Poole not backing down to CP3 ‘beautiful sign,' Draymond says

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It costs an arm and a leg to rent in San Francisco, but in Chris Paul's mind, it's free. 

At least for Warriors guard Jordan Poole. 

The third-year star continued his scoring streak, dropping 38 points in Golden State's 107-103 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night at Chase Center. For Poole, it was the 15th game in a row in which he has scored 20 or more points

Matched up against the Suns point guard for most of the game, Poole was seen chirping Paul after numerous big plays, including some of his seven 3-pointers. 

Plays like these will only further frustrate the 17-year NBA vet. 

After the game, Draymond Green discussed Poole's performance and how his smack talk with Paul is a positive sign that the 22-year-old has veterans around the league on alert. 

"He don't back down to nobody, that's just not what we do here," Draymond told reporters after the game. "What's this, his third year? I've never seen him back down from anyone and CP is no different. When you get legends like Chris Paul arguing with you and you're young, that's a beautiful sign. That means they know about you, you got them on alert. Because if you didn't, he wouldn't waste his time talking to you. It's a beautiful sign, he didn't back down and it's great to see. You want to go into the foxhole with guys like that."

And to no surprise whatsoever, Poole embraces the back-and-forth. 

"It's a playoff atmosphere, you can't back down from anything," Poole said postgame. "That's a really good team over there and they have really good players, but we're here and we're stepping up to the challenge every time. Somebody got something to say, I'm probably going to say something back.

"It was a little bit too late ... if he was trying to get me going, I thought I was already going a little bit. It's nothing I'm not used to, that's how I played growing up my entire life. I'm never really the one to initiate it, but if somebody wants to talk ... It's pretty good to have somebody like Draymond and Andre [Iguodala] and Juan [Toscano-Anderson] and Gary [Payton II] and Otto [Porter Jr.] and [Kevon Looney], Steph [Curry], Klay [Thompson]. So when you talk, guys got your back."

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With five games remaining in the regular season, the Curry-less Warriors will continue to scrap and claw for every win they can before the playoffs. 

The loss to the Suns has Golden State falling to the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, behind the surging Dallas Mavericks, who leapfrogged them on Wednesday night. 

If Poole continues to be a pest for opposing players, the Warriors might just be able to stay afloat until Curry returns

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