Posts tagged ‘Andris’

Andris speaks on surgery, Vegas, his love of magic and cats, and his bff Zarko:

And then I went to the animal show. This guy, Gregory Popovich, he has his own show where he teaches cats to do crazy stuff. I had a cat when I was back home and I love cats, so the show was really cool. The cats were standing on two legs pushing carts and walking on the tall stilts, it was crazy stuff. It was ridiculous. He has 16 cats on the stage and every cat he had taught something. It was funny.

Tim Kawakami has an extended Q&A with Nellie, Baron, and Jack about the Warriors’ picking up Nelson’s option and a bunch of other team biz:

 -Q: Will you talk to Baron about this?

-NELSON: I’m going to talk to Baron and Jack for sure. I won’t talk to everybody because some of them are mad at me and I know they’d say, ‘Why don’t you get out!’ It might sound good to them, too.There’s a few people that we’re building around and I think I already know their answer, but it’s important that we’re all on the same page.

Jeff Wong wrote on why the Raptors should be scurred of Monta, and he enlisted a squad of the best local bloggers to break down All Day’s game:

History smacks Raptors fans upside the head with this fact: our Raps have trouble defending athletic wing players. And few are as athletic and wingy as tonight’s opponent, Monta Ellis (a.k.a. “The Mississippi Bullet”) of the Golden State Warriors.

GL’s got some good news regarding Andris:

“Two weeks and a day after undergoing a laparoscopic appendectomy, center Andris Biedrins is set to return for the Warriors tonight in Miami.”

I haven’t come across any other really interesting Warriors dispatches so let me direct you to a Bay Area facial hair call out from Fear The Beard:

“It’s on. Boom Dizzle himself is sponsoring a beard growing contest at www.ibeatyou.com. It’s going down BD. I’m not only going to give you solid run for beardosity, I am officially laying down a challenge to the entire Bay Area: beard up.

They thought yellow shirts and a slogan were big? Wait until Charles, Kenny and EJ step into an Oracle filled with wild-ass, basketball knowledgeable Kimbo Slice look-alikes. Better still, wait until Tony Parker looks up and sees Eva sitting there amidst the bearded masses for this year’s first round playoff upset of record. Oh, it’s really on.”

I’ve already been dodging razors for about a month, are you down with the movement?

It’s a slow news day for the Warriors. The big stories are all about the Rockets without Yao, The Lakers taking over the world, and the Mavs. falling short against the Spurs despite their new Kidd. 

Geoff Lepper is all over the Andris recovery story:

“For a man with a couple of fresh one-inch horizontal scars bracketing his belly button, Biedrins looked surprisingly spry as he executed defensive slides from point to point, took shots from up to 12 feet out and underwent exercises meant to strength his core muscles.”

Patrick O’Bryant has been talking honestly with the press this week about wanting to play somewhere else next season. I guess that should actually read like this: Patrick O’Bryant has been talking honestly with the press this week about wanting to actually get to play next season, which would have to be somewhere else. Again, GL is on the job:

“Though he eschewed Pietrus’ speechifying, second-year center Patrick O’Bryant would have equally welcomed a move. And, just like Pietrus, O’Bryant is all but certain to pack up and go elsewhere once the season is over.

“I’ll play anywhere I’ll (get a chance to) play,” O’Bryant said. “I’m a basketball player, not a basketball watcher.”

This much is clear: He doesn’t plan on signing up voluntarily to serve under Warriors coach Don Nelson again. “

On the other side of the League, Isiah and the Knicks continue to drag themselves through the mud - Marc Berman has the latest trashy tidbit from MSG:

“February 29, 2008 –Stephon Marbury has been instructed by Isiah Thomas not to attend New York Knicks home games - another indication of the continuing feud between the former pals, The Post has learned.”

Tonight the Dubs face the Sixers - a sub .500 Eastern squad with some dangerous scorers in Andre Miller , and Andre Iguodala , as well as a big shot blocker in Samuel Dalembert. The match up looks good on paper but to assume a win is in the works would simply make an ass out of you and me.

Go Warriors!

Monta may be the current employee of the month, but Baron is still the boss at the Oracle.

Box Score

The big three were in the building and there were ugly patches of green scattered amongst the Warriors faithful. The mighty Celtics had come to town.

