Santa Cruz Picks up First Win in the Bubble behind Lin, Poole and Mannion
On a night when its NBA affiliate was trounced in Kevin Durant’s return to the Bay, the Santa Cruz Warriors (1-2) righted the ship in the G League Bubble.
After losing to the G League Ignite and the Delaware Blue Coats on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, the Warriors took down the Westchester Knicks 124-116 on Saturday.
Santa Cruz was paced in scoring by guard Jeremy Lin, who led all players in assists and points, scoring 29 while dishing out nine assists. Lin was extremely efficient from distance, going 7-of-9 from three and maintaining his success as a distributor which has him third in the Bubble in assists.
As Lin continues his quest to return to the NBA, second-year guard Jordan Poole has taken on the role of a scorer in Orlando as he seeks more playing time with Golden State.
Poole is fourth – as of Sunday – in the Bubble in scoring, averaging 22.3 points per game after being second in Saturday’s game with 26 points on 8-of-15 from the field.
The former Michigan guard’s performance was trending in the right direction when he was last with Golden State, as he scored 16 points and connected on three triples in almost 21 minutes of action against the Detroit Pistons on January 30. Poole’s play prompted chants on the team plane imploring Steve Kerr to cancel Poole’s flight to Orlando, but those pleas fell on deaf ears.
In 2019-20, Poole averaged over 20 minutes a game with Golden State, but his rookie growing pains combined with playing on the worst team in the league led to some forgettable performances.
Poole was taken with the 28th pick of the 2019 draft, and while his NBA.com Draft Profile called him a “talented perimeter scorer,” he failed to live up to that billing in his rookie season, shooting just 33% from the field and 27.9% from distance.
While Poole has hit just 30% of his threes thus far in the bubble, forward Alen Smailagic – who shared a rookie class with Poole – has yet to share the floor with the guard, logging zero minutes through three games as he recovers from a minor right meniscal tear.
Guard Nico Mannion has seen action in the Bubble in his first professional season, leading Santa Cruz in minutes Saturday while scoring 22 points and collecting seven assists and five rebounds.
The 2020 second-round pick has only appeared in six contests at the NBA level, but sits fourth in the Bubble and first on Santa Cruz in usage percentage.
French national forward Axel Toupane – who last played in the NBA for the New Orleans Pelicans in 2016-17 – is fourth on the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game while averaging 10.5 rebounds a contest. Guard Zach Norvell Jr., who had a cup of coffee with three games in Golden State last season, has yet to play in Orlando.
Santa Cruz still has 12 games to go in the Bubble, with its next matchup Monday at 4 p.m. against Raptors 905.