Warriors 88 Spurs 123

Well, that's 9 in a row...

...And happily I didn't have the opportunity to watch this one. Just so everyone knows I actually have finals this week. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to blog about the next 2 games either since I won't be able to see them. On friday however, I'll be back in action and I'll also try to sum up anything important that happened over the previous games...

A few quick thoughts on the boxscore though:
1. leading scorer? Brandan Wright
2. in 14 minutes jackson had a -14. In 19 minutes Maggette went 1-10 and was -21
3. On the other side of the ball, Duncan played 20 minutes, was a +35 and finished with 20 and 13
4. The only + on our team was Randolph who was +1


This is becoming embarassing guys... But the scary part is our future is really questionable. Usually when a team plays this poorly, atleast you can look forward to a good contract situation. That's not the case with us as somehow we have guys locked in for 5 years who are supposed to be veteran leaders and aren't exactly leading us. Now if we could find a team stupid enough to take on their contracts hmmmm... Indiana, feel like another trade?

Warriors 112 Rockets 131

Well folks, that's 8 losses in a row. Once again, it was nice to see some fight in our team, particularly against a very good opponent, but in the end we fell to the Rockets in Texas by a score of 112 to 131. This game saw 2 ejections in Don Nelson and Stephen Jackson, as well as two foul-outs, in Ronnie Turiaf and Andris Biedrins. Things aren't looking good for this team, and it hasn't been for a while. Here's my very brief thoughts on the game.

Defense
Unlike most nights, I didn't see many ridiculous breakdowns in defense. The Warriors play a unique style of basketball in which the opposing team gets a ton of possessions and many opportunities to score the basketball. Whether it was because of their style or some actual breakdowns defensively, this Warrior team allowed a relatively low-scoring Rocket team to score 131 points in regular time without their second-leading scorer in Tracy McGrady. It seems like the Warriors are consistently giving up a 40 point quarter every few games, and it's just too hard to come back from that (particularly when it happens in the 4th quarter like it did tonight).

Keith Smart
With Nelson's ejection, we got a chance to see what Assistant Coach Keith Smart could do, and overall I was impressed. It seemed like he did a good job of keeping us close until we lost in the 3rd quarter, and countless times I saw him mentoring the youngsters (particularly Randolph after that technical-given stare down with Yao). Most importantly, he did something Nelson rarely does and that was give the youngsters some consistent minutes. Randolph looked like he was rolling tonight and Smart wasn't going to pull him. We even had an appearance from Anthony Morrow who had been invisible the past few weeks. I think that if Nelson is ready to call this year over (even though it's only 1/4 of the way done), then Smart should permanently take over for the rest of the season. This way we can develop all our youngsters and see who's worth keeping and who's not before the offseason comes and we have some tough decisions to make.

Top Performances
1. Stephen Jackson- 26 points 5 assists 5 boards
2. Corey Maggete- 23 points and 10 boards
3. Anthony Randolph- 12 points and 3 boards including several nice putback dunks

Boy, is it tough being a Warrior fan?

Jeez, it seems like every game Warriors fans are being crushed in a different fashion, as if opposing NBA teams are thinking about how to pierce an arrow through our flesh in different and unique ways every night. Tonight, the fatal loss came at the hands of a buzzer-beating put-back by Udonis Haslem to send the game into overtime, and then the ultimate "please go in" three pointer by Chris Quinn, and subsequent stealing of the inbounds pass and getting fouled (Beasley, making 1 FT). WOW, what a way to lose it. To be honest, it sure beats being embarrassed by some of the weakest teams in the NBA, and in this fashion I'm certainly more entertained, however this definitely breaks your heart in the end. Anyway, here's my thoughts:

How did we stay in it?
It wasn't because of our defense, although we did play much better compared to our last few games. It wasn't because of our solid work on the glass (we lost the rebounding battle by about 15). We gave ourselves a chance because in spite of our deficiencies in those categories, we valued our offensive possessions and did the things we were supposed to. We moved the ball around better than we had in 7 or 8 games. This led to easy dunks and layups, something we're used to seeing, but not in our uniform. We also got something I haven't really seen too much of since Baron Davis was around; penetration in the paint. Jackson and Crawford opened the game up by showing Miami that we were willing penetrate and dish any time those two didn't have a jumpshot initially that they preferred. Finally, Maggette was incredibly efficient tonight and had rarely any jumpshots outside of his range.

This is what I meant by valuing our possessions. We shot a relatively high percentage (46%) and got to the line and ended up with points a ton of times (we shot 52 free throws tonight). In the end, the difference was amount of possessions, and they were not in our favor. Sure, we shot the ball well and certainly valued our possessions, but we had 15 less shots than they did. This wasn't a result of carelessness and turning the ball over (we only turned it over 9 times). This was a result of a lack of rebounding.

What Did We Learn?
If we can't improve our defense and rebounding, we're never going to ourselves a great chance to win. Later in the season, we'll have Monta Ellis to make up for a lot on offense (assuming he can come back at the level he was playing before) but he won't be able to set the tone defensively or on the glass.

I think we learned another thing. If Nelson really wants to get a stop late in the game, he's got to go with his big lineup. It killed us tonight that he didn't use the Turiaf/Biedrins combo more with Maggette at the SF and Jackson at SG. When he went to it that one time it worked, and I feel that more often than not that lineup will get us stops down the stretch. Our problem tonight wasn't necessarily getting stops, it was after we got the stop, we couldn't secure the board. Had Biedrins and Turiaf been there at the end of the 4th, Haslem never would've gotten that rebound (Maggette was "boxing him out"). This is something I'd like to see more of maybe even when Monta comes back because since we'll have 1 less scorer out there with Turiaf, we're going to need some extra potent offense from someone else to make up the difference. It would be very interesting to say the least.

Top Performances
1. Jamal Crawford- Welcome to Oracle Arena. He finished with 40 points and 7 assists and only 1 turnover. That's just nuts!
2. Corey Maggette- I'm usually displeased with his performances but he stepped up and was solid tonight. He had 29 points and 5 boards, and also went 17-18 from the line.
3. Stephen Jackson- I could give this to Biedrins who had a stellar game, but I'm going to give it to Jackson who had one of his worst statistical nights. He finished with 8 points and 11 assists but I can honestly say I'd prefer that line from him than when he takes 25 shots to score 30 with 11 isolation plays to do it. Nope, today he was looking to setup his teammates (thanks Steinmetz, I think the fact that you pointed out his comment played a roll in this)

Steinmetz blog post re: Jackson's "It ain't me" quote

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Warriors 125 Knicks 138

Are You Kidding Me?

In an absolutely pathetic defensive performance, the Golden State Warriors fell to the short-handed New York Knicks with an alarming score of 125-138. Amazingly, New York managed to score 82 points in the first half, but I give them little to medium credit for this achievement because they had 3 or 4 handfuls of uncontested dunks and layups. Sure, we're a poor road team and always have been, but I honestly don't understand how an NBA team can play that poorly on the defensive end. This performance was the culmination of several similar games in which we couldn't play a lick of defense, and this results in an 0-5 road trip heading back to Oakland on Monday against Miami. Here's my take...

Defense
I'm sick of this. I was literally embarrassed watching this game tonight. With NBA League Pass airiing the New York feed, I sat on my couch cringing at every word the announcers pierced about our lack of defense. I almost muted the television because I was disgraced to be a Warrior fan. Duhon is a solid NBA PG but by no means is he a star. Tonight, he made the pick n' roll look easier than Stockton and Malone did back in the 80s and 90s. But here's the thing; he was just playing ok. I saw countless times a WEAK pick at the top of the key and our PG just get completely lost defensively. Whether it was Crawford or Watson, he just had to take 3 or 4 uncontested dribbles to get to the rim, when a C or PF would have to play help defense because our PG did so poorly, leaving of course a wide open David Lee for dunk after dunk. And yet, the gameplan NEVER CHANGED... Did Duhon hit a jumper all night? Perhaps one or two, if that. Why not go UNDER the screen and take away his penetration? No, our coaching staff isn't brilliant enough to think of something like that.
The smartest thing the coaching staff did all night defensively was switch to a zone defense in the 3rd quarter. What did this lead to? We actually made a small run, got some stops, and made some buckets on the other end. Was this not possible to do sometime in the 1st or 2nd quarter when Duhon's penetration was seemingly impossible to guard? It is very frustrating to see things like this night in and night out. It's not just that our roster is weak, because we do have some talent on this team, but our coaching staff and our team leaders are just not putting things together at this point. We're turning into the joke of the NBA

I can't say much more about this game, and every game is getting harder and harder to write about. Here's my top performances:

1. CJ Watson- 23 points 5 assists 6 rebounds
2. Jamal Crawford- a double double for someone other than Biedrins. He had 21 points 10 boards and 5 assists
3. Corey Maggette- Another double double for someone other than Biedrins. He had 32 points and 12 boards.

