In the wild, wild Western Conference, the championship-hopeful Denver Nuggets need every win they can get to keep their heads above water in a frantic seeding race. Seeds two through five — the Houston Rockets, Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Memphis Grizzlies — flip-flop on a near-daily basis, so home court advantage in the playoffs changes hands constantly.
The Nuggets would love nothing more than to force their first round opponent to play more games a mile above sea level, but one man has other plans: Jordan Poole.
The Nuggets’ seeding is irrelevant to Poole, who plays for a Wizards team a mile below sea level. But, boy, is he giving Nikola Jokic and company trouble this season.
The Wizards swept the season series versus the Nuggets this year, 2-0. Poole torched Denver with 39 points and eight assists in the first outing to stave off Nikola Jokic’s career-high 56 points. In the second outing, Washington tempered a Jokic 40 bomb, led by Alex Sarr’s 34 points and Poole’s 19.
In two games against the Nuggets this year, Poole is averaging 29 points and 7 assists on 51.4% from the field and 48.1% shooting from deep. Poole’s 29 a game against Denver is his third highest scoring average versus any team this season, behind only the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers.
Poole’s scoring vendetta against the Nuggets dates back to his time with the Golden State Warriors. Poole’s career got off to a rocky start on a terrible 2020 Warriors team, but once Steph Curry and Klay Thompson recovered from their respective injuries, Golden State returned to championship contention with Poole as the third Splash Brother.
The Warriors’ first playoff opponent in Poole’s career was the Denver Nuggets sans Jamal Murray. Jokic, of course, played like an MVP, but Denver’s second leading scorer that series was Monte Morris, and Golden State made quick work of the Nuggets in five games. Poole averaged 21 points per game in the series on scorching hot shooting splits of 55% from the field and 48% from deep.
Poole and the Warriors went on to win the NBA Championship, and the Nuggets grabbed one of their own the following season. Then, Poole ended up marooned on a rebuilding Wizards team as part of a roster teardown in Washington, where he had one of the worst seasons of his career.
Poole has rebounded from that tough season, and now he’s back to his old ways of torching Denver. A couple of Poole Parties counteracting two Nikola Jokic masterclasses could very well make or break Denver’s aspirations of a playoff run as the top of the Western Conference continues to toss and turn.