Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) is tripped by Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole (3). (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)
Warriors fans had enough of Jordan Poole after a miserable first half performance in Game 6 with elimination looming against the Lakers.
Every fan hopes to see players bring their best stuff in an elimination game. Warriors fans may have wished for that, but they definitely didn’t get it from Jordan Poole on Friday night.
In Game 6 against the Lakers, Poole played like he was a double-agent whose entire purpose was to sabotage his own team’s success. He would have made a perfect contestant on The Mole.
As the Warriors fell behind 10 points at halftime, fans wanted to see Poole escorted out of Crypo.com Arena and sent to play for some other team, preferably as far away as possible.
Jordan Poole’s Game 6 performance had Warriors fans in agony
Poole was 0-for-2 with zero points, two assists, one turnover and four fouls in a painfully eventful 12 minutes of action.
Lakers fans may have been joking about his foul trouble being bad for Los Angeles because he was playing to poorly, but they weren’t wrong.
That’s not to say Poole was the only Warrior whose performance wasn’t exactly outstanding. Midway through the third quarter, Klay Thompson was 3-of-14 with just eight points. Steph Curry was 1-of-6 from three-point range.
Meanwhile, the Lakers got another outstanding performance from Austin Reaves, who had 18 points in his first 24 minutes of action, hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc including a 54-foot buzzer beater at the halftime buzzer.
The Warriors needed a whole lot more from their key role players in the first three quarters against the Lakers and fell behind by double digits for most of that time because of it.
Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.