Both defenses turned up as the game dwindled down, forcing each other into poor possessions in a two-point game.
Rudy Gobert had to hoist up a 3 at the end of the shot clock. So did Andrew Wiggins from about 30 feet out. Mike Conley’s 3 at the shot clock came too late.
Then Stephen Curry came up with a steal, and Otto Porter Jr. followed it up with a block. Bojan Bogdanović nailed a 3 as Golden State couldn’t create any separation, but his step-back attempt at the buzzer — plus Royce O’Neal’s tip — rolled out.
The Warriors lost the fourth quarter, 17 to 11, but came away with a 94-92 victory. Stephen Curry (13 points) struggled, but Jordan Poole poured in 20 points and four other Warriors (34-13) scored double-digit points. Golden State held the league’s No. 1 offense, per offensive rating, to 92 points — one more than their season-low.
Here are three takeaways from the tight win.
Jordan on Jordan crime
What Jordan Poole did to Jordan Clarkson with 3:59 left in the first half was not safe for work.
Poole hit Clarkson with a hard in-and-out dribble and stopped on a dime. It almost looked like he stepped on the defender’s foot.
Clarkson hit the deck. Poole hit the 3. It was a thing of beauty.
Because Klay Thompson was scratched from the lineup shortly before tipoff, Poole made his second consecutive start. The transition into a bench role has been rocky for the third-year shooting guard.
Heading into Sunday’s contest, Poole had started 32 games and came off the bench for eight this season. It’s a small sample, but he’s shooting 26.8% from 3 as a reserve compared to 34.7% as a starter. He’s averaging 6.3 fewer points in seven fewer minutes per game.
Poole appears much more confident when he’s in the starting lineup — and confidence is one of the most vital parts of his game.
Against the Jazz, he heated up with a step-back 3 over Rudy Gobert (he hit another one over Gobert in the third quarter). He drove to the basket frequently, seeking contact and making smart decisions. One play, he cleared Andrew Wiggins out of the corner to create space for an isolation, got cut off near the hoop and pivoted to kick out a pass to a relocated Wiggins for 3.
Poole attacked heavier-footed mismatches with a variety of hesitations, crossovers and bear-changes. He finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting. He was the only Warrior to crack 20 points.
Fun jumbotron game inspires fun hypotheticals
After Jordan Poole drilled a step-back 3-pointer over Rudy Gobert to end the first quarter, the massive jumbotron gave Warriors fans some quick in-game entertainment with a new pre-recorded segment.
The game: face-mash a current Warrior with a former GSW legend and guess who they are.
The first hypothetical combination was Juan Toscano-Anderson and David Lee. As Andre Iguodala noted in the video, they’d be a pretty solid player, with Toscano-Anderson’s athleticism and Lee’s footwork and touch. After “Juan Lee,” a Klay Thompson-Chris Mullin hybrid appeared.
Both morphed characters were easily guessed. But it put the brain-gears in motion…which fictional combination, within the same framework, would help the 2021-22 Warriors the most?
Draymond Green in Wilt Chamberlain’s body? A Baron Davis-Gary Payton II hybrid? Klay Thompson with Leandro Barbosa’s speed? Can I interest you in Jonathan Kuminga with Mitch Richmond’s scoring prowess?
At halftime, the fans had better entertainment anyway, as the end of regulation for the Chiefs-Bills playoff game played on monitors in the upper sections.
Another Curry slog
If his 39-point masterpiece didn’t break Curry out of his funk, surely his game-winning buzzer beater would. But no, the two-time MVP struggled again on Sunday against the Jazz.
Curry missed great looks from 3 all night. Utah had nobody who could adequately chase him around the court, but he just couldn’t convert after freeing himself open.
In the fourth quarter, with the Warriors clinging to their lead, he missed a corner 3 to go 1-for-11. Then he was short on a step-back over Rudy Gay. One-for-12. He clanked another with 40 seconds left for his 12th misfire.
With his 1-for-13 performance from behind the arc, Curry is shooting 29.9% in January — the worst month of his career. After his MVP-level start, he hasn’t been the same.
Sunday was the 11th time this season Curry scored fewer than 20 points, and six of those games have come in January. It’s the 12th time he shot below 30% from 3, and fourth he hit just one 3-pointer.
Just a slump, they say. At some point, slumps end. Even though they beat the Jazz, the Warriors need that to come as soon as possible.