More than 24 hours before the Golden State Warriors even stepped foot in Dallas’ American Airlines Center for Game 3 against the Mavericks, guards Jordan Poole and Gary Payton II were already hearing the boos.
The pair attended a Dallas Wings WNBA game at the University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center on Saturday — less than a half an hour away from where the Mavs will host Poole and the Dubs in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals Sunday at 6 pm PT – and were thunderously booed despite Poole wearing a Wings jersey.
That Wings jersey did, however, explain why the pair was there — Poole was rocking Arike Ogunbowale’s No 24. Ogunbowale and Poole both grew up in Milwaukee and went to high school 14 minutes from each other. And despite Ogunbowale starring at Notre Dame and Poole at Michigan, the pair kind of crossed paths again in 2018 as they both hit March Madness buzzer beaters.
Ogunbowale actually hit two — a March 30, 2018 jumper with 1 second left to knock off unbeaten UConn, followed by an April 1, 2018 go-ahead 3-pointer with a tenth of a second left on the clock to lift the Fighting Irish over Mississippi State to win the national championship. Poole hit a buzzer beater of his own 16 days later against 6th-seeded Houston in the second round of the men’s tournament, spurring the Wolverines to a surprise National Championship appearance against Villanova. Poole was drafted a year later by Golden State.
Poole and Payton sat courtside on Saturday, watching the Wings handle the visiting Minnesota Lynx 94-78. Ogunbowale finished with 20 points and 7 assists in the win.
Ogunbowale, who plays in Connecticut on Tuesday, may have a chance to return the favor and watch a red-hot Poole in Sunday’s must-win for the Mavs. Poole is shooting an unbelievable 68 percent through two Western Conference Finals games. Through the first 13 playoff games of his career, Poole is averaging 19.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, with shooting splits of 52/39/90. He currently has the third best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) on the team at 16.29. Only Steph Curry and Payton have better ratings.