NBA

Top 10 Plays From Wednesday Night As Jordan Poole’s Layup Wins The Game For Golden State

Zach Wolpin Sports Editor

Updated26 Jan 2023

The Wednesday night NBA slate this week was a good one and we saw some historic performances last night. Damian Lillard became the fifth player in league history to have four or more 60+ point games. Anthony Davis returned after a 20-game absence and helped the team secure a win vs the Spurs. Finally, Jordan Poole’s layup wins the game for the Warriors in a narrow 122-120 win vs the Grizzlies. Next, we’ll take a look at the top 10 plays from Wednesday night’s games.

Jordan Poole's @Warriors winner headlines Wednesday's TOP 10 PLAYS! pic.twitter.com/47jOIGUGLQ

— NBA (@NBA) January 26, 2023

Top 10 plays from Wednesday night’s NBA slate

10. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dished the flashy bounce pass between Clint Capela’s legs

Early in the first quarter of the Hawks vs Thunder game last night, OKC PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the lanky Clint Capela guarding him. Capela had a good defensive stance and SGA could not get around him after he stopped his dribble. However, Gilgeous-Alexander was able to dish a sweet bounce pass between Capela’s legs for an easy bucket by Kenrich Williams.

9. Anthony Davis jumps up to swat away Tre Jones’ shot attempt in his first game back

In the closing seconds of the first quarter vs the Spurs last night, Tre Jones drove past the Lakers defense and looked to have an easy shot near the basket. Making his return for the Lakers last night was Anthony Davis and his stellar defense shined once again. Jones went up to attempt an easy layup, but Davis was right behind him and swatted the shot away with ease.

Allow me to reintroduce myself. pic.twitter.com/TsNMzPIEKu

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 26, 2023

8. Jalen Williams gets the block on defense and the finishes with the slam on the other end

The Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Hawks last night, but rookie forward Jalen Williams had a solid night and finished with 24 points. He even had a huge play late in the fourth quarter to try and spark a comeback. Trae Young tried throwing up a lob pass to his teammate and Williams swatted the ball away in the air. OKC gained possession of the ball and the Thunder had the Hawks outnumbered in transition. Williams took the pass on the fast break and then slammed the ball down with one hand to finish it off.

7. Jeff Green nails the half-court buzzer beater to head into the fourth quarter

The Denver Nuggets were without Nikola Jokic last night and they looked like a much different team. Milwaukee took home the 107-99 victory, but Denver did have a nice highlight in the game. Jeff Green had the ball in the final seconds of the third quarter and shot it from half-court. He hit nothing but net and that was one of his two three’s that he made last night.

We love our half-court shots pic.twitter.com/tYm4HsZbpj

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) January 26, 2023

6. Alperen Sengun finds his teammate for the no-look behind the back pass

Alperen Sengun has been taking the league by storm this year and he’s proving that he’s one of the best young centers in the game. He has a similar play style to Nikola Jokic and there’s no denying the similarities between the two. Sengun had his defender backed down in the post early in the first quarter last night. His teammate Kenyon Martin Jr. cut to the basket and was had a beautiful behind the back pass delivered from Sengun right in stride.

5. Nic Claxton gets up high and uses his strength to block Joel Embiid’s dunk attempt

The Brooklyn Nets fell to the Philadelphia 76ers last night, but Nic Claxton once again had a dominant outing. He finished the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds along with two blocks. One of those blocks came in the final minutes of the first quarter. Joel Embiid split the Nets defense and went up strong for the two=handed dunk attempt. Luckily for Brooklyn, Claxton was trailing the play and met Embiid at the rim to stuff his shot attempt.

DENIED BY CLAXT⛔️N pic.twitter.com/OseByFlcFi

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 26, 2023

4. Kyrie switches hands in mid-air with the clutch layup over Joel Embiid in the final minute

The Nets fought hard until the final whistle last night, but could not knock down the shots when they needed them most. Kyrie Irving has been trying to hold the Nets together while Kevin Durant is still out and he did his best last night again. Down by four in the final minute of the game, Kyrie drove past the defense and then switched hands mid-air to finish a tough contested layup.

3. Tre Mann elevates for the strong one-handed slam over the Hawks defense

In the final thirty seconds of the first quarter between the Hawks and Bulls, Tre Mann had a monster slam on the Hawks. He drove to the basket and put up and uncontested one-handed dunk. Onyeka Okungwu was their for the Hawks, but he had absolutely no chance in blocking the dunk.

Tre. Mann. 🤐 pic.twitter.com/l1Su2MuBT4

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 26, 2023

2. Jonathan Kuminga throws down multiple viscous dunks vs the Grizzlies defense

At the start after half, Kuminga took a nice bounce pass from Ty Jerome and finished strong with one hand over the Grizzlies defense. That was not the only big dunk he had last night. With a one-point lead in the second quarter, Kuminga drove the defense and then quickly drove to the hoop to finish the slam with his left hand.

1. Jordan Poole catches the Grizzlies defense napping for an easy layup to win the game

Steph Curry was ejected at the 1:14 mark in the fourth quarter and somebody was going to make a big shot for the team to win. Jordan Poole was the man for the job as he’s done this many times before an in much more pressure packed situations. He went backdoor on an inbounds pass in the final seconds and hit the left handed layup for the game-winning shot.