performances.
“We have to treat every game now like it’s a playoff game because that’s basically what it is,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “We’re fighting with seven other teams. Trying to jockey for either playoff position or an actual playoff berth or a Play-In birth, depending on how it all plays out. I talked with you last week, and we spoke about how much every game matters now and how our guys just have to go out and compete and play. We’re down a lot of players right now with injuries. I was really inspired just watching guys come off the bench and play well. [Jonathan] Kuminga was amazing tonight JaMychal Green gave us huge minutes off the bench. [Anthony] Lamb, Moses [Moody], JP [Poole] made some big plays. So, it’s great. Guys are competing, and they’re fighting.”
Poole put up some solid numbers off the bench for the Warriors. He finished the game with 16 points, one rebound, and six assists on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Steve Kerr Praises Draymond Green
In addition, Kerr showed love to Draymond Green after the game for his play on both ends of the court.
“We got some key stops,” Kerr said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “I thought Draymond was incredible down the stretch defensively. Offensively, he sealed his guy on Steph [Curry]’s layup with eight seconds left, which was a brilliant play. But I just thought we got key stops when we needed to down the stretch.”
Stephen Curry Praises Jonathan Kuminga
As mentioned by Kerr, Kuminga played great against the Mavericks. He led the Warriors in scoring with 22 points off the bench. After the game, Curry showed love to Kuminga for how well he’s played as of late.
“He’s showing his ability was a two-way guy,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “Being comfortable out there, taking on the challenge defensively, and also finding his spots offensively. Cutting. Using his athleticism. He knocked down two threes in the first half, I think. So, just to know he’s just getting more comfortable as time goes on with what we’re asking him to do defensively and him finding his sweet spots in our system. I hope he’s having fun doing it as well because it’s obviously showing up in the statute and helping us win, but it’s also- that eye test says that he looks comfortable out there. So, that means a lot.”
