Posts tagged ‘monta’

If there’s one thing we don’t need around here is another battle between the front office and a player. Or frankly, any kind of controversy at all. Warrior fans who’ve been on the bandwagon for a while know all too well what happens when you get a rift of that nature. (See Webber, Chris & Sprewell, Latrell, among other examples.)

Word around the Oakland complex is the W’s are analyzing Monta’s story further, since the damage done to his leg and ankle aren’t indicative of a normal basketball injury. Head trainer Tom Abdenour rushed to visit Monta in Mississippi, so we’ll see what the W’s report in the days and weeks ahead.

Let’s hope Monta isn’t the the next Garrison Hearst, the former 49er running back who missed couple of seasons because of a serious ankle injury.

If Monta violated the terms of his new $66 million contract, what should be done?

Your Warriors stayed one step ahead of the gimpy Mavs.

Box Score

The Dubs were shut out for the first 3 minutes, getting down 12-0 before Al Harrington threw down a frustrated dunk and put his teammates on notice that Dallas wasn’t going to kick its own butt.

The Warriors got with the program and rallied to take a 1 point lead by the end of the first quarter. The Mavs made small incursions throughout the rest of the game, but never got it closer than 3 points down.

Josh Howard stepped up to fill the Dirk gap for Dallas. He went off for 36 pts, 9 boards, and 2 blocks in his normal understated style. The other Mavs standout was their young forward, Brandon Bass. The 6-8 delicious Bass punished Andris in the paint late in the game. He repeatedly muscled his way down low, created space, and made his shots, often getting fouled in the process. Jason Kidd nailed some nerve racking threes when he felt like it but as usual focused on his passing and rebounding, picking up 14 dimes and snatching 9 boards.

The Dubs’ big three was the unlikely trio of Monta, Kaz, and Al. Monta has lately become the first option on offense. He was stellar in this victory. His jumper was falling and he was driving and finishing with grace and style. 30 points for All Day the most improved Mississippi Bullet.

Al kicked the Warriors in the arse in the first quarter, sailed through some questionable foul calls, and kept his aggression up all game. He’s taken it on himself to put in extra effort on the boards and it’s paying off. 9 boards for Harrington.

The final golden child was Kaz. The stain from his hideous night against the Nuggets was wiped clean by his gutsy play in this game. Azubuike willed in 15 points and snatched 9 boards. He made two separate momentum saving shots in the fourth, a three with 4 minutes left and an open jumper with just under 2 to go in the game.

There’s some serious congestion going on at the bottom of Western pack. We now share our 45-28 record with Dallas and Denver. It’s like 7am on the freaking Bay Bridge down there.    

Your Warriors got cold in Denver.

Box Score

Baron Davis: 28 pts, 7 assists + Monta Ellis: 22 pts, 7 rebounds + Stephen Jackson 25 pts, 5 rebounds + Andris Biedrins: 17 pts, 17 rebounds = a loss!??

Perhaps we should look at this figure. Kelenna Azubuike: 6 pts, 0-5 for threes + Al Harrington: 2 pts, 0-4 FG, 0-3 for threes <  Kevin Martin: 30 pts, 11 rebounds.

It was a bad Saturday night in the mile high city for the Dubs. Small bursts of personal heroics from Baron & Jack as well as a much needed strong outing from Beans were all negated by the ice cold shooting touch from Kaz and the bench. Kelenna and Al couldn’t hit a wide open three to save their lives, or their team’s 8th seed position.

Denver’s bench had no jitters. JR Repeater Smith put up 20 points, and Eduardo Najera piled on 11 points, including two dagger threes in the fourth quarter.

AI had an unusually quiet game, preferring to sit back and watch micro-fracture mogul Kenyon Martin go for a season high 30 points.

Welcome to 9th. The Warriors flew home on the outside looking in. Dirkless Dallas is coming to the Oracle tonight. The Dubs have a chance to kick Dallas while they’re down and bleeding their way out of the playoffs. Kick ‘em, kick ‘em good!

Your Warriors took care of the baby Blazers.

Box Score

You know you’re a Warriors fan when you get nervous if a fourth quarter lead dips below twenty points.

