John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Jordan Poole Explains Half-Court Heave Before the Final Buzzer
Heaving the ball toward the basket with nearly five seconds remaining on the game clock near half court, Jordan Poole left Warriors fans scratching their heads as to why he’d take such a wild shot so early in the possession.
Poole explained his logic behind the play, though, which could have very well yielded an opportunity for the Golden State Warriors to tie an otherwise guaranteed loss to the Phoenix Suns.
“We were in the bonus and we were down three,” Poole said. “If I would have dribbled the ball up any more, they would have took a foul, we would have shot two free throws and then we wouldn’t have had a chance to get a three up.”
The idea behind Poole’s play was simple; Because the Warriors were down three points with less than 24 seconds to play, they had an opportunity to take a game-tying three-pointer to send the contest to overtime. But because Golden State was in the bonus, Phoenix could have easily committed a foul to send the Warriors to the free throw line and only shoot for two points — one shy of the tie.
While it appeared as though Poole took a wild and miscalculated shot, perhaps unaware of the time on the clock like J.R. Smith during the 2018 NBA Finals, the third-year guard was actually making a logical choice to either draw a shooting foul or even sink the shot in what may have been his only opportunity.
“Probably get three free throws,” Poole replied in what he was looking to get. “Obviously I was shooting to make it but they also sent a trap. There was a guy in the middle and a guy on the half court line. There wasn’t really much to do.”
Poole finished the 107-103 loss to the Suns with a career-high 38 points and continued to add to a streak of 15 consecutive games with at least 20 points. The only two Warriors players to achieve that feat in the last 30 years? Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
