Warriors Jordan Poole and Nico Mannion, fresh back from the G-League bubble, played some valuable minutes in the 120-98 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
After playing for weeks in the G-League competition and leaving Orlando, Florida, as the second leading scorer with 22.4 points per game, Poole has an NBA career high of 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting in Achieved 26 minutes.
Before Poole left Golden State for the G-League, Steve Kerr wanted the second-year guard to be more aggressive. Poole scored 13 of his points in a second quarter that contained some nasty moves.
Poole also took over in the fourth quarter after the game got out of hand, taking seven shots in eight Warriors possessions at one point further down.
Nico Mannion starts his first NBA game in place of a resting Steph Curry and plays 31 minutes. The rookie pick in the second round scored nine points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 3-out-5 from the three-point series. Mannion dished out six assistants, but he also scored five times.
Mannion clearly tackled this game with a pass-first mentality, while also showing some fun activity in defense by picking up a steal and guarding Chris Paul. Mannion’s minutes will shrink drastically, but he fared well as a starting role on a night when the Warriors without Curry, Draymond Green and Kelly Oubre Jr.
Do not be surprised if Poole and Mannion push for Brad Wanamaker for minutes in the second half of the season.
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