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Despite being extremely shorthanded, the Golden State Warriors managed to pull out an impressive road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 20. Golden State was missing four of their five starters, and still managed to come out on top. The Cavs weren’t completely healthy either, missing star guard Donovan Mitchell. Regardless, considering the Warriors road record this season, it was a nice win.
Golden State’s road to victory wasn’t without its bumps. At the end of the third quarter Jordan Poole was whistled for an offensive foul, and then, subsequently, a delay of game, after holding on to the basketball as he argued with the officials. The argument wound up costing the Warriors a point as they headed into the fourth quarter up just 12.
Head Coach Steve Kerr was far from thrilled with the former Michigan Wolverine. After Poole was called for the delay of game, Kerr started blasting him from the sidelines.
The Warriors coach was asked about the heated exchange after the game. He explained to the media that he had just “snapped” in the moment.
“I’m going to stay on Jordan,” he said. “He’s continuing to grow and he’s getting better. I think the last two games, he was fantastic in terms of staying off the referees. He got the offensive foul and then held the ball as he talked to the ref, and that was a delay of game. So I’m trying to get Jordan to the point where he understands every play counts and every moment counts. So, every once in a while, I snap and I snapped in that moment and he looked at me like I was nuts. But it’s all part of it. I love Jordan and I love the way he’s playing and he was incredible tonight.”
Poole pieced together a strong performance to help lead the Warriors to a shorthanded victory. He dropped 32 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists on 10-of-23 shooting from the field and 5-of-12 shooting from deep.
Jordan Poole Sounds Off on Officials
Following Golden State’s 120-114 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Poole was asked about both his exchanges with the referees and his coach. He detailed his thought process when arguing calls with officials like he did in Cleveland.
“If I see something, I’m going to ask to see what they see just so I can get a clear answer on how they’re reffing,” Poole told the media. “And all the refs are different. Everybody’s different. Everybody has different calls. Some are more specific on certain calls, some aren’t. I’ll ask. I’ll fight for my teammates, just to see what they’re … calling, what we can get, what we can’t get. You’ve just got to play off of that.”
The 23-year-old then shared his perspective on the spat with Kerr. He didn’t seem to have any issue with his coach’s intensity and cited high emotions as reasoning for Kerr’s explosion.
“I think high emotions, later in the game everybody wants it, I think we were locked in,” Poole explained. “Especially after the game ended yesterday, we really just wanted to make sure that we closed it out.”
Steph Curry Speaks on Steve Kerr, Jordan Poole Exchange
Kerr’s fury, of course, made its rounds on social media. House of Highlights shared a video of the incident to its Instagram account, saying, “Steve Kerr had some choice words for Poole after his technical foul.”
Warriors star Stephen Curry headed over to the comments section to defend his head coach.
“Hey for all the kids watching this clip…Coach Kerr coaching like he should,” Curry commented on a post by House of Highlights, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “JP taking the energy the right way. Both of them move on to try and win the game!!! @houseofhighlights Make sure you show how @jordan_poole bounced back after this.”
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