San Francisco – The Warriors are starting to look like the championship team from last year. Without two of their starters, Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins, Golden State has won five-straight home games and nine of their last 10 game splayed at Chase Center. Jordan Poole’s 34-point performance sparked their fourth consecutive win.
“Well, tale of two halves for sure,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “He had a rough go in the first half, but what I like was just the poise he showed. He was in good spirits at halftime. He didn’t get too down and he stayed with it. He just kept attacking and really got us going in that third quarter.”
Golden State bounced back again in the third period with a surge from the offense. Poole scored 22 of his 31 points. Klay recorded his first double-double of the season with 19 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. All of his rebounds came off the defensive end, setting a new career high. Donte DiVincenzo grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds and he blocked a season-high two shots.
A complete defensive effort in the second half led to the Warriors recording 60 rebounds, their second-highest tally of the season. For the second straight game the Warriors scored at least 70 points in the second half. In the second half of the last two games, Golden State outscored their opponent, 145-75.
The Warriors scored 42 points in the third quarter, their 15th 40-point quarter of the season. Golden State improved to 11-3 this season when recording a 40-point quarter. It was the fourth time this season the Warriors scored at least 40 points in the third quarter. In the last two games, Golden State outscored their opponent in the third quarter, 81-33 (42-16 tonight, 39-17 on 2/28 vs. POR).
“I think that we are doing a better job,” Draymond Green said on their defense. “That first game after the break was tough, we didn’t guard anyone. Since then, we are really checking it. Most importantly, like I said last game, we are starting to see a little more game planning. With that you want to see guys execute that game plan, just so you know that is capable and overall I think that guys have been doing a really good job at it these last few games at executing game plans and putting us in good positions to win.”
Poole’s scored a game-high 34 points, 22 coming into the third quarter, the most points scored in that quarter in his career and the second most for any quarter, trailing his 23 points in the second quarter on 1/16/23 at Washington. This was the Warriors third consecutive game in which they rallied from a double-digit deficit to win and their ninth such comeback win this season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since 1997-98 when play-by-play was first tracked, this is just the second time the Warriors won three games in a row after trailing by as many as 10 points (1/31/15 — 2/4/15).
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Warriros PR staff gave out a single rose to each of the women who work in the organization and the media. An awesome way to kick off the month of March. Many thanks to Raymond Ridder and his staff.
Up Next: The Warriors host the New Orleans Pelicans tomorrow night at Chase Center (7 p.m.) in the final game of their current five-game homestand.
Photo by Warriors/Twitter
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Updates on Poole and Curry
San Francisco – Warriors head coach Steve Kerr gives updates on Jordan Poole and Stephen Curry.
ON THE STATUS OF JORDAN POOLE:
“Yeah, I know he’s played in every game and rarely missed a game since he’s been here so I think that’s a huge part of a player’s ability – durability is a huge aspect of evaluating a player. So Jordan does a great job of playing every night and keeping his body ready, keeping his mind ready. And yeah, he’s been great in that regard.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF POOLE’S ABILITY TO PLAY IN EVERY GAME THIS SEASON:
“It’s big. He’s the guy we count on to create some shots for himself and for others, particularly when Steph’s out, so very important.”
ON STEPHEN CURRY’S CONDITIONING DURING SCRIMMAGES:
“He’s been working really hard. I think within days of the injury, he was on the bike and it was impressive just watching him on the bike, I mean, how hard he goes. He’s really amazing when it comes to his conditioning level and his commitment to keeping it high and so he’s had a good chance these last few days to get up and down, but before that he was doing a lot of, one-on-zero workouts that included a lot of running and movement. So he’s getting close.”
ON IF SUNDAY IS STILL A POSSIBILITY FOR STEPHEN CURRY TO RETURN:
“I suppose it is. He won’t play tomorrow, but we’ll reevaluate probably in the next couple of days.”
ON WHY HE THINKS THE TEAM TENDS TO START SLOW IN RECENT WEEKS:
“Coaching, mostly. I think in those nine games we’ve done okay, results-wise, We’ve finished a lot of those games with strong second-halfs. I’d rather have that then the quick start and a fade but it would be nice to get off to a little quicker start.”