Team Outlook
Ok, this has nothing to do with this game in particular but where the heck is this team going. I touched on this in the last post, but our future is not looking very bright to say the least. I can't believe we have Jackson and Maggette locked up for the next 5 years. Those contracts will be incredibly hard to maneuver. Without being able to move them, we won't be able to position guys next to Monta and Biedrins, and thus we'll be wasting their better years. We got guys like Wright and Randolph coming up, but they won't be able to grow under a coach like Nelson, who by the way is under contract for another 2 seasons after this one. What are we supposed to be excited about as fans? What are we supposed to buy tickets for? Why should we even watch the games? This is all I could think about when I was watching this game-- winning was an afterthought

Warriors 97 Cavaliers 112

It sure is a tough time to be a Warrior fan. There was a ton of optimism last week when we had won back to back games heading into a 5-game roadtrip after we just got rid of Al Harrington and brought in Jamal Crawford... All that optimism now ceases to exist. The Warriors fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers for their fourth straight loss by a score of 97-112. Many thought are running through my mind at this point in the season, but I will try and leave this post as unbiased as possible.

3rd Quarter Collapse... AGAIN
We came out hot and ready to play after a disappointing loss to a Championship team the night before. We blew that game because we lost the 3rd quarter by 20 points. It looked like we came into this game with the right mindset, and like I said, we were hot. Then in the second half, something happened that we've seen all too much this year; another disappointing collapse that led to the virtual end of the game. Ironically we lost the 3rd quarter tonight by exactly 20 points a game. Don Nelson must not be reading this blog... WE CAN'T WIN WHEN WE LOSE THE 3rd QUARTER by 20.

Corey Maggette--- Out of position
Yes, Corey Maggette begins the game at his natural position (SF) and what do you know?... We win the first quarter. Shortly thereafter however, Brandan Wright is pulled out of the game and Kelenna Azubuike is inserted and boom, Maggette is right back at the position that well, he sucks at. It seemed like this affected him mentally the rest of the game too. Any chance he got to play SF again, he was trying to outduel Lebron James, which isn't going to happen on any night. This resulted in 3 AIR BALLS, and countless wasted possessions.

Does Nelson have too much security at this point?
In the NBA, coaches get fired when their team underperforms, or when they fail to meet lofty expectations. Not only is Nelson's ballclub grossly underperforming, they are also making the same mistakes night in and night out. A good coach would realize that Corey Maggette is out of position and never put him there because it negatively effects the team. A good coach would realize we've lost 5 or 6 games this year because we don't know what we're doing in the 3rd quarter. And yet, every night I see the exact same thing happen over and over. What are they doing at practice and in the film room? I'm beginning to fear that since Nelson just signed an extension, the front office would refuse to put any pressure on him because it's becoming more and more evident that he is not the right man for the job. Even if we're the worst team in the league this year and he doesn't get fired for it, I'd be afraid for our number 1 pick overall next year because he probably would be riding the bench like the rest of our youngsters. Hopefully however, I'm wrong and Nelson at some point will be held accountable if his team continues to do this throughout the season.

Top Performances
1. CJ Watson- The kid was solid. 17 points and he only missed one shot.
2. Jamal Crawford- 17 points 6 assists 5 rebounds
3. Brandan Wright- the only starter to record a positive +/- tonight. He finished with 8 points and 4 boards

Warriors 111 Celtics 119

A day after being destroyed by the worst team in the NBA (in terms of records), the Warriors played a spirited game against the NBA Champion Boston Celtics in their 3rd game of a 5-game roadtrip, but ended up falling short 111-119. Although they gave up a huge amount of points for the second night in a row, they didn't look nearly as lost as they did against the Wizards offensively, demonstrating the ability to move the ball around a bit more and get guys some open jump-shots. Ultimately, this team faltered in the third quarter, a quarter in which this team has had trouble staying composed all season, where they lost by a staggering 20 points (39-19). That kind of 3rd quarter will not win any NBA basketball games, particularly against the NBA Champions. Nonetheless, the team still put up a much better fight, surprisingly considering it was the back end of a back-to-back against an excellent team.

What Worked
Well, to win basketball games, you need to make shots. Against the Wizards, not only did we not make any shots, but we couldn't defend a layup to save our lives. Tonight, we certainly allowed the Celtics to get their fair share of fastbreak points (similar to the our good-ol days), but we made up the difference by making a ton of jumpshots. In particular, I felt Jackson and Maggette were very efficient tonight. I suppose isolation plays don't look as terrible when they actually result in made baskets. If Maggette could find a way to contribute you like this on every night, he'd be much more efficient. Clearly, he's demonstrating that if nothing else, he's much more effective from the SF position than he is from the PF position, so the starting lineup we saw tonight likely will remain the same for the time being (with Wright in the lineup at PF).

Also, Jackson and Crawford were trying desperately to get guys involved and it got a few open shots (they would've had more assists if their teammates didn't drop the pass 2 or 3 times). This combination of plain old making jump-shots and moving the ball around made us value our possessions a lot more than last night, particularly in the first half.

What Didn't
The Defense...Again
The Celtics are certainly a good team, but they aren't deep at all. They had a whopping 21 points off the bench tonight. The rest came from their starters, in particular their big 3 and Rondo all had over 20 points apiece. From the start, I knew Wright wouldn't be able to guard Garnett but I was hoping that if everyone else locked up, he'd be the only one hurting us. Unfortunately, the Celtics got on the break so often that they got a ton of easy buckets, which of course gets good players flowing easier in a game. Our transition defense needs to hustle and get back. What's going to happen when we play some of the really fast break teams? This was the slow, methodical Boston Celtics, and they did whatever they wanted tonight. I was hoping we would see some more zone, which had been rather effective for us in a couple of games lately, but I'd bet Nelson refused this idea because of the 3 point shot ability of Pierce and Allen. Still, unless we tighten up our rotations defensively, no matter how well we do on the offensive end, with the way we rebound we just won't have enough possessions to outscore our opponents.

Taking A Step Back
I look at this team and I see a lot of talent, but the leadership is just missing completely from this team. Sure, Captain Jack has leadership skills in his blood, but he hasn't seemed like the type who can really motivate and inspire his guys to do anything defensively. When we had Baron, if he felt like guarding someone and getting a few stops in a row, he would lock his man up at halfcourt, and the other would follow suit witnessing what he was doing. Crawford meanwhile looks like he lacks any defensive passion, so I'm having trouble seeing where we can go to to grab a few stops.

In terms of this game alone, I'd like to throw out this as well: Where was Morrow tonight? Has Nelson already completely given up on him? He scores 37, then 25, then 2 games pass by where his teammates don't really look to give him the ball, and now he doesn't even get a chance? C'mon Nelson, this kid can play, just run a few plays for him and see if he can get jump started... This team needs a boost... BADLY

Top Performances
1. Corey Maggette- 32 points and 4 boards
2. Stephen Jackson- 30 points 6 assists and 5 boards
3. Ronnie Turiaf- 2 points 2 boards and 5 blocks (Is it possible this guy can lead the league in blocks this year without playing more than 25 mpg?!?!)

Warriors 100 Wizards 124

Do I really have to blog about this? I almost want to pretend it never happened. I still don't understand how we can come into a game like this and fall straight on our faces. The opposing team was the worst in the league, they just fired their head coach, we just made a trade that gave up an "injured" guy for a solid healthy one (a PG at that)... and what's the result? Warriors 100, Wizards 124. Like I said, I'd love to forget about it and move on but this team did so many bad things, even with Crawford in the lineup, that they all need to be addressed. And here they are:

Where's the D?
This was probably the poorest game we've played defensively all season. I don't think this was a direct result of adding Crawford in there, but there was just literally no effort being displayed out there tonight. The amount of easy layups the opposition got tonight was ridiculous. Sure, we got a ton of blocks, but that does nothing if the opposing goes over and grabs the ball and scores. Amazingly and for one reason or another (I've mentioned effort but that can't be all), the Wizards managed to score 30+ points every quarter! That is unheard of and completely unacceptable. I will also point out that Maggette got destroyed in particular in multiple occasions. This is most likely because he is playing out of position, and if that's the case then perhaps we should reconsider the whole small-ball idea.

Lack of Ball Movement
I was hoping that with the installation of a legit point guard we might be able to see some better ball rotations, better executed plays, and most importantly more penetration and kicks. This team would be incredibly effective Crawford could penetrate the paint and dish to guys like Morrow and Jackson for 3's all night long. I saw very little, if any of this tonight. It seemed like Crawford was somewhat hesitant with the ball in his hands at the top of the key. Countless times when I was hoping he'd penetrate the lane, he'd give the ball up and cut away. This would lead to some sort of ISO garbage play that we're all used to by now. I'm hoping once Crawford gets the hang of the playbook, he'll be more comfortable taking control of the offense, but at this point he's just not up to it.

