Posts tagged ‘Shaq’

Your Warriors are out.

Box Score

What the heck was that?

Baron Davis played 17 minutes, Kosta Perovic played 13. The nuttiest thing about that information is that it seems like the correct move. Baron was dismal in his limited play. He ended up 2-13 and looked more like he was messing around one-on-one with his buddy Steve Nash than trying to help his team win their very last chance to stay in playoff contention. Nellie benched him the entire second half, one of many strange occurrences last night.

The Dubs came out all thumbs, just missing layups and bricking jumpers. The Suns took the lead after three minutes behind fat Shaq post points, and a deadly Nash/Amare pick and roll connection.

The Warriors’ game in the first half was an oddity of freak show proportions. We got to see line ups including Kosta P, Andris, and Uncle Austin at the same time. The strangest thing about the geek squad getting time was that they looked a lot more active and driven than the much touted heart and soul of the team. Kosta was a bit clumsy, but not inept. He didn’t back down from Shaq contact, fought hard for offensive rebounds, and ran the best he could. It was obvious he was sucking wind after a few minutes of real time game, but didn’t quit.

It’s tempting to get very gloomy about the fact that Nellie sat Baron for the entire half. There were no damage control quotes post game to put any kind of speculation speed bumps up either. Nellie merely said that he gave Baron some much needed rest, and BD left without speaking to reporters. If you want to delve into far reaching, pot stirring speculation head over to Tim Kawakami’s blog for his take on Boomgate.

The second half featured a new Dubs squad, and a new spark. Jack finally came alive, pouring in 16 points in the third - including 3 threes. The off brand Dubs managed to not only get out of the first half pit, they actually got up by as much as 8 behind solid play from Kaz, Austin, and their default point guard, Monta Ellis. Two things went right, Jack started bombing with accuracy, and they actually played some gosh dern defense.

Monta and the B-Team managed to push the lead up to 11 in the first few minutes of the fourth before the Suns got down to business and began waxing their playoff mustaches. Amare started getting to the line with a vengeance, while Bell and Barbosa hit some key three pointers. 

The Suns got back on top with 4 minutes left to play as the Dubs went cold. Jack was able to nail a very clutch three to tie it up once more, but the game was over when Monta missed his next jumper and the Suns put up 5 unanswered points.

Andris deserves more of a mention. He put up yet another double double, and had his old stickum grip back, catching Jack’s spitball passes on pick and rolls. Watching him and Kosta on the court together was entertaining, not in the look at the bizarre foreign giants way, more in the hey, those dudes can kinda get after it way.

The final game against Seattle is at home on Wednesday. I’ll be watching with a little tear in my eye. It won’t be a tear of shame, I’m just going to miss the guys, ya digg? 

Peace out 2007-2008 season, I’m not mad at ya. 48 or 49 wins is nothing to be ashamed of and there is plenty of hope for the future.

Pietrus has been outstanding since the trade deadline. He’s stuck to what he’s good at and has contributed valuable energy on defense and rebounding. After being completely written off as incompetent by many fans and pundits, the goof went and redeemed himself. Here comes the sympathetic press - Scott Ostler wrote a nice piece about Peety’s history:

Pietrus grew up on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. His mother, who worked for the governor, died of cancer when Pietrus was 9, leaving nine kids (her own seven and two cousins) parentless. They were taken in by Mickael’s grandmother.

Mickael’s oldest brother, Ronnie Coco, went to France and became a basketball star. Mickael didn’t play basketball until he was about 14, and then only as a casual pastime, along with tennis and swimming. But when Mickael was 16, Ronnie brought Mickael and his brother Florent to France to go to school and play ball.

Mickael learned fast, signed a pro contract at 17, and by 21, he was in the NBA, with the Warriors.

Coming into the current season the Warriors were considered the Suns lite - a less refined version of the thrilling Phoenix squad. With the big Shaq trade, and the Warriors’ team identity solidifying, the most-entertaining torch appears to have been passed to Oakland. Marcel Mutoni from SLAM online digs the scene:  

There was a time, not too long ago, when a Warriors/Suns matchup was one of the most highly anticipated events in all of sports. A crazy mix of dunks, conscious-less three pointers, fast breaks, scintillating one-on-one plays, and total disregard for defense.

