Posts tagged ‘warriors’

Monta may be the current employee of the month, but Baron is still the boss at the Oracle.

Box Score

The big three were in the building and there were ugly patches of green scattered amongst the Warriors faithful. The mighty Celtics had come to town.

The Warriors opened with a brand new starting five, made necessary by Jack’s severe ankle sprain. Nellie threw out a squad of Baron, Monta, Pietrus, Biedrins and C-Webb to face the green monsters.

The first quarter started out rough. The Celtics charged ahead to a nine point lead. The Warriors picked up the pace and got back into the game behind some nice passing from Monta to Beans, a rare made three by Pietrus and some strong finishes from Baron and Monta. The intimidation factor wasn’t present and the Warriors were up three going into the second.

32-29 Warriors.

The loss of Jack really started to kick in during the second quarter. When Nellie rested Monta, the Dubs’ game faltered. Barnes was off and the turnovers started piling up. The Celtics had no such problems and were able to go on a couple of runs with Garnett and Ray-Ray resting behind some great shooting by their other Allen - Tony.

Celtics up 57-50 going into the half.

Play got very physical in the second half. The players started bumping, banging, and shoving, slowing the game down considerably. Ray Allen’s shooting was so pretty it made me sick. The Warriors got down by 12 before stepping up the D.

They started slapping the ball away and the refs were letting both teams play after a lot of contact. Pietrus stepped up big time and looked better than he has all season. Late in the third quarter, he soared in for a giant putback dunk after a missed three from Baron and then stole the ball from Pierce for an uncontested dunk on the very next play. The Warriors were back in the game and the stage was set for a huge fourth quarter.

84-82 Celtics.

The Celtics did not play much defense on this night. They had successfully shut Monta down in the third with tremendous pressure whenever he handled the ball, keeping him from scoring a single point. Ellis started the fourth determined to breakout and he got hot. He and Al stepped up, hitting their jumpers and drawing fouls while attacking the rim. Ray and Tony Allen went on a tear of scoring for the C’s and matched every Warriors run.

Baron had played his heart out all game and looked tired. He passed the ball to Monta early for most of the possessions, leaning on the young man to make the right decisions. The lead swung back and forth all quarter with both teams battling for every rebound and loose ball. Pietrus and Baron put the Warriors up 112-107 with made free-throws, but Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo shot the C’s back into the game.

114-113 Warriors with 1:28 left to play.

Once again it’s up to All Day Monta in crunch time. Al found Ellis open off of a low screen by Beans and the kid drilled a mid-range, baseline jumper to put the Dubs up by 3 with under a minute to play. Baron added a free throw after Rondo fouled him and the Warriors were up four with 38 seconds left.

Pierce sank two sets of free throws (one after Matt Barnes completely blows a play and airballs a floater - which Nellie harps on in the postgame below), and the game is tied with six seconds left.

After a time out, the Warriors inbounded the ball into Baron. He lowered his shoulder and started to drive, putting Tony Allen back on his heels. At the last moment, BD pulled up, stepped back and nailed a 20 foot jumper with .3 left on the clock. The massive crowd goes berserk, the bench goes berserk, I go berserk, you go berserk, the Celtics go home.

It was a wonderful showing by almost every player.

Baron is the boss, don’t mess with the man in his house.

Monta fought through some intense pressure and had yet another huge night. With Jackson out, he dished out a career high nine assists, many of them to Biedrins on pick-and-rolls and picked up 12 of his 26 points in the hard fought fourth quarter.

Al added 22 points and 12 rebounds coming off of the bench, and played stellar D against Perkins, Pierce and at times Garnett. His drives were under control and he didn’t try and hit every three–pointer he saw.

Pietrus had what was by far his best game of the season. He was all over the court as usual and came up big on several possessions offensively and defensively. Life would be a lot better for everyone if he could do that kind of thing more often.

Andris threw in a fat double-double with 21 and 13, a steal, and a monster block.

C-Webb watch: 20 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. He’s looking better each game. He got severely scorched on D by the smaller guys and Garnett but those three blocks are a good sign.

Some mellower games coming up with the Hawks on Friday, and the Sonics on Tuesday. But if you know the Warriors, you know something nuts is going to happen.

exclusive postgame audio

Baron Davis

Al Harrington

Stephen Jackson

Don Nelson

Celtics audio:

Ray Allen

Kevin Garnett

Paul Pierce

Doc Rivers

JRich was welcomed home with cheers, but his Bobcats were sent packing in a brutal blowout.

Box Score

The Warriors shook off the flu and came down with an unfamiliar strain of the consistents. It’s been noted that this team seems to play up to higher level opponents and down to lesser ones. If that pattern held true then the Warriors should have come out slow and lazy against the stumbling Bobcats. That pattern didn’t hold true.

This game was what Dubs fans have been craving - an entertaining smack down of a lesser team complete with big minutes for the rookies.

Look at this even spread of playing time:

Every single player on the squad got to hit the court and have fun. Even Patrick O’Bryant, who has been completely excluded from Nellie’s game plan, got in there and did some damage in the last six minutes.