I'm already trying to forget this game, but the more I think about it, the more this game reminds me of the Memphis games... We just play down to our competition and play with little, if any, heart. I'm getting really irritated with this offense, because I see so few plays and so much isolation. Nelson must be paid to do more than watch and hold the practices, so I'd like to see us starting to eliminate some of the mistakes we've been seeing all season long. Anyway, enough complaining, we play the NBA champions tommorrow and hopefully we come out with the mentality that we actually care about winning this game.

Top Performances
1. Brandan Wright- Honestly, he had the best game tonight, and I don't understand why he's not playing more. He finished with 10 points and 5 boards in 16 minutes.
2. Kelenna Azubuike- He has strung together a couple of good performances, and although I think he needs to look to pass a few more times when he's driving, he's still a solid contributor off the bench. He finished with 15 points and 5 boards
3. Jamal Crawford- Since I'm so disapointed in so many of the performances tonight I'll throw his name in there. He had 7 assists and only 1 turnover. On a night when we had 20 TO's that was nice to see.

Warriors 81 Sixers 89

The Warriors dropped to 5-8 after another disappointing loss, this time to the Philadelphia 76ers on an early afternoon Sunday game. The Warriors new acquisition wasn't available for the game this afternoon, but we'll likely see him Tuesday against Washington, and at that point we should be able to get a better gauge on how this team will start to perform down the stretch. Until then however, we'll take a look at what happened tonight.

Early Starts
The Warriors simply have a knack for not showing up at the beginning of early contests. Although I have no data to support this, I'm willing to bet that over the last 3 seasons, any game that starts before 4pm PT we have come out and lost every 1st quarter, and quite possibly most of those games we've lost. Granted, this afternoon we played a pretty solid team (not Memphis for instance), but that early poor start is a killer in these types of road games. We still had a chance to win it later in the game, but the 1st quarter start didn't help.

Rebounding and Possessions
If you do some simple math you can see that whoever has more possessions is given more of an opportunity to succeed and go on to win. Although the 76ers actually shot a worse percentage than we did today (40% compared to about 44%), they had way more possessions, and therefore more shots which eventually led to more points. This really hasn't been a problem yet this season but it's interesting to point out a game before Crawford gets here and we start to play even smaller ball. We're going to need to shoot much higher percentages (ie more fastbreaks) if we're going to continuously be out-rebounded on any given night.

The Youngsters
We saw a mixed bag from our youngsters today. Randolph certainly had his moments, and I'm definitely glad to see him getting regular minutes, but he needs to have some more self control. He's making a TON of rookie mistakes. Morrow was absolutely invisible in the first half. He may have only taken one shot by my count, and this is partly his fault. If he knows he's the best shooter on this team then he's got to demand the ball, at least a few times throughout the game. Some of this also falls on the fact that we have no PG and Jackson happened to look elsewhere this afternoon. Again, I hope this all changes once Crawford gets here, and I hope Crawford will be ready and willing to set guys like Morrow up, particularly early on in games. Andris had a quiet game for the first time this season. No double double, no foul trouble, it's really hard to explain. Let's hope this was a fluke. Lastly, I thought Brandan Wright had an excellent game. He was a big spark plug in the 3rd and it helped us get back into the game with some momentum. I'd like to see him rebound the ball a little better but any consistent contribution from him at this point would be great.

Top Performances
1. Brandan Wright- Had a solid game off the bench with 10 points, a block, and 2 boards in 14 minutes of action. He also had a +10 for the game, the highest of any Warrior.
2. Ronnie Turiaf- I love this guy. What a great signing to give us some big depth off the bench. He had 2 points, 3 boards, and 5 blocks in 20 solid minutes.
3.Our Defense- We held our opponent to under 40% shooting on the afternoon, and under 90 points as well. We just couldn't grab enough boards to give us enough possessions to compensate on the other end.

Bulls 115 Warriors 110

It would've been nice to get to .500 right before the addition of our new starting PG, but on a night when a former Warrior guard was on fire, and a number 1 overall draft pick was unstoppable, the Warriors just could not get it done... ultimately losing 115-110. So far this year, the Warriors losses have come from a large part as a result of miscues and bad play on our part. Although this game had its fair share of sloppiness (see Jackson-8 turnovers), the biggest reason we lost this game, in my opinion, is the play of those two athletes from the Bulls. In particular, Derrick Rose was simply amazing down the stretch. He has a perfect combination of speed and athleticism, which makes him ridiculously difficult to guard. But enough about the Bulls, this is a Warriors blog, so here's some of my thoughts on the game:

Let's Get The Negatives Out First
Although Jackson had a very efficient night shooting the ball, he was just trying way too hard to get his teammates involved. As much as i love the mentality, we can't lose the ball that many times and have so many wasted possessions. Hopefully, the arrival of Jamal Crawford will allow Jackson to take look for his teammates less, and focus on consistently hitting those jumpshots, while of course Crawford looks to set him and others up.

Defense- Derrick Rose may have been unstoppable tonight, but there's no way Larry Hughes should be given that many open shots. Regardless of how weak he is as a three-point shooter, this is the NBA, and most NBA players can make wide open jumpshots. Our rotation on the zone tonight was pretty ugly, which is surprising since I've felt it's been very effective thus far through the season. Hopefully Nelson fixes this before the Philadelphia game on Sunday.

Bright Spots
-Corey Maggette had a solid game, one which I'd love to see happen alot more often. He didn't force it as much as he does some nights, but when he did he made it count. I think whenever he has the same amount of free throws as he does field goals (and they're a high number) he will be very productive.
-Anthony Randolph was great tonight. This kid looks like he will be a stud down the line. Yes, he missed a potentially game changing layup/dunk at the end of the game, but he's not going to miss those often, particularly later in his career. What I like most was Nellie's confidence to leave him in in those late game situations.
-I loved Nellie's rotation tonight. We went 10 deep, gave everyone a shot, and we got a few good performances from the bench. Obviously, Randolph's was good, but I also enjoyed Marco Belinelli's play tonight. He actually finished with one of the few +/- too (+8).
-Lastly, although Morrow wasn't as effective tonight, I liked that he didn't stop pulling the trigger. Some young kids who didn't get drafted might stop shooting after they miss one or two. Morrow wasn't scared to hoist up some shots, which demonstrates a lot of confidence. Hopefully he shoots a better percentage next game.

Top Performances
1. Corey Maggette- I thought he was solid tonight, unlike most other nights, so he deserves some spotlight. He finished with 24 points and 7 rebounds
2. Andris Biedrins- Another solid night for our rising star. He finished with a quiet 23 points and 10 boards.
3. Anthony Randolph- Have I said enough about him? He finished with 10 points and 9 boards in ONLY 13 minutes!!!

We Just Got Better

Multiple reports are swirling today that Al Harrington will be traded to his no.1 option, the New York Knicks. Who are we getting in return? Not Eddy Curry. Not Malik Rose. Nope, we're getting their leading scorer:

Jamal Crawford

Typically in any sport, when a player demands a trade his value goes down because teams believe they can get him for cheaper than they could've previously when the player was fine playing with the team (See how TO got traded for a bag of peanuts from the 49ers to the Eagles of a few years ago). It happens in the NBA all the time too. If a player is disgruntled they won't play 100% for you (and Harrington's fake injury is a testament to this), and so you are forced to look to trade them immediately. This isn't exactly buying low and selling high.

And with all that, somehow the Warriors front office got New York to be desperate enough to give us their leading scorer, and their most consistent player the last 2 years. First New York started by low-balling us with Eddy Curry, and there even reports of Malik Rose (who wouldn't have been bad since he's a valuable expiring contract), but somehow the Warriors front office managed to get Crawford off their hands. Great

So what does it mean?

Well, we traded a disgruntled guy who's been pissing everyone off since the season started, and who I might add took a ton of shots in the 5 games he was in to try to increase his trade value and uhhh... It didn't work, for 20ppg combo guard in Jamal Crawford. Although he's not the traditional PG we were looking for, and darn it we have a million tweeners on this team as it is, the fact that we got a legit NBA player who can contribute right away IMMEDIATELY makes this team better. It also works out in the future considering he's bigger and hopefully will play well with Ellis by his side, and if nothing else he'll be great trade bait when he's in the final year of his contract in 2010-2011. But why look that far? The Warriors have been playing well of late, Harrington hasn't even been playing, and we just added another scorer/distributor to the lineup. WOW

Can't wait to see what the lineup is when he gets there. Here's my guess:
1.Crawford
2.Morrow
3.Jackson
4.Maggette
5. Biedrins

The return of the small ball... and I can't wait till' Ellis gets back

I'm sure everyone's got an opinion of this so please feel free to share

Blazers 106 Warriors 111

Missed the Game tonight-- I have 2 midterms in the next 36 hours so it's been pretty hectic around here. I kept an eye on the boxscore and it looks like we got a solid win against a good opponent and Anthony Morrow led the way with 25 points. Biedrins missed his 16th straight double double I believe, and we finally won a 3rd quarter. NICE!