Basically, it was a sugar rush for the basketball viewing public, and we couldn’t get enough.

Today, you could say that things are slightly different.

The Warriors are the same team from last season (loose, care-free, and winning); Phoenix, though, has made one big significant change: With varying success, the Suns are experimenting with a strange combo of slow-it-down halfcourt execution and reckless fastbreak action (when Shaq takes a breather).

Tonight, in Phoenix, the Suns host the team that snatched their crown as the League’s funnest squad to watch. It’s safe to say that, should the Warriors have their way, things will get hectic out there. Try and keep up, Diesel.

The questions regarding the wisdom of the Shaq trade still linger for Phoenix. The question of what to do in the situation below requires no deliberation.

• Pietrus is telling everyone who will listen that he wants out - now. Geoff Lepper of the SJ Merc tells the world of Peety’s woes:

“I want to be moved,” said Pietrus, who will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and has no plans of returning to Oakland. “I want to be traded.”

The 6-foot-6, 215-pound Pietrus said he was frustrated at having to play out of position at power forward and even occasionally at center since Stephen Jackson took over as the starter at small forward in January 2007.

• The Warriors’ hype staff has a very active YouTube account. They added this Monta Ellis feature yesterday. Being interviewed by FSN Bay Area’s Matt Steinmetz, Monta answers questions about his ascension, his preseason injury and refers to himself in the third person like a real pro.

• Jerry Brown of Phoenix’s East Valley Tribune ponders on why the Warriors are a bad match up for the Suns tonight, as well as letting us know about Shaq’s status (no debut until Thursday):

“They are really the small-ball team in the league right now,” Nash said. “We’re not the same anymore, if we ever were. They’ve taken it to another extreme. If we were way liberal, they’re even more liberal. They’re getting red.”

• Speaking of Shaq, here’s a video of him and Bill Walton putting each other on blast about injuries, hypocrisy, and being “an insult to people who think” as found by Ball Don’t Lie/The Basketball Jones’ JE Skeets.

• Finally, in a mortal enemy may be getting stronger news, Marc Stein of ESPN reports that Jason Kidd is most likely headed to the Mavs:

“Although sources say that the teams are still sorting out final details, this deal was described as “imminent” by multiple sources close to the process after negotiations moved to an advanced stage Tuesday night. The deal — salvaged from talks on a three-way trade with Portland that developed and fizzled quickly two weeks ago — has Dallas sending 24-year-old point guard Devin Harris, veteran swingman Jerry Stackhouse, the expiring contracts of center DeSagana Diopand swingman Devean George and guard Maurice Ager to New Jersey for Kidd and forward Malik Allen.

Sources say Dallas will also add the league-maximum $3 million in cash and send its first-round draft pick this June as well as a first-rounder in 2010.”

It appears that Al Harrington, a NJ native and a big NY Giants fan, had to give up his prime Super Bowl tickets due to Webber’s last minute mini-camp. He may be giving up some more minutes to the new old kid as well.

From the Chronicle article by Janny Hu:

Again, it’s Harrington who figures to make the biggest adjustment - not the least of which was selling his 50-yard-line tickets to Sunday’s Super Bowl when Nelson re-instated practice after Webber’s arrival.

In a recent KNBR interview, Brandan Wright claims Al never brought up missing the big game in practice, but that had to have hurt a bit. I can’t imagine that Al’s too nonplussed about the hypothetical minute reduction as it seems only Baron, Stephen and Monta are consistent starters.

The rest of the league is buzzing about Gasol’s debut with the Lakers and collectively scratching their heads about the possible Shaq Diesel trade. Meanwhile we’re all sitting on our hands waiting for Nellie’s grand experiment to be unveiled tomorrow night against the Bulls.

The second Webber era is almost upon us.