Your Warriors bolstered Kevin Durant’s case for rookie of the year.

Box Score

Man I’m glad I didn’t end up grabbing tickets at the last minute for this one.

Fan appreciation night you say? We can all appreciate seeing the rise of Kevin Durant (Kid Delicious), but I certainly would appreciate it more if it hadn’t been at the Warriors’ expense. What a baffling loss to end a baffling month.

Due to the TV blackout I split my time between listening to the radio while making dinner and watching the box score updating on my laptop. I noticed what seemed like a fairly inspired comeback attempt in the fourth, and a whole lotta uncontested buckets from the Supersonics.

First quarter collapse, stifled by the zone, no D, no big runs from BD. That’s as much as I can really speak to. Kevin Durant obviously went off hard, finishing the game with career highs in scoring, 42, and rebounds, 13, that’s superb. Monta was the leading scorer for the Dubs with 24 (11-17!), Andris was a stud with 20 points and 17 boards, Marco Belinelli was a sharpshooter, nailing 5-6 threes, wish I could have seen that. 

After benching Baron for the entire second half against the Suns, Nellie went ahead and played him 39 minutes last night. Adam reports in his recap that it wasn’t a pretty sight:

But the veterans that were supposed to lead this team to playoff glory — Davis, Jackson, Harrington — looked defeated and disinterested. They shot a combined 12-40 from the field and managed 7 rebounds between them (6 from Davis). As bad as the stats look, the body language was even more offensive.

Baron’s numbers back up that visual. Our leader’s final outing of the season netted him 36% fg rate on 8-22 shooting. He hit 5-12 threes, that’s chucking.

I have no personal insight into the swamp of motivations that drive Don Nelson and Baron Davis. They are both larger-than-life figures with a history of bridge burning, chip-on-the-shoulder cultivating, and dogged stubbornness. As a dedicated follower of the team for equal personality, and play reasons I can only hope that this end will be a catalyst for reevaluation and rebuilding, rather than mistrust and disintegration.     

The postseason is upon us, let the speculation run wild and free.  

Your Warriors are out.

Box Score

What the heck was that?

Baron Davis played 17 minutes, Kosta Perovic played 13. The nuttiest thing about that information is that it seems like the correct move. Baron was dismal in his limited play. He ended up 2-13 and looked more like he was messing around one-on-one with his buddy Steve Nash than trying to help his team win their very last chance to stay in playoff contention. Nellie benched him the entire second half, one of many strange occurrences last night.

The Dubs came out all thumbs, just missing layups and bricking jumpers. The Suns took the lead after three minutes behind fat Shaq post points, and a deadly Nash/Amare pick and roll connection.

The Warriors’ game in the first half was an oddity of freak show proportions. We got to see line ups including Kosta P, Andris, and Uncle Austin at the same time. The strangest thing about the geek squad getting time was that they looked a lot more active and driven than the much touted heart and soul of the team. Kosta was a bit clumsy, but not inept. He didn’t back down from Shaq contact, fought hard for offensive rebounds, and ran the best he could. It was obvious he was sucking wind after a few minutes of real time game, but didn’t quit.

It’s tempting to get very gloomy about the fact that Nellie sat Baron for the entire half. There were no damage control quotes post game to put any kind of speculation speed bumps up either. Nellie merely said that he gave Baron some much needed rest, and BD left without speaking to reporters. If you want to delve into far reaching, pot stirring speculation head over to Tim Kawakami’s blog for his take on Boomgate.

The second half featured a new Dubs squad, and a new spark. Jack finally came alive, pouring in 16 points in the third - including 3 threes. The off brand Dubs managed to not only get out of the first half pit, they actually got up by as much as 8 behind solid play from Kaz, Austin, and their default point guard, Monta Ellis. Two things went right, Jack started bombing with accuracy, and they actually played some gosh dern defense.

Monta and the B-Team managed to push the lead up to 11 in the first few minutes of the fourth before the Suns got down to business and began waxing their playoff mustaches. Amare started getting to the line with a vengeance, while Bell and Barbosa hit some key three pointers. 

The Suns got back on top with 4 minutes left to play as the Dubs went cold. Jack was able to nail a very clutch three to tie it up once more, but the game was over when Monta missed his next jumper and the Suns put up 5 unanswered points.

Andris deserves more of a mention. He put up yet another double double, and had his old stickum grip back, catching Jack’s spitball passes on pick and rolls. Watching him and Kosta on the court together was entertaining, not in the look at the bizarre foreign giants way, more in the hey, those dudes can kinda get after it way.

The final game against Seattle is at home on Wednesday. I’ll be watching with a little tear in my eye. It won’t be a tear of shame, I’m just going to miss the guys, ya digg? 

Peace out 2007-2008 season, I’m not mad at ya. 48 or 49 wins is nothing to be ashamed of and there is plenty of hope for the future.

