Explain One Play: How Poole fit next to Steph and Klay in starting lineup to blow out the Bucks
Explain One Play: How Poole fit next to Steph and Klay in starting lineup to blow out the Bucks
Auspicious start
A list of all Explain One Play articles and videos is at The new Explain One Play index.
For the first time, the Warriors added Jordan Poole to the starting lineup next to Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry. As expected, the offense hummed, but the defense also held up with human wall techniques and gang rebounding in a solid win in the 2022.03.12.MIL-GSW game.
But I also feel like the Bucks have been on a road trip [Update: DFib points out it’s not been much of a road trip and Bucks had at least one practice day before the game.] and just having not a lot of time to practice and game plan. If this was a series, then they would be able to make some adjustments to punish Poole and pick on him some more. Nonetheless, really nice to see both Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson bust out. I'm eager to see more and just see how much we're going to see Poole in the starting lineup, especially when Draymond comes back on Monday.
Co-starring Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney. With Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis Jr, and Grayson Allen.
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Wiseman minutes. Note: I am not saying he should be the starter. I am saying, he should log his first 4-6 min to start the game. And there is a difference.
a. You want to get him minutes with both 1st and 2nd units BEFORE the playoffs.
b. With the first unit, he has an even more limited role, whereas with the 2nd unit, they keep talking about organizing some of the offense around him.
c. What we don't want is Looney picking up 2 early fouls. Let Wiseman give us an idea of how the game is being officiated before Looney comes in. Let Wise get the first 2 fouls.
d. It also shortens the game for Looney by a real 15-20 minutes. This gives us a better Looney for a 42 min-game vs a more worn down more foul carrying Looney in a 48 minute game.
e. it alters the opponents offensive game plan as they will likely look to exploit Wiseman early which the Dubs can exploit in their own way. It's a chess move.
So, I am not saying the Wiseman should be the starter. All I am saying is that there are many good reasons to have him play the first 4-6 minutes of the game.
Final note (really!): the Bucks were not on a long road trip, they were at the start of a long road trip. They did have a weird pogo away/home/away/home before facing the Warriors, but they had two whole days off before the game at Golden State. So, no excuses, we just beat 'em.
(EDIT: I see others made this point below)