Baron looked like he was ready to hurl from the flu, but Nellie still put him in for 27 minutes. Boom and the team had a horrendous 22 point first quarter. They got down by as much as 14 and were dominated by Portland’s active young big man LaMarcus Aldridge. The Dubs woke up in the second with Al hitting his threes, Monta and Kaz scoring inside, and Jack running the show. Warriors down by 1 at the half.

The warm Warriors fuzzies started kicking in in the third quarter. The defensive intensity picked up, Monta, Baron, and Jack started getting hot, and our old friend Matt Barnes finally came home to the fans that love him.

I was at the horrible loss against the Hawks in February and something stuck in my mind from that game. Matt Barnes had a miserable outing, one of many from this season. The guys sitting behind me were moaning about him the entire game, busting out “brain-dead Barnes”, and just plain hating. I’m not adverse to calling out struggling players (ahem…pre-trade deadline Peety), but to submarine Matt after his from out of nowhere contribution last year, and his devastating personal loss this year was low. Matt Barnes pulled himself up from NBA obscurity last season and has come to really embody the general Warriors identity. He’s grimy, not a little bit dirty now and again, unpredictable, and straight up hungry.

Welcome back Matt.

Barnsey had what I hope was his comeback game. He put up 8 points and grabbed 8 boards to the delight of the proud Oracle crowd. It was awesome to hear the fans scream in unison for him when he hit his first three. The standing ovation he got as he went to the bench more than made up for the hateration I suffered through at that Hawks game.

The steamroller was gassed up and ready to roll for the fourth. The Warriors were up 19 and Nellie felt confident enough to completely empty the bench. Barnes led CJ, Kaz, Brandan, Uncle Austin, Marco, and Kosta to the easy win.

Denver came back to beat Dallas earlier, cutting our cushion to a 1/2 game ahead of them. The back to back against both of them on Saturday and Sunday is going to be massive. Go Warriors!

PS: Fascinating, fairly cathartic insight on the Delaney call from Monday’s Laker game from Marcus Thompson’s blog. Not that we’re bitter or anything:

The league does, however, share its findings on controversial calls when a member of the media asks. So I asked. And Stu Jackson answered.
“We did review,” he said Tuesday. “The call was incorrect.”

exclusive postgame audio

Baron Davis

Stephen Jackson

Nate McMillan

LaMarcus Aldridge

Well, at least Kobe got his grill piece busted open.

Box Score

Regulation was insane. The Warriors again came out strong and swarming in the first half. They attacked on offense and defense, leaving the Lakers scattered and turning the ball over. Jack and Baron lit it up, going for 17 and 20 respectively.

Al’s three-point shot woke up; he added 12 points and pounded the boards hard - snaring 8. Warriors up by 11 into the half.

It was another gut check third quarter for the Dubs. They looked tired and were unable to get any kind of consistent scoring runs going. Kobe got his head into the game and he teamed up with Fisher and Odom to outscore the dubs 35-23 in the third, putting the Lakers up by one going into the fourth.

The Warriors looked dead in the water halfway through the fourth. Their legs looked gone and Kobe started doing that annoying superstar thing, hitting step back jumpers, threes, and grabbing rebounds. He had possible the lamest sidekick ever in the form of the floppy haired, flop prone Yugoslavian, Sasha Vujacic.

Vujacic was deadly from three point range and he hit two big ones, helping the Lakers stretch their lead to nine points with a little under 4 minutes to play. Things looked bleak, but Monta and Kaz saved the day by converting drives off of steals to bring them back within one with 33 seconds left. Odom missed one of his free throws and Baron made two huge ones of his own and the game went into OT, much to the delight of the raucous crowd.

OT was a battle. The Dubs got up but Fisher and Sasha “Vermin” Vujacic nailed killer threes to keep the Lakers on top. Kaz made a tough, tough tip-in off of a Monta miss to tie it up with 30 seconds left, but the Lakers went up once again as Odom found himself deliciously open right under the basket.

Final play: Warriors inbounding the ball down two with nine seconds left. The Dubs run a congested rotation of screens and Monta goes down in a heap on top of Fisher. It looks like they got tangled up and Fisher may have stumbled while pulling Monta down on top of him.

Referee Bob Delaney called an offensive foul on Monta giving the Lakers two free throws and ending an incredibly exciting and hard fought game with a huge let down. The call was a bad one. Fisher either fell back and grabbed Monta as he fell, or he intentionally pulled Monta down on top of him for a call.

