Posts tagged ‘slow start’
Another head scratcher - Hawks 117, Warriors 110
by Ravi - posted Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Brandan Wright’s ’send it in’ moment was the only highlight from what was an otherwise miserable night at the Oracle.
The Warriors once again looked flat in the 1st half, allowing Atlanta to get off to a 68-50 lead, which proved to be insurmountable.This pattern of lousy first half play is something both Nellie and Baron couldn’t explain after the game, but it’s clear that if the Warriors want to make the playoffs, they have figure out a way to just stay relatively competitive early on.
Their poor starts are hampering what has been a fantastic, exciting season.The Warriors expend far too much energy in their comebacks, and as we saw once again in this game, they couldn’t muster up enough of it to thwart the young, nimble and very underrated Hawks.
Baron was terrific, pouring in 35 points to go with seven assists, but he concedes he “didn’t think that we [GSW] came with a sense of urgency early.”
Monta scored 26 points and Wright’s eight points and eight boards opened up Nellie’s eyes, as you will hear in the postgame audio, but they are mere footnotes in what was a truly disappointing effort.
In addition to the lackluster start, the Dubs once again allowed an average NBA guard to get off. On this night, it was Salim Stoudamire’s turn to make the W’s perimeter defense look bad. Like Chris Duhon and Roger Mason Jr. before him, Stoudamire recorded a season-high 18 points and looked as if he was reliving his days as a stud guard at Arizona.
Joe Johnson is truly a beast. He ripped the Warriors for 27, 8 & 8, and was the point man in the low post that facilitated wide open shots from downtown for any Hawk so inclined.
I may be going over the deep end on this post, considering how thrilling the Warriors win versus Boston was, but if the boys don’t get it together during this very winnable stretch of games - Seattle is next - then it really would be difficult to expect them to sneak into the playoffs. Somehow, they’ll have to pull together while Webber continues to get into shape and Andris recovers from surgery.
If there’s any good news to report, I overheard Stephen Jackson in the tunnel say he will be back for the game Tuesday versus the Sonics. His emotion and firepower is just what the doctor ordered.
exclusive postgame audio
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Tags: Baron Davis, Brandan Wright, Hawks, monta, slow start, stephen jackson
