The Dallas Mavericks’ bench has remained a raucous sideline presence throughout the NBA playoffs, and that has been no different during the Western Conference finals against the Warriors.
But Jordan Poole, who's shooting a cool 68 percent from the field this series, hasn’t been bothered by all of the noise. As he told TNT’s “Inside the NBA” crew after Golden State’s 126-117 Game 2 victory Friday night at Chase Center, the commotion from the Dallas bench actually has the opposite effect on him.
“Personally, for me, it gets me going,” Poole said. “Especially when they’re doing all the ‘hoo-rah’ on the side.”
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Poole finished Game 2 with 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and added five assists. The 22-year-old leads all scorers in points per game off the bench this postseason, per StatMuse.
Between Poole’s night, another MVP-worthy performance from Kevon Looney and Steph Curry’s game-sealing “night-night” celebration, the Mavericks’ bench didn’t have much to celebrate after blowing a 19-point lead -- one of the largest playoff comebacks in Warriors history.
Poole and the Warriors knew what awaited them in the West finals, too, as the Mavericks’ bench was fined $75,000 in total by the NBA during their second-round series against the Phoenix Suns. The first fine was for $25,000 after Game 2, and the second for $50,000 came after Game 7 for “violating league rules regarding bench decorum,” including standing away from the team bench and encroaching upon the playing court.
Before the Warriors-Mavs series started, Poole told Dallas guard Theo Pinson -- the driving source of energy from his team’s bench -- that Golden State would dish some of that fire right back.
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“I told Theo before the first game that if he’s going to do all the ‘hoo-rah,’ we’ve got guys who will talk back and say something back,” Poole told the TNT crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. “The level of competition has risen. We all stepped up to the plate, and we’re here in the Western Conference finals.
“Anything can go. You’ve got to be locked in and now play our game.”
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With their Game 2 come-from-behind win, the Warriors took a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven series, and now head to American Airlines Center in Dallas for Game 3 of the series on Sunday.
And while it’s safe to say the Dallas bench will be even more fired up in front of its home crowd, Golden State has proven capable of blocking out the noise.