I could write up a post based on the boxscore but that's not the best way to analyze a game so I'll leave it to the comments of the actual viewers tonight. NocalFred, feel free to post some analysis or even your own recap and I'd be happy to move it to the front page and post the link on GSOM and Warriorsworld.net, otherwise I'll just leave the site be until the next game.

Warriors 121 Clippers 103

Baron Who?

In the highest scoring game of their season, the Warriors handled the Clippers 121-103 in the Staples Center on a quiet Sunday afternoon in LA. Perhaps the loudest the arena got all night was when, with less than a minute left in the game, the crowd was cheering for Anthony Morrow to take a three pointer, which if made would record his 40th point of the night! WOW! Absolute Shocker! Let's get right into it...

Anthony Morrow
Without doubt, Anthony Morrow deserves all the spotlight tonight. In his first ever career start in the NBA, he had quite an impressive game. Not only did he grab a ridiculous 11 rebounds for a 6'5 guard, but he scored 37 points on 15-20 shooting, demonstrating an incredibly smooth and confident stroke throughout. Don Nelson has recently developed a knack for finding those gems in the offseason, and once again it seems like another Warrior try-out will have a huge impact on the team this season. Over the course of the next few days, I can already predict alot of "Marco Belinelli who?" talk and similar conversations, and well... It's somewhat deserved. Although Marco hasn't had an opportunity to play 40+ minutes a game like Morrow has, he also hasn't deserved it. Morrow started and was hot from the 1st quarter, so Nelson couldn't take him out. With reports that Belinelli's been told he may be soon traded to the New Jersey Nets, this could get very interesting over the next few days.

Offensive Efficiency or Defensive Lapses?
Whether it was the now 1-8 Clippers lack of a defensive effort, or just a lucky night for the Warriors, I was very pleased by the ball movement, lack of isolation plays, and the fluidity on offense. The Warriors finished the game with 29 assists (10 from Jackson, 8 from Watson) with their former star point guard playing for the other team. I've said this before and I will continue to say it: When we actually have a halfcourt game plan, one that involved giving Biedrins the ball and moving it around rather than forcing the Isolation plays every other play, the Warriors are so much more efficient. Maybe the addition of Anthony Morrow will aid this, since we'll have another jump shooter out there who can really spread the floor and give Biedrins some room to work. One way or another it certainly worked this afternoon and I look forward to seeing more of this down the stretch.

Decisive Third Quarters
Once again, the third quarter was a concern this game. Late in the third quarter the Warriors relinquished a 14 point lead and allowed the game to get close again. Fortunately, they closed out the game and Morrow was just impossible to guard but if we didn't have that initial lead in the first place things could've gotten rather scary. Of all the quarters in the game, we only lost this one, but it wasn't by much and we certainly didn't lose as much momentum as we have in previous games during this quarter, but it still is something that needs to be kept an eye on.
Overall
Overall this was a great game, one that we finished very strongly and convincingly. I thought the defense was solid and we were very efficient on the offensive end. We probably won't shoot such a high percentage on jump shots the rest of the season, but if we can get Maggette to the line or have Morrow bail us out in those cold stretches, we can hopefully avoid some of those painful quarters. Finally, 10 games into the season I think we're starting to learn more about the identity of this ball club. I'll get into this after a few more games, but Warriors fans... Enjoy this one :)

Top Performances
1. Anthony Morrow- DUH
2. Andris Biedrins- 17 points and 16 rebounds... These numbers are starting to become normal
3. CJ Watson- I thought he had another great game with 10 points and 8 assists in only 28 minutes.

Pistons 107 Warriors 102

After playing rather solid basketball through 2 and a half quarters, the Warriors let another game slip away (again by 5 points or fewer) in a loss to the Detroit Pistons 102-107. This game featured the return of a still hampered Corey Maggette, and although he had his moments early on in the third quarter, he wasn't enough to put away a good eastern conference opponent. Throughout the year I have criticized the Warriors on several key issues, some of which I will bring up again as a result of this game, but the funny thing is we stand at 3-6 and actually have had some great opportunities to beat some good teams. If you ignore those Memphis "games," this team has actually stayed in it against some of the best in the NBA despite not having arguably one of their best players in Monta Ellis. At the end of the day however, it's wins and losses that really matter, and we just can't seem to win those close games with any consistency at all... Here's what I saw

Defense
Without any doubt in my mind, this team is leaps and bounds ahead of previous Nellie-coached Warrior teams in terms of defense. With Biedrins, Wright, Turiaf, and sometimes even Randolph in the middle of the paint blocking shots, it makes it very difficult for opposing teams to penetrate the lane. What this does is forces a lot of jumpshots, which can then lead to shooting slumps and ultimately momentum in our favor. I saw a bit of this when we made our runs early in the game. I love that when we really buckle down and WANT a stop this year, we can actually get one. In the long run this will be huge, however if you can't score on the other end of the court then it makes things rather difficult. This leads me to my next point...

Maggette early in the 3rd quarter
This team was most successful during our 8-0 run (it might've been 10-0 I can't remember) in the beginning of the 3rd quarter because our defense got stops (and well, Detroit missed jumpshots but again I don't think it's always a result of just plain bad shot selection... Andris, Turiaf and co. change the mentality of going in the paint from game to game). On the other side of the court, we were ridiculously effective because Walter Hermann was guarding Maggette, and well... he shouldn't be. 3 or 4 times in a row Maggette got the ball and did what he was brought here to do: Get to the basket and get fouled. What this team needs to do is become more consistent and efficient with our possessions offensively. If we can get on a 6-0 or 8-0 run in front of our home crowd, we can really carry that for the rest of the game. I'd like to see more of this because that's really how you win basketball games. Get stops on defense, and score on offense. It sounds very basic, but I think Maggette can give us more for our possessions than say, Jackson tossing up a ton of 3 pointers ever game, particularly after a stop on defense. It's just a higher percentage possession when we run the offense through Maggette (hopefully he just learns to pass from the post from time to time).

3rd Quarter Deficiency
Although we were very successful the first 4 or 5 minutes of the third quarter while we were getting stops and running the offense through Maggette, we seemed to run out of gas the rest of the quarter, as we do in most games this season, and we never re-gained enough gas to finish the game. We lost the quarter 34-20, and in 9 games I think we've lost the third quarter by double digits 4 or 5 times. That spells DISASTER. Every game it's something different too, so I can't really put my finger on why this happens so consistently, if anyone has any thoughts on this please post why you think this always happens. Regardless however, you just can't win games by digging yourself holes in the 3rd quarter because it really gives us no time to come back with only a quarter left in the game. Nellie has to find a way to actually get us a winning 3rd quarter if we are going to be more successful down the stretch.

Top Performances
1. Andris Biedrins- 17 points and 19 rebounds
2. CJ Watson- 17 points and 6 assists (yes he made many crucial mistakes but for a guy playing starter minutes who's really a backup, he's stepping up)
3. Anthony Morrow- In 2 consecutive games I've loved what we've seen from him. I think this kid can do more than just shoot too. He was aggressively attacking those rebounds. He finished with 8 points and 4 boards in only 14 minutes

Timberwolves 110 Warriors 113 (OT)

Thoughts were running through my mind near the end of the fourth quarter about how I would start this blog entry. Admittedly, I even started typing a sentence or two before I realized we were making a run. Within a few moments I had deleted it all as the Warriors capped the 4th on a 9-0 run to send them into overtime and ultimately win the game 113-110 in OT. The bottom line is this game was nearly a HUGE disappoint to another weak opponent, and there is no way we will have any shot to the make the playoffs if we keep playing this way, but since we won the game I think some celebration is in order so I'll try and stick to the positives:

I think the obvious key to this game was defense down the stretch. Yes, we certainly had our troubles earlier in the game, particularly in the 3rd quarter when we allowed 37 points (and only scored 25 points ourselves), but what allowed us to make a run in the final minutes was a thing taught back all the way in middle school: ZONE DEFENSE. Desperate to make get any type of momentum on his side, Don Nelson went with a very effective zone defense down the stretch that allowed the Warriors to end the game on a 16-1 run. If I'm not mistaken he also went to the zone late in the 2nd quarter and I found it to be just as effective. Whether it was because of the opponent's lack of offensive ability (I mean, it was the T-wolves), or the zone's actual effectiveness, one way or another it was huge for the Warriors tonight and ultimately led to the win. I don't think it'll work as effectively as the top dogs in the Western Conference, but I think if Nellie uses it every once in a while it can be quite effective.

The Warriors don't have many wins this season, but it seems like every time they get one, they live at the line. I remember a game earlier this year when (with Maggette) the Warriors went to the line 52 times. Tonight, they went to the line 37 times and hit a very respectable 29 of them (78.4%). What kills this team in their losses is a lack of ball movement offensively and when they settle for the long range jump shot. When they are able to penetrate and get to the line, it frees up their outside shot later in the game and makes it more effective. Not only did this team rack up 37 FTA's but they connected on 42% of their threes. This tells me that they were very balanced offensively, and it's something I would like to see more of, particularly when Maggette comes back from his injury.