Baron and the Dubs got passed over once again for the All-Star team (more on this later) and responded by playing like a team of All-Stars. Baron, Jack, and Monta stamped their mark on the game early with intense drives, dead-eye shooting and pretty assists. Jackson in particular played the part of the distributor, finding Andris multiple times after driving and drawing defenders.

Jack continued to look for teammates in the third quarter with a substantial lead, demonstrating a previously absent attention to aggression. Rather than start heaving lazy jumpers, Jack kept up the play that got them their lead in the first place, helping earn himself and the rest of the starters an unheard of rest for the entire fourth quarter. The aggression wasn’t limited to offense. The steals and deflections that are key to the Warriors’ game were numerous. Baron played JRich close and strong, Andris defended the rim and the Dubs quickly set up camp in the Cats’ heads. It was a wonderful team effort, highlighted by individual execution. It was a joy to watch.

In a brief attempt to remove my rose-colored glasses, I’ll mention that Al was destroyed by Okafor in the first quarter. His attempts to front Emeka down low were met with endless lob passes followed by emphatic dunks. The defense in the low block was improved vastly by Andris. The only other gripe I can force myself to utter is that the free throw shooting is still spotty. It seems that the norm is to split the gimmes.

End of the game notes: Welcome to the Puppy Bowl.

Getting to watch Brandan Wright, Marco Belinelli and the rest of the second stringers run the show for an entire quarter was a gift. The crowd was fired up to see the rookies. The Oracle urged the Italian sharpshooter to let it fly as soon as he touched the ball. BWright threw down a massive left-handed jam that brought everyone to their feet and caused Baron to attempt to cool him off via towel waving from the other end of the court. These guys might be pretty good. Brandan’s play was pure hustle, ears, elbows, hands - that highlight dunk gave me chills. Marco nailed a three, converted a nice drive and racked up couple of assists. He looked fairly relaxed on offense, but perhaps a tad slow for the scrambling Warriors defense.

The JRich show was conspicuously absent. Baron played him tight and he hit the bench for good late in the third quarter. I have to admit that it made me rather sad to see him playing against the Dubs at home and for his new team to be embarrassed. For those of you wishing to wallow in sentimentality, watch this epic video of the glorious BoomRich Backcourt from back in the day.

The Backcourt: YouTube mix by 510 entertainment.

It’s a long break for the Dubs followed by three winnable games at in home in the form of Chicago, Sacto, and Washington. Some old dude you may have heard of is expected to make his return against the Bulls on Thursday.

Boom Dizzle has once again been passed up as an All-Star, but Ann Killion of the Mercury News has him starting on her All-Snub team.

Last bit of news: The West just got a whole lot tougher (and quite a bit uglier). The Lakers shipped out big disappointment Kwame Brown for the big Spaniard, Pau Gasol. This is kind of a big deal.

Warriors basketball at its best.

Box Score

It seems that the addition of Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and the return of Don Nelson has added an unseen element to the Warriors that too many lineups from the recent past have lacked — some freaking pride. Over and over again, this team bounces back from a disappointing loss with a gritty, all-out performance. For the most part Baron and the boys refuse to lose back-to-back games and this game was no exception.

This may have been the best win of the season to date. The Hornets were well rested, while the Warriors had participated in a bruising loss the night before. The Hornets were red hot and sitting on top of the Western Conference, while the Warriors were recently bounced down to ninth place. The Hornets had won nine straight in dominating fashion against some of the elite teams in the league, while the Warriors had been scrambling like crazy to beat teams like the Knicks and the Nets. All signs pointed towards a blowout loss for the Dubs, but the signs were pointing in the wrong direction.

Baron and Chris Paul pulled out all the stops and battled back and forth all game. Paul looked unstoppable in the first half. He was Nash-like in his control of the ball and was shooting lights out. Chris Paul is no longer on the rise, he’s here. Baron played his guts out after battling the flu and heavy minutes the night before. He responded to the ire of his old home crowd with multiple cold blooded 3-pointers, bowling ball drives and smooth step back jumpers.

Monta Ellis was an absolute highlight reel. His lightning fast drives, sky high rebounds and newly discovered passing prowess (including a no look, behind the head dish to Beans) had the hostile NO fans oohing and ahhing.

Al kept whatever shooting mojo he found late against the Rockets and hit one three after another early on.

Beans seems to be getting stronger and stronger on the boards and on D. After watching David West feast on Pietrus and Harrington all game, Nellie finally put the one big man he trusts in and Andris was able to (comparatively) shut him down in the fourth.

BWright got two minutes of playing time to end the first half and got himself a rebound, a tip-in and two made free throws.

Jack is back, big time. The man played a beautiful game. He did hard work on Tyson Chandler and anyone else he was stuck with on D and couldn’t miss, going 10-16 from the field and 3-6 from deep.

The list goes on and on, it was a magical night for the Warriors. I think the most impressive thing to take from this exhilarating game is the consistent effort. There were no lulls, no sustained offensive apathy or defensive disintegration. They kept their foot on the gas until the finish line.

There’s no way the Dubs can shoot this well every game, but they couldn’t have picked a better time to get unconscious.

Go Warriors.

JRich is coming home wearing some strange colors, Bobcats on Friday.