Payton Sr. pegs Poole as Warrior who must ‘step up' in Game 2

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If the Warriors are to bounce back from a frustrating Game 1 loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, they'll need more contributions from some key players.

One of whom is Jordan Poole.

Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton, the father of Warriors guard/forward Gary Payton II, recently joined NBC Sports Bay Area's Grant Liffmann on the "Dubs Talk" podcast, and identified Poole as one player who needs to step up Sunday in Game 2.

"Well, Jordan Poole needs to step up a little bit," Payton said. "To me, he hasn't had that Jordan Poole [postseason] he was having since that first round. I think what he needs to do is settle himself down and basically just do him, be comfortable shooting that basketball. To me, I think he's dribbling the ball a little bit too much, turning the ball over, and I think he just needs to calm down and relax. He needs to relax.

"I think Poole is the key factor on that offensive side. He has to get it going. And like I said, he has to get off the ball. I think that's the problem -- he's on the ball too much dribbling. ... You have to get him coming off of picks and doing other things for him to be really really effective."

In Game 1, Poole scored just nine points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 from 3-point range to go with four costly turnovers. The third-year pro has been rather inconsistent in the postseason after  breakout performances in the first two series against the Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies, scoring more than 20 points only once in his last nine playoff games.

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If the Warriors are to tie the series at one game apiece before heading to the unfriendly confines of TD Garden next Wednesday for Game 3, they'll need a bounce-back game from the 22-year-old. 

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