Flirting with Grizaster - Warriors 110, Memphis 107

Your Warriors phoned in a win.

Box Score

I watched the game late, late Saturday, and I was distracted by a discussion of the league with a guest who happened to be a Lakers fan. He’s stoked about the Gasol trade, agrees that Kobe is very hard to like, and doesn’t think that the Lake Show can go all the way this season. We got along surprisingly well.

It looked like the Dubs tried to cruise and almost got wrecked, nothing new - and since they did get the win - nothing to really worry about (right?). Baron is still our engine and he had a bad first half. When the game was on the line he was able to come in and save the team’s bacon with a big jump shot to maintain the lead with just over a minute left.  

The most glaring sign of undermotivation has to be the turnovers. The Warriors turned the ball over 20 times compared to 14 from Memphis. Our big three of Baron, Jack, and Monta accounted for 12. Everyone looked sloppy and unfocused. 

Nellie obviously wanted to sit his starters early and let CJ and Kaz run the guard shift but things kept getting too tight and Baron was thrown back into the rotation to do his thing.

Some days this team looks like world-beaters, sometimes they look like they can’t wait to get home and take a nap. I think the Nelson quote below sums up the situation well (from the AP):

“There are no bad teams in the NBA. There isn’t anybody we can’t beat and there isn’t anybody that can’t beat us on any given night. We didn’t look much like an eighth-place team tonight, but we remain there. We’re going to have to play a lot better than we played tonight and I know we will.” 

Their eyebrows may be a bit singed but the team didn’t get burned.

The game against the Kings on Tuesday might be a battle. Sacto is playing for pride at this point in the season, and it’s working. They’ve won 3 of their last 4, beating both the Lakers, and the Blazers.