Posts tagged ‘Grizzlies’

Your Warriors ain’t dead yet.

Box Score

With some smart early play by Jack and Baron, and not a little bit of help from a dismal looking Griz squad, the Dubs’ youth movement got its most extended run of the season.

It’s all about perspective. If you were as down as I was on the team after the turrable Texas trouncings, this game should help. If we end up just outside of the playoffs this season at least we’ll have Monta, Brandan, Andris, and some combination of Marco, CJ, and Kaz to look forward to in the future. Grizzlies fans will have Rudy Gay, Mike Miller, draft picks and…..fantasizing about getting Darko off of their team. Pecking order you see, it’s all about finding someone worse off than you and making yourself feel better about your lot at their expense.

All Warriors all game.

Andris had 14 points and 12 rebounds by the end of the second quarter and BoomJack had already combined for 11 assists. The greybeards were obviously focused on moving the ball and Beans was the focal point on offense early on, running tight pick-and-rolls and boarding like mad. Andris finished the game with 21 points & 17 rebounds.

Kaz got another start, and his 40 minutes was the longest stretch on the team. He quietly went about his business, grabbing 10 boards and draining 3-5 threes. With Matt Barnes’ game on life support, Kelenna has really done well to fill the dirty work gap.

Marco Belinelli unexpectedly entered the game for Monta with a minute and a half left in the first, and stayed in for another 21 exciting minutes. In his post game interview he mentioned that Nellie told him to be ready to guard Juan Carlos Navarro, meaning that coach planned this whole circus out. It’s a bit frustrating to see Nelson start gambling with young player development this late in the season, but the results were hard to second guess. After floundering into two turnovers on his first two possessions, Marco shook off the jitters and got his summer league on. He was darting to open spots on the floor off of screens and blasting away with off balance jumpers from all over the court. 13 points on 6-11 shooting with 1 three.

CJ Watson also got a chance to get some licks in, running the point for the last six and a half minutes of the game. He racked up his 9 points in four minutes, going 4-4 with one three.

Brandan Wright’s go-go-gadget arms got 20 minutes of action and excelled against the unmotivated, soft Grizzlies front court. He looked smooth and silly skinny, getting two blocks.

Al looked like junk. He repeatedly tried to force his own shot in the paint, only to get rejected or brick it off the front of the rim. His thumb is wrapped and it seems to be completely throwing him off of his game.

Barnes once again made his presence felt via pain. He blatently shoved Kyle Lowry off of him during an out-of-bounds play in the fourth, earning yet another flagrant - and a suspension for the NO game on Sunday due to cumulative flagrant foul points. Frustration and pain are ruining Matt’s game, it’s a really sad turn of events for a player most of us want to see stick around and do well with the Warriors.

Oh yeah, Monta. The kid cruised through the game, looking like he was playing in high school again. He was a bit sloppy with the ball, picking up 4 turnovers, but was also opportunistic against the sloppy Grizzlies, picking up 4 steals. Mellow 19 points for All Day.

Conventional wisdom tells us that the extended rest for Baron and Jack is a positive sign for the Dubs’ chances against the Hornets on Sunday. The problem is that the Warriors repeatedly tell conventional wisdom to shove it. It’s an early one, 10 am local time on ABC so turn on, tune in and hold on.

PS: Dallas lost to the Lakers…damn I hate being happy about a Lakers’ win.

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.