Jordan Poole nets a career-high as Warriors win meaningless game

Friday’s game between the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans was meaningless. The Pelicans were already eliminated, and, regardless of the outcome, the Warriors season and play-in standing will come down to Sunday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

And so the Dubs rested Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins. They rocked a starting lineup of Jordan Poole, Mychal Mulder, Kent Bazemore, Juan Toscano-Anderson, and Kevon Looney. Alen Smailagić played 20 minutes.

It was a great time to kick back, relax, and not care about the game while you have a beer or four.

Poole did not exactly get the memo. Poole cared about a meaningless game. Poole set a career high. Poole rolled his ankle, went to the locker room, and somehow returned to the game. Poole made the game-winning layup, which allowed you to forget that the game was meaningless because wins are fun.

Jordan Poole, y’all.

Here’s the go ahead bucket:

And here’s some other awesomeness:

Poole finished with 38 points on 12-for-22 shooting, including 4-for-9 from deep and 10-for-11 from the charity strip, and threw in 6 assists for good measure.

His backcourt mate nearly matched his pace, as Mulder splashed in 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting, with 7 triples.

If you squint, it almost looked like the Splash Bros were the Warriors starting backcourt. That’s enough to make you smile.

Eric Paschall returned and shot 4-for-5 to finish with 12 points. Jordan Bell had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks in his first Warriors game since 2019. Alen Smailagić made a three! Nico Mannion almost had a triple.

Good things happened. Now they get to work for Sunday.