Posts tagged ‘Corey Maggette’

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) — In the midst of their annual circus trip, the Chicago Bulls finally won a road game.

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, led by former Warrior Larry Hughes with 26 points, as Chicago claimed a 115-110 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night - their first victory away from home in six tries.

“For us they’re all big, especially from the standpoint of all of our injuries we’re trying to deal with,” Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro said. “The last two games, with the length of L.A. (Lakers) and the length of Portland, really gave us a lot of trouble and to come in here a little bit shorthanded and find a way to win, it’s a great compliment to the players.”

Derrick Rose took control in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of his 25 points in the final frame.

“We really needed this one. We thought we could come in here and compete against them and that’s what we did,” Rose said. “I had to shoot and that’s what I did, I stopped thinking about what I did and reacted to it.”

But while the star rookie carried the team, his teammates had to hang on without him.

Rose left the floor late in the fourth with an undisclosed injury after landing awkwardly under the basket with less than two minutes to play.

“It happened when Corey Maggette drove to the hole, and knocked Larry out of the way and kneed me in my hip,” Rose said. “Man, it was a sharp pain that was there for a long time, but I’m all right now. I’ve just got to ice it and massage it tomorrow.”

The Bulls were already shorthanded, as Luol Deng is out with a sore left groin and Kirk Hinrich is out three months with a torn thumb ligament.

Chicago improved to 1-5 on the road on its season-long, seven-game trip as the circus occupies its home at the United Center.

“We were a little shorthanded without Luol, Kirk and the list goes on, but Larry gave us a big boost and so did everybody,” Del Negro said. “Derrick obviously had a fantastic second half, really took control of the game, I talked about that with him at halftime and he really performed well. For us to bounce back the way we did, after the last couple of games, I’m really happy for our guys.”

The Warriors failed to increase their winning streak to three games despite a season-high 32 points from Stephen Jackson. Corey Maggette added 24 points and center Andris Biedrins had 23 and 10 rebounds.

“I think overall our team played really well, we played hard,” Maggette said. “We did a lot of good things to give us the opportunity to win the game. The young guy, Derrick Rose … made some big plays. We’ve just got to learn from this and we’ve got some big games ahead of us on the road.”

The Warriors made big news before the game when they traded disgruntled forward Al Harrington to the Knicks in exchange for veteran guard Jamal Crawford. Crawford will join the club when it heads to the East Coast for a five-game trip. In fact, Golden State is on the road for seven of its next eight games.

“The good thing about him is he’s a veteran, he’s been around for a while,” Warriors guard Stephen Jackson said. “He’s a great scorer and, in our system, it will be good for him. It will be good to see what he can do and it will be good for me to get back to my natural position because he can play the point and handle the ball.”

Hughes tied the game at 90-90 with 10:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Bulls went up by four after a left handed running layup by Lindsay Hunter with 8:42 remaining. Hunter nailed a 3-pointer with 6:48 remaining to push the lead to 101-95.

The lead was up to eight points after Rose’s one-handed dunk two minutes later.

Jackson completed a three-point play to pull Golden State to within five at the 4:49 mark.

It was only a three-point game after Andris Biedrins’ tip-in, but Rose quieted the crowd moments later with a baseline jumper to regain a five-point edge, 109-104.

“I knew I could hit the shots,” Rose said. “They were giving it to me and my teammates wanted me to shoot the ball and that’s what I did.”

With just under 30 seconds remaining and the Bulls leading by three, Chicago guard Ben Gordon committed an offensive foul on Randolph. The 6-10 rookie had a chance to make it a one-point game, but he blew a wide-open dunk and that was the ballgame.

Drew Gooden collected 18 points and 16 boards for the Bulls while Gordon added 13 points.

“This was a game that could’ve took our confidence, could have been a big blow to our trip,” Gooden said. “We gained some confidence back and we’re ready for our next opponent. It’s tough but we’ve got to do it. We feel like, home or away, the game of basketball is still played the same.”

Next game: At Philadelphia, November 23

The Warriors have lost two straight to the Bulls but overall
have won eight of their last 10 meetings. … Friday’s game
marked the sixth time Golden State has scored 110 or more points
this season. … Although they shot 49 percent from the field,
the Warriors fell to 4-1 when shooting 45 percent or better. …
G-F Stephen Jackson scored a season-high 32 points. His 14
first-quarter and 18 first-half points are both season highs for
the Warriors. … Jackson has scored at least 20 in three
straight games and eight times this season. … C Andris
Biedrins has 11 double-doubles in 12 games after collecting 23
points and 10 rebounds. … G Anthony Randolph had 10 points,
nine assists and four blocks off the bench. The assists and
blocks are both career-highs.

