Poole Delivers Game-Winning Shot in Final Second Over Grizzlies

With the game tied and the Warriors inbounding the ball under the Grizzlies basket with 2.6 seconds left in the game, Donte DiVincenzo found Jordan Poole racing to the basket for the game-winning lay-up, as the Dubs defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 122-120 at Chase Center on Wednesday night.

Poole scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as Golden State overcame a 10-point deficit in the game's final six minutes.

Stephen Curry scored a team-high 34 points, and had 10 points in the fourth quarter before being ejected from the game with 1:14 remaining, with the Warriors leading 116-114.

"Yeah, I mean to win the game after the [Curry] ejection was great," Steve Kerr said postgame. "I like the execution down the stretch. I thought we got good looks on offense and defensively we did what we needed to do. They scored two with six seconds left to tie it, but we didn't leave the 3-point line, which was a priority. And so we made them execute and Ja (Morant) made a great pass and I think it was (Brandon) Clarke who got the dunk.

"But I just thought we battled and as poor as our execution was in the first half and as scattered as we were, it just looked like we settled down better down the stretch and make better decisions.”

The Dubs trailed 106-96 with under six minutes remaining before closing the game on a 23-11 run. The trio of Jordan Poole (13), Stephen Curry (10) and Klay Thompson (8) scored 31 of the team's 32 fourth quarter points. All three made clutch shots as the Warriors completed their comeback.

Curry scored seven points in just over a two-minute span, capped off by his game-tying step-back jumper over Ja Morant to even the game up at 113-113 with 2:18 to play.

After Curry's ejection, it was Klay Thompson who made the big shot for the Dubs, connecting on a 3-pointer with 14.1 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a 120-118 lead.

Memphis was able to even the game up after Ja Morant found Brandon Clarke under the basket with 6.3 seconds remaining.

The Dubs took their final timeout and drew up a play for a Klay Thompson baseline two. Thompson got a good look, but the shot didn't fall. Donte DiVincenzo, Anthony Lamb and Ja Morant all went up for the rebound, and Morant got his fingertips on the ball as it bounced out of bounds with 2.6 seconds remaining.

This time, the Dubs inbounded from under the basket, and DiVincenzo found Poole at the rim for the game-winning layup over Ziaire Williams.

"Fire," Jordan Poole said postgame on what it was like to hit the go-ahead shot. "That’s all I gotta say. It was pretty dope.”

“Just because we had such a bad taste in our mouth from [Sunday] night," Klay Thompson said postgame on why the win over the Grizzlies was much-needed. "Very uncharacteristic of us blowing a 17-point lead and we pride ourselves on being the best home court in the NBA. So you don’t want to let them come in here and get some confidence because we may see them down the line, and that’s just what we did.”

The end of this game was can't miss basketball, but that was not the case for all 48 minutes on Wednesday. The first quarter was a slow, choppy game where neither time could get in a rhythm. The Dubs recorded four fouls in the game's first 98 seconds, including two Stephen Curry fouls in the game’s opening minute. Curry was limited to under five minutes of action in the quarter due to his foul trouble. Memphis struggled offensively in the first frame, shooting 7-for-22 (31.8%) from the field and 1-for-8 (12.5%) from 3-point range.

Draymond Green — as usual — captained the Warriors defense late in the game, and came up with a bunch of impact plays in the fourth quarter. Green recorded two blocks on Xavier Tillman Sr. in the fourth frame, and forced a Ja Morant turnover in the final few minutes.

Green finished the game with eight points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, to go along with three blocks and a steal in the win.

With his first basket of the night, Stephen Curry reached 21,000 career points, becoming only the 40th player in league history to reach the milestone.

Curry scored 21 of his 34 points in the second half and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field in the fourth frame.

With Andrew Wiggins being ruled out due to an illness before the game, it was Jonathan Kuminga who filled his spot in the starting five on Wednesday. Kuminga shot 5-for-6 from the field, scoring 13 points in the win, including throwing down two highlight-reel dunks. The forward has now recorded double-digit scoring efforts in all three of his games since returning from injury.

Donte DiVincenzo played 34 minutes off the bench on Wednesday, and recorded the most important assist of the night, finding Jordan Poole on the game-winning basket. DiVincenzo was the only Warrior to play all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter of the victory and finished the game with eight points, four rebounds, two assists and a block, while also recording a team-high-tying plus-seven differential.

The Warriors close their three-game homestand on Friday night when the team hosts the Toronto Raptors at 7 p.m. (NBCSBA, NBATV). It will be the final matchup of the regular season between the two teams, with the Warriors winning the first meeting 126-110 on Dec. 18.

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