The Golden State Warriors are in a do-or-die moment now, and with the Dubs facing elimination from their intense playoff run, the media got a glimpse of a tense Warriors locker room and a defeated Jordan Poole as well.
After the Warriors lost 104-101 in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals, they went down 3-1 in the series against age-defying LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. While the series was touted as a competitive matchup that could easily go seven games, the Lakers were able to steal a game on the road and successfully protected their home court in games 3 and 4.
Warriors Have Backs Against The Wall
The Warriors are in an unthinkable position.
After winning a championship last year off the back of an insane Jordan Poole playoff performance, Poole’s lackluster performance this year may be the undoing of the Warriors’ season.
Poole’s Scoring Slump, Golden State Falling Apart
After scoring 21 points against the Lakers in Game 1, the 6-foot-4 guard combined for 11 points on some ill-advised shot selections between Games 2 and 3, and in Game 4 Poole only played for 10 minutes, not being able to score a single point in that time frame.
Averaging over 20 points this season, the Warriors count on Poole for a good amount of scoring in their system, and his scoring slump couldn’t have come at a worse time.
After his scoreless game, Poole retreated to the locker room before he was eventually hounded by the media. No one ever likes to interview the losing team, especially a team facing elimination, and Poole was no exception either.
Social media hasn’t been very kind to him either, poking fun at Poole for the rumor that he showered rap sensation Ice Spice with $500K in gifts. His poor play is just compounding the Twitter abuse. Which makes the losing and poor play even tougher to deal with. Right now, the young gunner is feeling the pressure of high expectations.
According to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke, it was a very tense scene in the locker room and the deafening silence was an umbrella over the locker room once the media spoke to Poole.
Burke was quoted as saying “So we’re all kind of around him, the sides of him. He turned his music off for us, but that locker room, the visitor’s locker room is really cramped, so when that music went off, all the other players were listening as well. You could see Andrew Wiggins. There was [Kevon] Looney right nearby and then GP2 [Gary Payton II] came to the locker. It was like all eyes and ears were on Jordan right there. And it just heightened the tension.”
On top of that, when asked a question, Poole didn’t have much to say considering he only played 10 minutes and had one of the worst games of his career. Short answers, basic answers, and a lot of reference to the upcoming Game 5, which is natural for a team trying to come back from a 3-1 deficit. They’re not trying to talk about the game, especially one as close as that. They’re worried about moving forward and picking up a win in the Bay Area.
Although it seems as if the blame was on Poole for not showing up, Steph Curry reminded everyone that the blame was collectively on the team and that they need to all show up, not just Poole.
The Entire GS Team Has To Step Up
NBC Sports quoted Curry as saying “The conversations we have in the film sessions, on the bench, in the locker room are all consistent throughout the season, especially in this playoff run of trying to answer that question. So, he’s a part of that. We’re all a part of that. And if we’re going to get out of this hole, we all have to play better.”
With there already being possible trade rumors and packages for Poole, as well as people such as former Warrior Gilbert Arenas calling for Poole’s departure, it will be extremely interesting to see the narrative if the Warriors are eliminated.