After a losing two of three on their first road trip of the year (including an ugly loss to Memphis - ick), the Warriors came out flat in their 2nd home appearance of the season. Listless is more like it, actually.

Down 17 halfway through the 1st quarter, Nellie turned to Brandan Wright, and 18 points and 13 rebounds later, the Warriors may have finally found the complement to stud Center Andris Biedrins.

Wright was everywhere, blocking shots, clearing boards and injecting life into the Oracle crowd that had already started to boo the W’s poor start.

Add 22 points from Kelenna Azubuike, 29 from Captain Jack, and 12 & 11 from ‘Dre, and this balanced attack, without an injured Corey Maggette, may just be able to stem the tide while Monta recovers.

The Dubs are now 2 and 3 on the season and still have reason to feel they’ll be competitive in the Western Conference. If they can hang around .500 until Monta’s return, this could be the start of a very fun year.

Adam and I break it all down in our latest podcast, and you can check out some post-game audio from Nellie and Jack below.

Hope. That’s what Warriors fans have after last night’s performance.

exclusive postgame audio

Don Nelson (mp3)

Stephen Jackson (mp3)

Opening night wasn’t supposed to be this close.

After all, without Baron, Monta, a banged-up C.J., an unhappy Al and the youngest squad in the league, the Warriors would be lucky to hang with the 2nd best team in the Western Conference by most accounts.

But close enough isn’t enough to get a win, and without a real closer in crunch time, this game could be an indicator of things to come.

There is a lot of fight in this year’s team. That’s one thing we uncovered in the Dubs 108-103 loss to New Orleans at the Oracle. Now if only they can get their offense in gear, they could surprise some people.

The Warriors were paced by Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette, both of whom will have to have big starts to this season if the Warriors are to going to stem the tide before Monta returns. Jack played all 48 minutes, but tired out in the 4th and ended up with 26 points, knocking down five treys.

Corey scored 27 and showed why the Dubs will have an inside game this year, getting to the line 10 times (knocking down 9 of them).

Unfortunately, the turning point of this closely contested game was when Andris fouled out with three minutes to play. ‘Dre played well, scoring 14 and grabbing 12 boards. But once he was gone, the Hornets kept scoring and outrebounding the Dubs down the stretch. Add a few critical Warriors miscues on their final possessions to the mix, and GSW is now 0-1. Chris Paul had a quiet 21 & 11, but made his presence felt when it counted, scoring twice with under a minute to play.

A hard fought game, but one that a more seasoned Warriors squad would’ve likely put away. Whether that seasoning take place during this season remains to be seen.

exclusive player audio

Al Harrington
Corey Maggette
Kelenna Azubuike
Stephen Jackson

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.

Your Warriors have finally won in the Staples Center.

Box Score

The Dubs gunned the Clippers down in the first half and absorbed a few blows in the second to earn a win. This is the first win in Staples for the Warriors since March 2004.

Captain Jack bounced back from his horrible shooting night in Sacto with a vengeance. He hit 5-10 of his threes, 3 coming in the first quarter alone. Monta came alive after his own troubled Tuesday performance, awing the Clippers’ crowd and the ESPN announcers with his speed and finishing ability. Baron was able to cruise for once, logging a mere 27 minutes. Pietrus had an outstanding 15 points and 12 rebounds.

It wouldn’t be a Warriors game without a little bit of heart trouble. The Dubs were up by as much as 26 points in the third quarter but the Clippers were able to come back to within 11 in the fourth. Corey Maggette, Al Thorton, and Tim Thomas were able to muscle their way inside at will. If the Clips weren’t converting their drives they were shooting free throws. The small Warriors’ front-court is painfully unable to stop large, quick players like those three. Nelson was forced to insert Monta after watching a Barnes led bench squad fail to score on at least 4 possessions with time running down. All Day responded by going for a perfect 6-6 in the fourth quarter and that kept the game out of reach for L.A.

Wright had a trying 13 minutes playing against Al Thorton. Brandan failed to make a field goal while Horford positively went off. The Clippers’ big rookie finished the game with a team high 24 points, and 13 rebounds in his 44 minutes.

There was a brief, uneventful run for Kosta Perovic and Marco Belinelli at the very end of the game. Marco made a nutty off balance turn around jumper and Kosta looked really tall.

All hail the Sixers - they beat the Nuggets tonight, extending the Warriors’ 8th seed cushion to 2.5 games over Denver.