The youngsters simply came up huge tonight so they need to be mentioned. Brandan Wright played a major role tonight, and was impressively in the game for the Warriors for every crucial late minute of the ball game. I thought his defense was solid, and his presence led to some shot changes and even pass changes that were key for this team tonight. He and Anthony Randolph actually had the biggest +/- tonight with +8. I really enjoyed watching Randolph grab a board and push it on the break. It's really impressive, and it will become even more lethal once he learns what to do with it once he gets to the other side of the floor more consistently. Both our shooters, Anthony Morrow and Marco Belinelli also had huge performances in limited minutes tonight. Morrow seemed very confident, and Belinelli actually played with a lot of aggression tonight. It seemed like every time he touched the ball he wanted to show Nellie something. I don't think that will work every night as it will lead to a few bad shots but it certainly worked tonight for an impressive stint.

All in all, take this win with a grain a salt. We barely beat a weak team at home, and until that last 9-0 run we looked pretty bad. This team isn't healthy yet but hopefully by Thursday Maggette will be back and we'll get a better understanding of where we stand in the NBA.

Top Performances
1. Stephen Jackson- He hit some big shots, and carried us in Overtime. I didn't like that we ran so many ISO's to him but he hit some clutch jumpers and they were huge. He finished with 30 points and 5 assists

2.Andris Biedrins- Another stellar performance. I don't think we gave him the ball enough tonight in the post but regardless of how much we look at him, he still gets his numbers. He finished with 13 points and 15 boards.

3. Kelenna Azubuike- He had a few charging calls that got me pretty frustrated but the fact is he got us buckets when we really needed them. He finished with 22 points and 8 boards

Kings 115 Warriors 98

Things are getting UGLY... fast!

Maggette and Harrington missed another game while the rest of the Warriors got creamed by another weak opponent 115-98. Each game is becoming more and more difficult to analyze because the team is just simply a lot weaker than what I've been giving them credit for (particularly before all the losses). Biedrins is an absolute monster, and he's consistently showing the league that he's one of the top young centers in the world. Period. We have some other solid players in Jackson and Azubuike, but this team is struggling to play consistent quarters game in and game out. Perhaps it has to do with Maggette and Harrington missing the past few games, but one way or another this team is drowning quickly. Here's a few thoughts from a depressing game:

I've been cringing to see Don Nelson use a 9 or even 10 man rotation. Tonight, the Warriors went 12-deep, but it certainly wasn't a good thing. By the time the 4th quarter arrived, the minutes were already meaningless. There were a few good things to take from the more meaningful minutes in the first half and beginning of the 3rd quarter:

-Marco had an excellent 1st quarter, and this is exactly what I've been looking for since the start of the season. Surprisingly, Don Nelson put him in about 4 minutes into the game, and he quickly racked up 7 points and really seemed to spark the game. The fact is, Marco is a very streaky shooter. He can have his good nights and his bad ones. Why not give him 3 or 4 jumpers in the first quarter to see what kind of night it is. If he's off then oh well, he took a few shots and not much harm is done. If he's on fire however, it's something that might last the rest of the game so it's definitely something we should continue to go to. Tonight, I was shocked he didn't play much after that excellent 1st quarter. What more was Don Nelson looking for? We'll have to keep an eye on these 1st quarter sightings for the next few games.

-On a negative note, our defense in the 1st quarter was absolutely ridiculous. How can a team playing on the road let so many easy layups and dunks go by in the 1st quarter. That's just asking for the momentum to be on the opponent's side. Maybe this is why I was happier starting Demarcus Nelson. He's really tough and sets the tone early on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously, he wouldn't solve everything. There was very poor screen reaction and guarding guys off the ball. For a team that focused their whole training camp on defense, this will certainly not do.

-The third quarter was ugly and ultimately led to our downfall tonight. As bas as our defense was in the first quarter, our offense was just as bad or worse in the 3rd quarter. Maybe this is where we missed Maggette. When those jumpers keep clanking off the rim we need to learn to penetrate and get to the rim. Also, our offense was pretty successful in the first quarter when we ran the offense through Biedrins. If I'm not mistaken, he had all 4 of his assists in the first quarter. I'd love to see us go back to this when the second half starts up again.

-Final thought. For a 19 year old rookie, Randolph sure isn't afraid to chuck the ball. For the second consecutive night, he's filled up the stat sheet (11 points and 7 boards in 13 minutes). I know he took a lot of shots but it's not like he was hurting the team doing it (he was only -3 for the game). He also got himself 10 FTs in 13 minutes. Any rookie who we can get that much production from in such a short amount of time is special.

Top Performances:
1. Andris Biedrins- I think this guy is going to be here every night. 16 points, 18 boards, and 4 big assists in the first quarter
2. Marco Belinelli- On a night like this, 7 points in 11 minutes will get you a top performance
3. Anthony Randolph- Ditto Marco Belinelli. He finished with 11 points and 7 boards in 13 minutes

Game 6: Grizzlies 109 Warriors 104

In a disappointing effort for the second time this week, the Warriors fell to the Memphis Grizzlies 109-104 in front of their home crowd. This game undeniably had its excuses with Maggette missing his second consecutive game, and Harrington missing the game because of "back issue," but the fact of the matter is the Warriors lost twice to a supposedly inferior team early on in the season. How can a team with playoff aspirations fall to a team playing so many rookies and youngsters? It seems to me that the team is completely lost at this point, with so many younger players getting playing time for the first time, our rotation constantly changing, and of course the controversial Al Harrington trade situation. Through 6 games this team has yet to find an identity, and I don't think they will until they get rid of Harrington and Don Nelson decides exactly how he's going to play this roster. But enough with my rant, here's a summary of what we learned tonight:

I can't really say we played poorly tonight. The Grizzlies seemed to be on fire in the second half, particularly Rudy Gay who just hit some insane shots. I thought we had a few breakdowns with Hakim Warrick getting some easy buckets, but other than that I thought the defense was OK. It seemed like we just didn't keep up with them in the 3rd quarter offensively when Memphis scored 33 points, while the Warriors only scored 24. We didn't turn the ball over much (12), our PG play was decent and we finished with 18 assists, we were badly out-rebounded but it didn't seem to me like it was a huge game changer. Anyway, we made a few runs down the stretch but it just wasn't enough. It's hard to really put your finger on what we did wrong this game. I'd hate to admit it, but we just actually looked like the inferior team.

I'll move on to the positives for the night since it seemed Nelson was completely willing to use the bench tonight. Had we won of course, this would've been huge for our youngsters and our "depth" but nonetheless I'll point out some performances so we can take something positive from the outcome--

Wright started the game tonight but wasn't spectacular. He did finish the night with 3 blocked shots, but he seemed to force it after his huge game the other night. I think he needs to let the game come to him a bit more next time around

Randolph had a huge game in my opinion. If nothing else, he showed he has the courage to play out there with the big boys in big situations. He certainly didn't shy away from shots and I'm glad he didn't! He was nailing the top of the key jumper with ease... I hope Nelson continues to give him some minutes, even when Magette gets back just to see what he can do.

Marcus Williams had an OK first performance. I was intrigued by the way he initiated offense and was looking to dish it off. His jumpshots were rather ugly though, but if he can improve that or shy away from it a bit and really keen in on getting guys good shots, he can be huge for this team.

Lastly, Belinelli didn't play great. He wasn't bad... He just didn't use his minutes wisely. Rather than stand around the 3pt line I'd like to see him cut to the basket and move around a bit more.

Top Performances
1. Andris Biedrins- What can I say, 23 points and 12 boards, he's becoming a monster. It's a shame we keep losing
2.CJ Watson- His FG% was ugly but he finished the night with 9 points, 8 assists, and 8 boards. That's a solid game for a PG to say the least
3.Anthony Randolph- I loved his confidence out there, and thought it was a great opening performance. He finished the game with 8 points and 7 boards in just 17 minutes

I'm really hoping to see some changes come the next game. When the season started I did not expect to be 2-4 after our first 6 games.

Game 5: Warriors 111 Nuggets 101

Now that was a great ballgame for Warriors fans. After a disappointing no-show against the Memphis Grizzlies (only 2 days ago), and without go-to forward Corey Maggette, the Warriors beat the Nuggets 111-101 with a much different performance that Warriors fans aren't used to. The Warriors had 56 points off the bench, 11 blocked shots, and surprisingly allowed some of the youngsters to play in a very entertaining game at home. This obviously gives me tons to discuss to I'll get right to it...

Energy off the Bench
Don't forget folks, the Warriors were down 18 early in this one, but Don Nelson decided to yank Al Harrington earlier than usual and insert CJ Watson into the game and it changed everything. In an interview later in the game, Nelson admitted Wright and company brought us back so they earned the right to play the rest of the game. I love that. I was afraid that once we got close Nelson would put Harrington in again to stink it up but that wasn't the case. He stuck with Wright, Azubuike, and Watson to play the rest of the game.