The Warriors opened with a brand new starting five, made necessary by Jack’s severe ankle sprain. Nellie threw out a squad of Baron, Monta, Pietrus, Biedrins and C-Webb to face the green monsters.

The first quarter started out rough. The Celtics charged ahead to a nine point lead. The Warriors picked up the pace and got back into the game behind some nice passing from Monta to Beans, a rare made three by Pietrus and some strong finishes from Baron and Monta. The intimidation factor wasn’t present and the Warriors were up three going into the second.

32-29 Warriors.

The loss of Jack really started to kick in during the second quarter. When Nellie rested Monta, the Dubs’ game faltered. Barnes was off and the turnovers started piling up. The Celtics had no such problems and were able to go on a couple of runs with Garnett and Ray-Ray resting behind some great shooting by their other Allen - Tony.

Celtics up 57-50 going into the half.

Play got very physical in the second half. The players started bumping, banging, and shoving, slowing the game down considerably. Ray Allen’s shooting was so pretty it made me sick. The Warriors got down by 12 before stepping up the D.

They started slapping the ball away and the refs were letting both teams play after a lot of contact. Pietrus stepped up big time and looked better than he has all season. Late in the third quarter, he soared in for a giant putback dunk after a missed three from Baron and then stole the ball from Pierce for an uncontested dunk on the very next play. The Warriors were back in the game and the stage was set for a huge fourth quarter.

84-82 Celtics.

The Celtics did not play much defense on this night. They had successfully shut Monta down in the third with tremendous pressure whenever he handled the ball, keeping him from scoring a single point. Ellis started the fourth determined to breakout and he got hot. He and Al stepped up, hitting their jumpers and drawing fouls while attacking the rim. Ray and Tony Allen went on a tear of scoring for the C’s and matched every Warriors run.

Baron had played his heart out all game and looked tired. He passed the ball to Monta early for most of the possessions, leaning on the young man to make the right decisions. The lead swung back and forth all quarter with both teams battling for every rebound and loose ball. Pietrus and Baron put the Warriors up 112-107 with made free-throws, but Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo shot the C’s back into the game.

114-113 Warriors with 1:28 left to play.

Once again it’s up to All Day Monta in crunch time. Al found Ellis open off of a low screen by Beans and the kid drilled a mid-range, baseline jumper to put the Dubs up by 3 with under a minute to play. Baron added a free throw after Rondo fouled him and the Warriors were up four with 38 seconds left.

Pierce sank two sets of free throws (one after Matt Barnes completely blows a play and airballs a floater - which Nellie harps on in the postgame below), and the game is tied with six seconds left.

After a time out, the Warriors inbounded the ball into Baron. He lowered his shoulder and started to drive, putting Tony Allen back on his heels. At the last moment, BD pulled up, stepped back and nailed a 20 foot jumper with .3 left on the clock. The massive crowd goes berserk, the bench goes berserk, I go berserk, you go berserk, the Celtics go home.

It was a wonderful showing by almost every player.

Baron is the boss, don’t mess with the man in his house.

Monta fought through some intense pressure and had yet another huge night. With Jackson out, he dished out a career high nine assists, many of them to Biedrins on pick-and-rolls and picked up 12 of his 26 points in the hard fought fourth quarter.

Al added 22 points and 12 rebounds coming off of the bench, and played stellar D against Perkins, Pierce and at times Garnett. His drives were under control and he didn’t try and hit every three–pointer he saw.

Pietrus had what was by far his best game of the season. He was all over the court as usual and came up big on several possessions offensively and defensively. Life would be a lot better for everyone if he could do that kind of thing more often.

Andris threw in a fat double-double with 21 and 13, a steal, and a monster block.

C-Webb watch: 20 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. He’s looking better each game. He got severely scorched on D by the smaller guys and Garnett but those three blocks are a good sign.

Some mellower games coming up with the Hawks on Friday, and the Sonics on Tuesday. But if you know the Warriors, you know something nuts is going to happen.

exclusive postgame audio

Baron Davis

Al Harrington

Stephen Jackson

Don Nelson

Celtics audio:

Ray Allen

Kevin Garnett

Paul Pierce

Doc Rivers