Melo may have been celebrating a bit too much after the Houston win. He was busted for a suspected DUI in Denver eaarrrrllly this morning:

Denver Nuggets player Carmelo Anthony was arrested Monday morning for suspicion of driving under the influence, Denver police said. The star forward later issued an apology through his attorney.Police said Anthony was driving south on Interstate 25 near 20th Street at about 4 a.m. when he was pulled over and taken into custody. Investigators said he was driving a silver Mercedes that was stopped for failing to drive in a single lane and failing to dim lights.

Just in case your mind works like a vulture; no it doesn’t appear that this will affect his eligibility to play against the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

An entertainment driven plea for the Warriors to win tonight and squeak into the playoffs from a hardly impartial Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog:

The playoffs don’t need the W’s, but they sure could use them. For four games or a possible 28. The postseason, especially in the Western Conference, is going to be such a knock-down drag-out affair (keep a tab on just how times you hear that line over the next few months), that it really is only an aesthetic addition should the boys from the Bay Area make it back for the second year in a row.

The business side of ball is on full display in Washington State. If you think you’re bummed about the dismal playoff chances for the Warriors, forgive Seattle fans for telling you to take a long walk off a short pier. The Sonics may haved played their last home game in the emerald city: 

In Section 118, four friends dressed up in striped jail costumes, each holding a different sign: “OKC,” “Bennett,” “Stern,” “$chultz.”

“What’s being done to Sonics fans is criminal and each one of these is to blame,” said Peter White, 29, of Seattle, holding NBA Commissioner David Stern and former Sonics owner Howard Schultz as equally culpable.

With Sonics guard Earl Watson at the free-throw line with 29.7 seconds left in the first quarter, a chant of “Bennett sucks!” rocked the house. At the start of the second quarter, the first “Save Our Sonics” cheer of the night commenced.

Your Warriors can still fly, and stumble….and fly.

Box Score

With a gratifyingly optimistic crowd at their back, the Dubs shook off a mental hangover from Thursday’s loss, and stormed the court in the first - tying their highest scoring quarter of the season at 42. Jack put up 10 - including 2 threes, and Al put up 13 - shooting well from the outside as well as driving strong. The Warriors’ lead blossomed to 20 points with a minute left in the quarter, and the Clippers appeared to be comfortable in their role as the evening’s tomato can .

Nellie was relaxed enough to leave Baron on the bench to start the second quarter - and was promptly reminded via 3 straight Clipper three pointers, and some sketchy Dubs’ possesions that nothing in life is certain, and that BD is the only man who can make this hoopty run.

The news that Denver had lost to the the Jazz was announced half way through the game, injecting the crowd with yet more hope juice. On the court the Warriors were running and flying, with Baron and Jack finding Monta, and even Patrick O’Bryant for alley-oops. Nellie got into a light hearted mood and faked a drive past Monta after finding the ball in his lap.

Meanwhile, the Clippers’ Cuttino Mobley was decimating the Warriors’ lead with quick turnaround jumpers. Al Thorton (aka the rookie Al Thorton) was ball hawking his way towards a double-double, and Corey Maggette the male model was perpetually getting to the line via throwing his body into whatever Dub was defending him.

The happy-go-lucky feel in the building was suddenly reversed when everyone noticed that the lead had shrunk to 5 points with just under 2 minutes left to play. Monta converted a drive, Jack hit a jumper and hit 5 free throws to keep the Dubs on top for the ugly win.

The final hope lies in the Nuggets dropping one of their two remaining games against Houston or Memphis, as well as the Warriors running the table against the Suns and Seattle.

Burnt out and broken down.

Box Score

In what was most likely the last relevent roller coaster ride of the season our Dubs got us high, low, and everywhere in between.

I’m not going to kick the corpse too much. The keys to defeat were glaringly obvious if you watched the game. Missed threes, missed free-throws, missed lay-ups, JR Smith, Allen Iverson, and most importantly, a dead in the water captain trio of Boom, Jack, and Barnes.

I know it’s a stretch to call a BD dead in the water when he put up a triple double, but he failed to rescue his squad with multiple chances at the end of the game.

Jack had the same type of night we’ve seen from him too often these last few weeks. He couldn’t get into the flow of the game and couldn’t hit any big threes.

Barnes again failed to get out of whatever personal pit he’s stuck in and was more of a sad memory than a contributor.

The Nuggets won this game with smart coaching, deadly shooting from their superstars and a vicious three point shooting bench squad. After watching his team get completely run to the tune of 37 points in the first quarter, George Karl moved into a zone defense and watched the Warriors shoot themselves in the foot with missed jump shots and lack of problem solving skills. Carmelo Anthony got unconscious, Allen Iverson made all the big shots, and JR Smith mercilessly pounded the Dubs with threes and dunks.

Monta and Andris were the bright spots in this thing. They are two pieces that are getting better by the game and the front office needs to figure out how to lock them up for the future.

That’s probably the end of the season for the Warriors. I don’t think it’s a cop out at all to call it a great one. The record will speak for itself, and watching Monta take his rightful place center stage was glorious. Don’t hang your head too much Dubs fans.

Right now I’m going to enjoy a sunny Friday off of work and start dreaming about next year.

exclusive postgame audio

Don Nelson

Baron Davis

Stephen Jackson