Team Defense
Tonight, I saw a very scrappy Warrior team out there, one I hadn't seen in a long time. Those guys were fighting for rebounds, diving all over the floor, and playing their hearts out. There's nothing I like seeing more. Throw 11 blocked shots on top of that, and you have a heck of a performance. This was all culminated with a solid defensive effort by Stephen Jackson. I really don't know how he has enough energy to lead the league in minutes, and play aggressively on both sides of the court. It's astounding.

No Fourth Quarter Collapse
If not for Wright, this would be the biggest accomplishment tonight. What I liked to see was actual plays being run down the stretch. Maybe this was a result of Maggette on the bench with a sore hamstring, but rather than play a bunch of ISO basketball in the closing minutes, I saw a bunch of screening and movement that led to some higher percentage shots. That's what will CONSISTENTLY win ball games tonight. I can only hope that Nelson continues with this winning strategy later in the season, particularly when Maggette comes back healthy.

The Youngsters (Andris too)
You know I had to bring this up. What a performance Brandan Wright pulled in tonight. He showed he's NBA ready. He showed he can contribute. Heck, he even showed you can play this kid 30+ minutes and not have to worry about him hindering "winning" while developing his game for the future. In fact, he had the best +/- ratio tonight with a +24. That's great. Not only does this show Nellie that he can play regular minutes, but it might even show we can do without Al Harrington as our starting PF...
Kelenna Azubuike, CJ Watson, and Andris Biedrins were also huge. Biedrins and Buike are starting to do this consistently and I love it. One of my favorite moments of the night was when Biedrins demanded the ball in the post on consecutive plays late in the 3rd quarter and he faced up Chris "Birdman" Anderson and took it to the rack for 2 buckets. He showed some great quickness and assertiveness, and I would love to give him the ball in those situations 6-8 times a game if possible.
Lastly, Marco played again! He racked up another 4 minutes of action and I thought he was fine. Nellie claims that by playing Marco or Randolph he's not giving us the best shot to win but I thought Marco was fine on both sides of the floor. I kept my eye on him defensively and he stook with his man the whole way. Offensively he created a wide open shot for a teammate and nailed a long jumper. What's not like to like? I wouldn't mind seeing more minutes if he can be as solid as he was tonight.

Top Performances
1. Brandan Wright- 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. I will take those numbers from our starting PF any night. I couldn't be happier for him.
2. Andris Biedrins- 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks. I'm starting to call him out every night but he deserves it. If it weren't for the fouls his numbers would be even better.
3. Stephen Jackson- 29 points and 7 assists. I think the bigger number is assists because without a PG we really need someone to set up teammates for easy buckets and he's been doing a good job of that. Only problem is he's turning the ball over way too much (he could easily lead the league in TOs this year).

Game 4: Warriors 79 Grizzlies 90

BRIIIIIIIICK--- Yikes, that game was ugly

It was an ugly night where the Warriors shot a horrendous 34% from the field and finished with 79 points in route to a 79-90 loss against the now 2-2 Memphis Grizzlies. The feeling I had through the 3rd quarter of this game was one that I was accustomed to feeling last year: We played down to our competition the majority of the game, and I would be hoping we would pull out some sort of late rally and finish on top. It happened a lot last year, but we were triumphant many times. Tonight wasn't one of those nights, and to be honest I don't think we can depend on those types of games this year. We lost Baron Davis, and we can no longer pour in points the way we used to in such a hurry. Anyways, here's the breakdown of the game...

Versatility
I thought the previous game against the Nets was huge because we were versatile. We tried shooting the ball long-range first and it didn't really work out. At that point we completely shifted gears and drove to the basket constantly. The result was 52 FTs and win. Tonight, the Warriors were stone cold from everything outside of the key. The first quarter we were doing well inside, as noted several times by the Memphis announcers (NBA League Pass), but they went away from what was working. Particularly I thought Biedrins had a solid first 8 minutes or so, but after his fouls accumulated and he got out of the game, once he got back he was somewhat ignored. I've said it before and I'll say it again I think our offense would just function so much better if we at least gave Andris a look every other play or so. He doesn't need to shoot, but maybe our inside-outside game could get jump started a little, particularly when we start to get one dimensional (outside) for periods of time.

Maggette and Harrington
They didn't play outrageous minutes tonight, but they sure are important pieces of our offense, and when they play like they did today, it's very alarming. The previous games Maggette showed me 2 things: He could get to the line, and he could grab boards. Tonight he did the exact opposite of what I was beginning to expect from him. He grabbed 1 rebound and took 16 shots (mostly jumpshots). I don't mind him taking a jumpshot or two to keep the defense honest but his strength is attacking the basket and getting to the line, and for one reason or another he didn't do that tonight. My problem with Harrington is he's trying to do so much, with few opportunities. Everyone knows he wants out of Oakland, and Nelson even said "he thinks he's a superstar." I saw that tonight, and glimpses of it previous nights-- He'll take long jump shots with a hand in his face just because someone finally gave him the ball-- He tries to make too many places driving to the bucket as well, and I really think it's making him less effective. In my eyes, he isn't a go-to guy in this offense. He's a guy that can get points on the break, shoot the 3 pointer after someone else's penetration, and get 4-6 hustle points from awkward rebounds and such. Until he realizes that however, I think he can only hurt this team.

Where We Stand
It's really tough to say after a loss like this. We played well our first 2 games against formidable opponents and lost down the stretch. We got a good win on the road against New Jersey, and had a horrible showing tonight. It was so bad we finally got to see Randolph and Belinelli (though Marco was given a few minutes in the first half as well, finally). I really don't like the direction that this team is headed. Jackson shoulders too much of the offensive responsibility, 50% of our offense or more is ISO plays, and we haven't seen much of our youngsters yet and were 1-3. On the other hand, every team has a bad game here and there, and maybe this was it. Let's hope the latter is right in this case-- We'll take another look at this after 3 or 4 more games

Top 3 Performances
1. Andris Biedrins- Hands down the best performance of the night. If this guy could stay on the court (foul less) he might be an all star center in the west. He finished with nearly a leading 16 points and a ridiculous 22 rebounds!
2. CJ Watson- I liked his aggressiveness tonight, and well... I'm having trouble finding anything positive out of this game. He finished with 4 points and 4 assists. He would've had a few more assists had it not been for all the missed jump shots.
3. Marco Belinelli- He played, and he shot 100% from 3pt range. On a night like this, he'll get mentioned on this blog. Honestly though, I hope he gets a few more appearances like tonight, even if its just 4, just to check to see if his shot is on.

Game 3: Warriors 105 Nets 97

On the back end of a back-to-back where 4 players played 43+ minutes, the Golden State Warriors flew into New Jersey to knock off the Nets 105-97 in their first win of the season, led by a much better game plan from Don Nelson and Co. This game was huge in my opinion because Nelson fixed many of the problems I had with the previous two games, and as a result I'll get right into them:

The PG Problem

The previous two games the Warriors collapsed late as a result of a lack of ball movement, a lack of penetration in the key to get open shots for others, and a lack of ball control (18 turnovers in Toronto). These are seemingly things the PG of the team usually handles, but in the first game we saw Nelson experiment with his bigger lineup where Stephen Jackson handled the ball for most of the game. This resulted in an offense I wasn't a fan of, particularly in the 4th quarter, because there were just way too many iso plays. This game in New Jersey however, featured a PG at play I believe all game long. And it's a good thing Nelson picked this game to play his PG's, because as I alluded to in a previous post, teams might start pressing full court... What did we see tonight? About 5-7 presses, all of which we weren't really bothered by because either Watson or Nelson was out there. I really like the way we looked tonight because the ball seemed to move around alot better. Particularly I loved watching D. Nelson drive the lane and either kick it out for a better shot or actually attack the rim. He looked really aggressive tonight and I enjoyed it.

The Offensive Scheme
The PG problem kind of ties into this one but I think this deserves its own paragraph because it's incredibly important. Stephen Jackson wasn't the PG tonight, but man-o-man did I love his unselfish play, particularly in the 1st half. He actually finished the game with 8 assists while still playing his normal SG position. This was key because rather than him iso-ing every other play, he was running the pick and roll with Andris, and looking to get other guys open as well. Sure, in the second half he tried establishing himself a bit, and it worked. I would not mind at all if he attacked the game like this every night. I don't think we can be more effective than when we have Jackson and Biedrins working together like they did most of tonight, and portions of the previous 2 games. Every night Biedrins impresses me more with his ability to finish around the basket, and yet every night I ask myself why he doesn't get the ball more. Well Jackson was looking for him today and it was a huge problem for New Jersey to deal with.

