SAN FRANCISCO -- The fourth quarter of the Warriors' 136-125 comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at Chase Center started with Steph Curry at the free-throw line and nobody else around him.
Curry sank a free throw from a technical foul assessed on Thunder forward Dario Saric at the end of the third quarter, and then proceeded to head back to the bench. With the Warriors now down by three points, 106-103, it was time for Curry to get some rest to begin the final 12 minutes of yet another must-win game.
That also sparked the Jordan Poole Show.
Klay Thompson was a late scratch to lower back soreness and wasn't available. Andrew Wiggins was back on the sidelines for the first time in nearly two months, but he too was in street clothes. A handful of Warriors bench players stepped up throughout the night, however, the onus was on Poole to provide the needed points.
And he did. In clutch situation after clutch situation.
Poole's first points in the fourth quarter came at the 10:17 mark, draining a 3-pointer to tie the game at 108 points apiece.
His face at the end of the clip says one thing and one thing only: Don't try me. In the first three quarters of the night, Poole had scored 12 points and was a game-worst minus-12 in plus/minus. He was 3 of 10 from the field with four turnovers.
All Poole needed was that one three to fall. That's why he's one of the best microwaves in The Association, heating an offense up even when his game is frozen for long stretches. His 3-pointer started off a stretch where he scored 10 straight points for the Warriors in the fourth quarter.
Over that span, Poole tied the game or gave Golden State the lead four different times.
Poole finished with 18 points in the fourth quarter and was a game-high plus-17 in the period, playing 10-and-a-half minutes. His final eight points put the game away. Poole was 5 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 6 on 3-pointers and 5 of 7 at the free-throw line. He didn't turn the ball over once.
Of course, he had Dub Nation on its feet too.
"I always feel like I can really make an impact throughout the course of the game, especially in the fourth quarter," Poole said Tuesday night.
"He was so good in the last quarter and a half," Steve Kerr said. "Just scoring, getting to the rim, decision making and it wasn't like I told Steph anything. We just made a couple of play calls where Jordan had the ball and something good happened and Steph being who he is, he just gave the ball to Jordan and said, 'You take it.'
Golden State Warriors
Find the latest Golden State Warriors news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
"He was hot and we were scoring every time, so we just stayed with JP and Steph was leading the charge on that front. Yeah, JP was amazing."
Curry entered the fourth quarter at the 7:24 mark, right after Poole had just made a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 113-111 lead. He took one single shot the entire fourth quarter. Yes, he made it. Yes, it was a 3-pointer.
As seen so many times in the past, Curry's mere presence on the floor changes everything. Oklahoma City's defensive stopper Lu Dort was glued to Curry, who still managed to score a game-high 34 points on 11 of 25 from the field, 6 of 13 from deep and a perfect 6 of 6 on free throws. But Curry knew the Thunder's plan and knew how to exploit it.
Instead of forcing shots and playing into the Thunder's goal, the unselfish superstar set screens and let Poole cook. There have been, and will be, plenty of times the Warriors need Curry to take over in the fourth quarter. Not this time.
"A lot of teams are going to be worried about Steph," Poole said. "They're going to be focused on Steph. Just being able to have the players and coaches trust me to play my game and be aggressive, and being out there for a really good stretch and get into a rhythm.
"With Steph and Klay and Donte [DiVincenzo] and myself, all we need are a couple of shots to get going. Whenever you get an eight or nine-minute stretch, 10-minute stretch, you just find that rhythm and you find plays that work and find actions to keep going to. It can be really pivotal. You try and make plays when it matters most, and just be me."
What has to be most encouraging for Kerr, the Warriors and the rest of his coaching staff is that Tuesday was far from an outlier for Poole in the fourth quarter. In the Warriors' last seven games, Poole has scored 71 points in the fourth quarter, an average of 10.1 points while playing an average of 8.6 minutes in the fourth quarter over that span.
From March 22 through April 4, the Warriors' last seven games, Poole led the entire NBA in fourth-quarter points. He did so in an efficient manner, too, shooting 56.1 percent from the field, 50 percent beyond the arc and 83.3 percent at the charity stripe.
Poole scored 19 fourth-quarter points against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 24 in an eight-point win, 10 fourth-quarter points against the Minnesota Timberwolves on March 26 in a tough three-point loss and 13 fourth-quarter points against the New Orleans Pelicans on March 28 in an 11-point win before his 18-point burst against the Thunder in the fourth.
All in all, he has four double-digit scoring performances in the Warriors' last seven fourth quarters.
"Yeah, I would like to think so," Poole said when asked if he's playing his best basketball at the right time. "Obviously we got the job done at home. These last games matter, they all matter. Just trying to lock in as much as possible and put us in a really good position to be successful."
RELATED: Warriors motivated to buy time for Wiggins until cleared
Starting Friday night in Sacramento, the Warriors have two regular-season games left with both being on the road as they look to secure at least a top-six seed in the Western Conference. A plethora of players will be counted on, and Curry will lead the charge.
Poole making the fourth quarter his own personal party puts an extra exclamation point on the defending champs pushing for the playoffs and much more.