Talk about anti-climactic. The Dubs and Lakers battled for 52 minutes straight only to have the game be decided by an official. No one wanted to see that. Horrible.

exclusive postgame audio

Don Nelson

Phil Jackson

Kobe Bryant

Derek Fisher

Lamar Odom

Your Warriors create mad drama.

Box Score

If you ever need a time capsule game to demonstrate to our future robot overlords what the big deal in Oakland in 2008 was, this is the one.

The Warriors completely controlled the first half. They ran circles around the Lakers, tricked them into trying to play their chaotic game, and robbed them blind. Monta, Baron, and Jack ran the show with tough defense and blazing breaks. Kaz chipped in with a few points and out-of-nowhere D on Kobe. Bryant didn’t score a single point in the second quarter, Kaz absolutely blanketed him.

The Dubs went into the half with a 23 point lead and the sweet, sweet sound of Lakers fans booing their own team.

There’s a popular anti-apathy slogan out there: ”If you’re not outraged you’re not paying attention.” Here’s the Warriors version: “If you’re not concerned about losing this massive lead you’ve never watched this team.” As much as I wanted to believe that the game was in the bag after such a dominant first half - I knew nothing was safe.

The third quarter was a horror-fest for the Dubs. The Lakers stopped trying to run wild with the Warriors, executed their offense, shut down Monta, and proceeded to outscore them 32-15.

The Dubs couldn’t get anything going and didn’t seem all that concerned with trying. They started walking the ball up the court, dribbling around at the top of the key and hefting a three-pointer. 7 of the Warriors’ 15 points in the third came from free throws, they shot under 20% for the quarter, and went into the fourth with a tentative 6 point lead.

The Lakers continued to pour it on in the final quarter, eventually taking a 2 point lead with 5 minutes left. The Warriors were still having trouble shooting the ball, but Al hit a couple, and Monta and Jack were making their free throws. Brandan Wright got some good minutes, and some great blocks. The Dubs weren’t able to shut the Lakers out like they had in the first half but they were at least playing them a lot tougher.

Kobe Bryant did his best to take over and win the game. If he had been up against anyone else he probably would have gotten away with it. He nailed a deadly three to cut the lead to 1, Captain Jack answered with a three of his own, Kobe hit another cold blooded three with 30 seconds left and the place went bananas. The LA fans could smell the win, their superstar was working his magic and there was no way the Warriors were going to leave Staples alive. Captain Jack got the ball well behind the three-point line, hesitated just a second, and launched….swish. Jack’s second three pointer to answer Kobe put the lead back up to 4 with 8 seconds to play - game over. The man only made two (non free throw) shots in the entire second half, and they were the biggest ones possible.

This is the 2008 Warriors. This is why they had such an awful start to the season. Jack is that important.    

Your Warriors got slightly rocked.

Box Score

Two teams on a mission met with a resounding crash on Friday night at the Oracle. The Warriors were desperately trying to pad their lead on Denver for the 8th spot in the West, and the Rockets were trying to avoid their 3rd straight loss after an amazing 22 game win streak.

This is what the playoffs in the West will look like this year. The intensity is way up, as evidenced by the techs on Baron and Pietrus, and teams are either coming together or falling apart under the pressure. While the Rockets are most certainly coming together after the devastating loss of Yao, I don’t think this is really a case of the Warriors falling apart - just falling a bit short.

T-Mac. was unstoppable at times despite Jack’s best in-your-face defense, but Houston’s bench both kept them in the game - and won it for them. The Rockets got 33 points from their non-starters, compared to the Warriors’ 6 points from Andris. Bobby Jackson may have won Houston the game with an insane, double clutch three in the fourth, and Carl Landry killed the Dubs with multiple hard drives and rebounds.

Despite what we may tell ourselves about Wright’s potential, Barnes’ toughness, Kaz’s rise, and CJ’s cool-head - this is not a deep team. The main 6 are going to have to get us the win in tough games like this.