Valuing Possessions
Yes, another offensive post, but that's been our problem lately. Another thing I really liked today was our ability to take guys to the rim. This is a statistic the Warriors probably havent achieved in years (I could easily be wrong but i certainly can't remember when): The Warriors shot 52 free throws tonight!!! Regardless of the probable fact that half were a result of poor defense, any time you get to the line that often you are valuing possessions because you typically come away with some amount of points. Forget that we only shot 65% from the line. The fact that we have the mindset to drive down the lane, particularly when we're only shooting 30% from behind the arc, shows that we can be very versatile with our offense. The nights we're hot we can light it up from 3, and when we're not feeling it we can take it to the rack and get fouled. If the Warriors can do this consistently we can be a very scary team to stop.

Forget any negatives... We won our first game of the season. I understand we let them come back a bit again late in the 4th quarter, but I'll pass that off as being tired from the last night and just wanting the game to end. This won't pass in future contests, but tonight, like I said, I'll let it slide.

Top 3 Performances

1. Andris Biedrins- 23 points 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The more we use Biedrins, the more efficient our offense is, and the scarier a team we can be. Enough Said.

2.Stephen Jackson- Loved his game tonight, particularly the way he looked to set up Biedrins most of the game. He finished with 23 points 8 assists and 5 rebounds. That's a mighty stat line.

3. Corey Maggette- I thought about giving this to D. Nelson since I thought he was pretty solid, I gotta give it to Maggette simply because he got to the line a ridiculous 15 times, and made 13 of them. That's just nuts. Forget that he went 3-13 fg's.

Game 2: Warriors 108 Raptors 112 (OT)

These games are perhaps the most difficult to blog about. There were several inspiring performances tonight, but none matter because at the end of the day it really comes down to wins and losses. Thus far, the Warriors have played two really close games, both of which they led in the final minutes, and yet lost both. 0-2 in the tough western conference. Luckily our next two games are against somewhat weaker opponents, and there's still plenty of time to recoup, but you just can't help but think, "What If?"

I think the biggest positive tonight was the defense. Aside from the occasional lapse in position or assignment, our man to man ball defense was pretty good. It was good in Game 1 as well, however I became very annoyed of the countless switches. Today still had its fair share of switching on defense but it didn't hurt us like it did in Game 1. I hope this defense continues because down the road teams will look at us and have to game plan around our solid D, particularly in the paint where it seems Turiaf makes it a dead end for the opposition game in and game out.

There were two major weaknesses tonight that really worry me for future games.

1. We obviously have a major issue with our PG situation, and it's really taking a toll on how we run our offense. First of all 18 turnovers is just too much for such a close game. It's inexplicable. More importantly, we lacked a capable floor general down the stretch when we really needed some ball movement and penetration. The last 7 or 8 possessions all had the same basic flaw: no movement at all, and everyone standing around watching one man ISO againt the Raptors. Our success earlier in the game was a result of ball movement and cross-court swinging that got us open shots. This one-on-one basketball, particularly at the end of games where refs like to keep their whistles to themselves, in not smart basketball.

2. Depth- Again, it's one of our supposedly biggest strengths and again Nelson has been reluctant to play anyone other than our main 6 guys consistently. Maggette, Biedrins, Jackson, and Harrington all logged 43+ minutes with a game tommorrow night. That's unacceptable. I understood the first game was opening night and Nelson was trying to steal a game from a great team, but I don't think that excuse really holds up tonight. I'm looking forward to Belinelli and Wright getting 10+ minutes each against New Jersey tomorrow night.

Final Comment: I'd hate to say it but I think we aren't being coached properly. Nelson held an excellent training camp and clearly instilled some defensive identity within these Warriors, but the offense has seriously lacked any potency at all. I don't know how we can actually scare teams, the way we play without a PG the majority of the game, and how we play Iso-basketball every other possession. Down the stretch I think Nelson needs to call some more plays rather than just let Jackson and Maggette take whatever shot they want.

Top Performances
1. Al Harrington- I'm not giving this to him as much for his 26 points as I am for his 11 rebounds. Any time he grabs 8 or more boards I'm excited. And it helped too as we actually out-rebounded the Raptors and their twin towers.

2.Kelenna Azubuike- I didn't mention him last time, but off the bench he and Turiaf have been ridiculously consistent and helpful. I love this guy's game because he boards, takes it to the rack, and can finish. When our offense starts to cool down it's a real boost to the team to have him make one of his plays.

3. Andris Biedrins- This guy has been so consistent the past year or so, his only problem has been staying on the court. I think our offense is much more efficient when we actually use him as opposed to late game situations when he's invisible (there's reasoning of course because he can't hit a free throw but why not use him to at least give someone else a pick).

Game 1: Hornets 108 Warriors 103

Well, it was an intriguing game to say the least. On opening night, the Golden State Warriors put up a heck of fight, but ultimately fell to their favored opponent 108-103. Questions circled the team heading into the contest on and off the court, and to be honest I think a lot was left unanswered. With Al Harrington seemingly demanding a trade in recent days, and some trade speculation floating around regarding Stephen Jackson and the Detroit Pistons, who knew what to really expect on opening night? I'll try to break down what we learned tonight.

I was hoping that after tonight, I would grasp what the Warriors identity would be this year without Baron Davis and Monta Ellis (for now), but I have a strong feeling that what happened tonight was not indicative of what's left to come for the remainder of the season:

-Are we a fastbreak team anymore? I assumed we still would be heading into the season, and maybe we still are, but tonight the Warriors didn't show any of the fastbreak Nellie offense we saw last season. To be honest, this game actually had some of the most half court offense I've seen from a Nellie-team period. Aside from a few pushed rebounds, the Warriors looked to secure the rebound first, wait for the defenders to clear out, and then slowly bring up the ball. That's not what we're accustomed to in Oakland, and I'm not sure it was really a good thing. Obviously we won't know more until we see this offense further, but I'm not at all excited about us playing one-on-one offense the majority of the time from a halfcourt set. If halfcourt basketball is what Nellie wants, I'd prefer to see more set plays.

-What are we doing on defense? Sure, we got some stops here and there, but I lost count of how many times Andris got switched on a screen and was matched up with Chris Paul. I understand in the past Nellie and the Warriors have used alot of switching on defense, but the idea of Demarcus Nelson on Hilton Armstrong or Tyson Chandler, or even Biedrins on Paul is ludicrous. Nellie claims he spent the entire training camp working on the defense, and I do see some improvements: Our zone was effective in the short amount of time that we used it, and our on the ball defense individually wasn't bad (although David West just continued to hit turn around after turn around). I just refuse to believe the plan for the rest of the season is to continue switching the way we do.

-Another thing we saw tonight was Nellie's lack of use of our new-found depth. I highly doubt this was indicative of the rest of the season simply because Nellie saw we had a chance to upset a great team on opening night, and he didn't want to risk blowing it by putting any of the youngsters in. NO, JACKSON WILL NOT PLAY 48 MINUTES A GAME! I strongly believe we will use the depth we have as a huge asset, it just wasn't in the gameplan tonight.

-Jackson played a large majority of the time at PG tonight, and if that's the plan for the rest of the season I think we're in trouble. Sooner or later teams are going to catch on that we lack ball handlers, and I think if they set a few more traps, pressure the ball more, and heck, even press us, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. For that reason, I think we need to limit Jackson's minutes at the one as a precaution against teams who decide to challenge our ball handling abilities without a PG on the floor.

All in all though, the Warriors obviously put up a good performance, one that Warriors fans can appreciate. We played well against excellent competition, and that sends a message around the league that even though we are without Baron and Monta (for now) we can still compete with the best out there. Like I said though, we still have alot to learn about this Warriors team as I don't think this game exactly previews the rest of the season by any means.

I'll end the post with something new, being that this is the first game of the season... I'm introducing my top 3 individual Warriors performances of the night, which will be highlighting things you may or may not have noticed as key performances.

1) Maggette- 27 pts and 8 boards. He was huge tonight and was our go-to guy besides Jackson. When he had to leave because of foul trouble, we really struggled.

2) Jackson- Where would we be tonight without Jackson? Led the team in assists with 5 and made 5 threes. He finished with 26 points as well.

3) Turiaf- With Biedrins in foul trouble, Turiaf had to come in and have a good game. Even though he didn't score, his defense was huge and he finished the game with 4 blocks, 4 boards, and 3 assists. This is something we sorely lacked last year off the bench. Great pickup.

Final Week of PreSeason

Notes before I Begin
-Sorry for the delay in blogging. Had a week of 3 midterms which equals HELL
-Had a dilemma with getting my blog out there. Some people in forums don't take blog marketing lightly. My view is heck, we're all Warriors fans, I'm not promoting on anything but Warriors sites... People on Warriors sites go there for information/discussion/analysis on anything Warriors related. Why wouldn't they want to hear about another blog where they can get go to for information? And also, no one is forcing anyone to come here. I do it for the fans. But that's fine... I've decided I will continue running the blog even if only a handful of people read it. No harm No Foul.

