Pro Blue: Jordan Poole causes a stir among the national media

The NBA Playoffs have marched on to the second round. Two of the four former Wolverines who reached the playoffs are still alive as Duncan Robinson’s Heat shocked the Milwaukee Bucks and Jordan Poole’s Warriors finally took down the Sacramento Kings in seven games. Here’s a recap on how each of the former Michigan men’s basketball players have performed this week.

Note: All stats are as of May 3.

Jordan Poole, G, Golden State Warriors

A lot has happened to Jordan Poole and the Warriors since we last checked in. The road teams won each of the last three games of their series against the Kings, as the Warriors took the deciding Game 7 in Sacramento. Poole struggled mightily in each of those games. In Game 5, he scored 10 points on 1-for-6 shooting from deep. Then in Game 6 and Game 7 he scored just seven and eight points, respectively, on two more rough shooting nights.

Fortunately, things turned around for Poole in Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers. He poured in 21 points on 6-for-11 (54 percent) shooting from three. This is a stark contrast to the 26 percent he shot from three in the entire first round.

However, Poole’s performance won’t be remembered for his scoring prowess as he was the focus of some national scrutiny. With less than 10 seconds remaining on the game clock and the Warriors trailing by three, Poole decided to hoist up an absurdly deep three pointer that clanged off the iron. He’s been known to make tough shots like that before, but in this situation it wasn’t a great look.

Duncan Robinson, F, Miami Heat

Robinson’s Miami Heat were able to knock off the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 thanks to a 42-point explosion by Jimmy Butler. Robinson played a decent amount of minutes off the bench (15) but wasn’t much of a factor in the game other than spacing the floor for Butler.

The Heat moved on to face the New York Knicks in the second round. Robinson had a rough Game 1 as he was unable to make a shot from the field, shooting 0-for-5 from three. However, he had a nice bounce back game in Game 2 despite it coming in a losing effort. Robinson scored nine points on 3-for-8 shooting from three, including a pivotal bucket in the last minute to at least give Miami a fighting chance.

With injuries continuing to pile up for Miami, it would not be a surprise to see Robinson get more and more minutes.

Caris LeVert, G, Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland’s playoff collapse reached its peak as the Cavaliers were eliminated in five games by the New York Knicks. In Game 5 itself, LeVert played a whopping 37 minutes and played pretty well by all accounts. Caris notched 17 points, five rebounds and four assists while shooting 4-for-7 from three. He was the third highest scorer on Cleveland’s roster and had the best plus/minus of anyone in the starting lineup.

LeVert finished his brief playoff run averaging 15.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 33.8 minutes per game. All-in-all I would consider this a successful season for Caris as he stayed healthy and played in more games this season than he has in any year in his career.