The Warriors’ starting five all had great games, but the lack of teamwork made the outcome less than great. Monta put up his usual highlight reel finishes, Peety and Al combined for an outstanding 27 boards - 11 offensive, and Jack was focused on trying to defend McGrady but still managed to put up 15 and dish 5. Baron was able to get his points up (27) but only contributed 4 assists to the team. When Baron is only dishing 4 in 43 minutes something is up. The Boss is banged up physically, and or mentally. The fire is burning low when it needs to be its hottest.

This was a tough way to go into a back-to-back against the evil Lakers on Sunday. To top off the bad news, Denver won as well.

The playoff deck will be re-shuffled come Tuesday, let’s hope we can deal ourselves a good hand.

exclusive postgame audio

Don Nelson

Baron Davis

Stephen Jackson

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.

How you like them road apples?

Box Score

Warriors fans invaded Arco, but they had little to cheer about.

The Kings played hard and well from tip-off to buzzer. Kevin Martin was killing at will, Ron Artest was hitting hard shots and Mikki Moore was obnoxiously excited and effective.

The Warriors never got hot. They shot an appalling 5-27 from beyond the arc and no one beyond Baron and Kaz could get any kind of Mojo working.

The game was neck and neck for the entire first half but you could just feel the lack of fire from the Dubs. Their energy on defense was low and their shooters were cold. Monta was getting torched by Kevin Martin (whom he narrowly beat out for most-improved player last season). There was some chilling news regarding Monta’s brother yesterday that may have contributed to his rough game - but he wasn’t alone in his slump.

There was a general lack of intensity from the starters and regular rotation players. It took a Captain Jack led bench squad with CJ running the point to make a come back run in the fourth, after the starters got into a 23 point hole during the gruesome third quarter. They were able to cut the Kings’ lead to six with 5:35 to go, but that was as close as it got. Nellie put Baron back in an attempt to put them over the top, but he couldn’t buy a bucket and appeared to be checked out mentally.

Brandan Wright did well for himself - 8 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 14 minutes.

The only good news from last night is that both Denver and Dallas lost as well. No playoff position change.

Tonight’s game against the Clippers is the last “easy” one on the schedule for the rest of the month.

exclusive postgame audio

Don Nelson

Stephen Jackson

Kevin Marton

Anthony Johnson

Your Warriors won their last regular season battle against the East in typically dramatic fashion.

Box Score

The Dubs ran circles around the Raps in the first quarter. Monta and Peety took turns scoring on a stiff looking Toronto squad while Baron was content to lay in the cut and look for open teammates. The Raptors were without their superstar, Chris Bosh, and it exposed their soft middle. The basket was wide open for drives and the Warriors took advantage, going up by 18 points at the end of one.

Toronto bounced back nicely behind endless made jump shots from the entire roster. Both members of their interchangeable point guard pod - Jose Calderon and TJ Ford - took turns making probing forays into the paint before passing out to a shooter or scoring on their own. Ford in particular looked like he was out for his and ended the game with 23 points and 8 assists. The Warriors got caught up hefting unsuccessful threes and the Raptors kept chipping away until they actually took a 1-point lead (96-95) with 6 minutes left in the game.

With a very important game in danger of slipping away in the final minutes Baron finally took over. After getting down by 1 the Warriors went on a 22-10 tear against the Raps, with Baron having a hand in all but 5 of those points.

Final 6 minutes of offfense from the Dubs:

• Monta layup - assist Baron
• Andris layup - assist Baron
• Pietrus layup - assist Baron
• Monta layup - assist Pietrus
• Jack step back jumper
• Andris layup - assist Baron
• Jack three - assist Baron
• Baron step back jumper
• Baron layup
• Baron three

That’s some captivatin’ Captainatin’ I tell you what. The first quarter was a bit of a youth movement, with Monta stealing the show. With the game on the line in the fourth it was all Boom.

Despite losing the large lead I liked the energy from the Dubs. The defense was active, forcing 16 turnovers (TOR averages 11), and all of the starters contributed double digit scoring. Monta put up yet another sick line - 33 points (14-19!), 6 boards, and 4 assists. Baron dished 15. Pietrus had another excellent showing despite some foul trouble - 14 points, 8 boards. Matt Barnes came in to do some dirty work and ended up with 7 boards (3 offensive).

40 wins and it’s all West from here on out. It’s the new look Suns tonight on TNT, Go Warriors!

exclusive postgame audio

Monta Ellis

Baron Davis