The Preseason Finale-- The Warriors won 126-106 against a non-nba team (Lietuvos Rytas). Jackson demonstrated once again he was the go-to guy, whether that be good or bad, and finished with 28 points. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that he's been surpringly accurate thus far in the preseason from the 3pt line and beyond, and that could be huge if driving down the lane starts to fail and he begins forcing way too many turnovers. I won't say much more on this as it's already late and most people have already gotten over this one, but I'd like to point out that neither PG really demonstrated they were ready to take the starting spot over (although Nelson did grab a team high 8 boards). Also, our youngster Wright and Belinelli were solid. Wright had another 15 point game, and Marco interestingly only had 2 points but 5 assists and 5 rebounds. I wouldn't seeing a few of those types of games out of Marco, showing us he's not just a shooter. He looked to be creating for others and with Baron gone we could use as much of that as possible from every player on our roster...

Open Practice-- I wasn't there as I'm in school in San Diego but from what I hear Jackson again demonstrated he's far and away the best player on the roster. More importantly however it seems Randolph had a very aggressive showing. Going back to the final preseason game, Don Nelson mentioned it would be dress rehearsal for the regular season. If that's the truth, then it seems all the youngsters will be given a chance, atleast in the beginning of the year, to get into the rotation. In particular, Randolph and Wright both getting 15 minutes a game would be great. If nothing else I would hope to see them aggressive and active for the entire time. They won't be needing to conserve as much energy as say, Jackson or Maggette. Lastly, Marcus Williams had an excellent offensive showing in which he scored 25+ odd points, and yet after the practice Nelson completely dissed him. I believe one reporter said something like wow, Marcus was impressive tonight, and Nelly replied, he was? Than you weren't watching the same game I was. Very interesting to see how we gave a pick for a guy who's already in Nelly's doghouse.

Final Words-- The roster is set. Kurz was recently cut despite his heroic performance over in China. That means we're keeping both Morrow and Williams, but doesn't necessarily mean we'll play them both very much, if at all. Opening night is Wednesday at Oracle Arena, 7:30pm and we open up the season with a tough game against New Orleans. I'd love to see Demarcus Nelson open up the year with a stellar defensive performance on Chris Paul but I'm sure that's wishful thinking... Feel free to post any predictions or any other wishful thoughts before the game. Don't forget to check back here Wednesday Night for the recap.

Warriors and Bucks in China Part 2

WHAT A PRESEASON FINISH
In a game that probably ended later at night in California than any other game in many years, The Warriors lost 108-106 on a shot by Matt Freije with 1.4 seconds left (right after Kurz tied the game at 106 with a 3 pointer). BUT WAIT!!! With 1.4 seconds left Kurz gets the ball again and drains another 3 pointer at the buzzer!!! WARRIORS WIN!!!

That's gotta be good for business over there in China. Gave the folks a great game and made everyone happy. But for the Warriors, eh. It's cool to see, but the reality is Kurz has little to no chance of making this roster, so although the outcome isn't meaningless, it just isn't that big of a deal. There were, however, many points to take back from a very interesting game, and I'll get straight to it.

PG Issue-
Marcus Williams started the game, played 7 minutes, and had a turnover. We didn't see him again (we even saw Dickau). In the second half we saw Watson and Nelson start the game at 1 and 2 respectively, and it was more or less a success. The Warriors went on a 6-0 run on two buckets from Nelson and one from Watson and Milwaukee was forced to call a timeout. It was very fun to watch.

Both guys had pretty good games. CJ finished with 14 points and 7 assists on 4-13 shooting while Demarcus finished with 10 points and 2 assists including a rim-raddling JAM on a fastbreak with Richard Jefferson all over him. CJ got the assists tonight but I still liked Nelson's game. Excellent defense, a ton of penetration in the paint, and he set up guys for would-be assists, the shots just didnt go in.

Jackson-
Good game, he made 5 threes and finished with 24 points. I don't understand why he played 30+ minutes again. I'd hate to see him burnt out late in the year. I also caught him a few times doing what he do OH so many times last year: walking back on Defense while the opponent gets some transition game going. He also got a technical in the 3rd quarter. Not very spectacular

Maggette-
Quick note here: Again, he's an absolute beast, and I question who the best post player on this team is. Is it Biedrins or Maggette? Because it seemed like all his buckets came down low and he was getting position all night. It was great to see.

Biedrins-
He had a solid night so I'll mention it. I think he's gonna be HUGE for us this year and the people who don't already appreciate him, will definitly appreciate him very soon. He finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds

The Young Guns-
Randolph and Wright both had pretty solid games. Randolph had a very interesting game with only 4 points, but 4 blocks 3 assists and 9 boards. The announcers were very impressed with his game and also compared him to Wright, who they feel to a large extent fills the same role. I think right now that may be the case, but in the long run, I see Randolph as a SF. Brandan played well too, finishing with an aggressive 14 points and 4 boards.

Sadly, Belinelli again was a complete no show. He only played 5 minutes so maybe it's not all his fault.

That's all for now. My lasting impression tonight was Demarcus Nelson, whose game I'm really starting to love. I can't wait to see this team in some meaningful games though. I really want to see Maggette and Biedrins exposed for an entire game, as well as hopefully a better effort with the ball. Tonight we saw the Warriors commit 28 turnovers in a rather sloppy pre-season game. It gives us glimpses of the future but I don't think that's something we should start worrying about TOO much at this point.

Until Tuesday's next game, post some comments on what you thought of the action

Bucks and Warriors in China (Game 1)

Bucks and Warriors-- TV Impressions

The Warriors first televised preseason game of the season ended in a 98-94 victory in favor of the Milwaukee Bucks today, and although the game ended in a defeat for the "home" Warriors, it was still great actually seeing them in action for the first time. To be honest, I glanced at the boxscore before the 6pm showing, I just had to! But I noticed many different things when I watched the game, so I'll give you a boxscore vs. television analysis since it's not everyday a game takes place at 5am and then "again" at 6pm.

Numbers may be deceiving?
-Boxscore
My first impression upon reading the boxscore was this: Damn Belinelli, the streakiest shooter who ever lived went from 2 good games to zilch points and no assists in this one. OK OK, I know that looks bad when you first look. And it does. How can a starting SG take 6 shots, not make any, not get to the free throw line, and not make any plays for anyone else. Maybe that explains the lack of minutes?
-TV
Ok yes, it was a bad performance, but not THAT bad. It's not like he ruined the game for the Warriors out there. He just seemed non-existent. He was a catch-and-shoot player and happened to misfire on all his attempts. Not that it's saying much but there were a few I thought could've easily gone in but that's not the point. What interests me is on any given night he could've gone 5/6 and started the quarter out with 11 or 14 points and we'd have a 12 point lead going into the 2nd quarter. What I'm trying to argue here is once in a while it would be nice, assuming his defense isn't THAT MUCH of a liability, to start him or get him in games early JUST TO CHECK if it's going to be "One of those nights" or not. He could be lethal, and if not, pull him after 3 or 4 shots. Just like we saw tonight, if he has an off night it won't kill us. We still won the most important quarter 27-18 with Marco starting

PG Issue
Boxscore-
Just like 3 of the 4 previous preseason games, you can't take much from the boxscore. I noticed Marcus Williams didn't play and I'll comment on that later
TV-
Neither really stood out to play particularly well. I give no edge to either, however I'll throw it out there that CJ seemed to have alot of mistakes, including 6 fouls and and some shot clock violations.

Maggette
ALL THE BOXSCORES THUS FAR-
I noticed he was good, but he didn't really stand out on paper or anything because, well, I hadn't seen him yet
TV-
I hope it's not just me thinking this, but my god, Maggette is going to be huge for this year. He just seemed to make EVERYTHING look so easy. He literally dominated everyone without taking the game away from any other Warriors. I think this is the case where Baron's departure helps. Rather than Baron overdribbling for 12 seconds of the shotclock, we can have some more ball movement with a lack of a PG, and hopefully this will give Maggette MANY opportunities to attack the basket. This, hopefully, will increase our offensive efficiency in the long run, even though we won't have that clutch playmaker in the final minute.

Miscellaneous Notes
Some things I didn't need to compare vs. boxscore that I thought were important enough to mention
-I'm glad to see Morrow out there. He did what Bellinelli should've. He hit shots, and after a miss he took it to the rack and got to the free throw line. Good to see.
-Azubuike had another great game, again showing how deep we can really be this year, even if a couple of guys have an off game.
-Brandan Wright was solid and very active. Took quite a few shots, and made many. He also had 3 blocks
-And on a last side note, I really enjoyed Jackson's leadership tonight. He didn't play but he was cheering the team on from the bench the whole night long and it was great to see. I think a Baron-less Warriors team will need leadership like that from a guy like Stephen Jackson

GamePlan: Warriors in China

This is strictly an FYI post:

-The game will be broadcast live on ESPN Classic tommorrow (October 15) at 5am Pacific.

-For those of you, like me, who can't watch the game live, it will be re-aired on ESPN2 the same day at 6pm pacific.

- What I will do is just save all the commentary until after I've actually seen the tape delay version at 6pm, so even though everyone will already know the score, I'll try and watch it without glancing at the numbers before-hand.