Let’s just call this one B minus two.  B as in Beans. The Warriors are counting down the games until their starting center returns to action, and they never missed him more than they did on this night.  Because with Biedrins in the middle for this game, the Warriors might very well have come away with the win. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph steamrolled the Warriors front line for a combined 55 points and 27 rebounds, and came within one of fouling out both of the Warriors “centers,” Chris Hunter and Anthony Randolph.

Despite this huge disadvantage, the Warriors were competitive in this game.  With about 6 minutes to play, the Warriors were down 7, and Monta had the ball in his hands and was headed up court.  Unfortunately, he forgot to dribble.  That moment of ineptitude kickstarted an avalanche of ineptitude that buried the Warriors down the stretch. Monta was unable to take over the game when it counted, and the exhausted and fouled-out Warriors were unable to hold off the Grizzlies’ interior assault.

Biedrins minus two.

Monta Ellis:  Monta got himself into early foul trouble, which if the Warriors hadn’t been pummeled so mercilessly inside, would have been the story of this game.  A couple of the offensive foul calls were questionable, but the bottom line is that the Warriors rely too much on Monta for him to allow this to happen.  He needs to play smarter, and even back off a little, in order to keep himself on the court.  Don Nelson said post-game that Monta’s fourth foul, which occurred in the second quarter, had the double effect of costing the Warriors a large stretch of minutes without him, and taking Monta out of his real game when he did return.

Monta has been a revelation so far this year.  He is an elite scorer, and a surprisingly effective defender.  He has also begun demonstrating some leadership qualities.  But what he isn’t, at this stage, is a closer.  He has been unable to close quarters and games effectively.  This game was no exception. When the Warriors needed him to take this game over in the fourth, he once again came up flat and turnover prone.  Blame the refs if you like, but I see a larger pattern.  This is an area where he needs to grow.

Stephen Curry:  Curry may have played more minutes than Nellie wanted him to, because of Ellis’ foul trouble, and CJ Watson and Morrow’s ineffective shooting.  He played a solid game, but seemed to tire in the fourth quarter.  Still, 14 and 8 represents a continuation of his steady improvement.

He was robbed of one assist on a play that Jim Barnett and I thought was sensational. He ran a high pick and roll with Hunter, that he finished with a left handed pass, off the dribble, that hit Hunter right on the hands. Hunter failed to finish the bunny, but picked up a foul. That high pick and roll play is one that I have been predicting since the beginning of the year would be a staple for the Warriors.  But with the injuries to Biedrins and Turiaf, it has been buried.

Matt Steinmetz has opined that the return of Biedrins and Turiaf won’t do much to improve the Warriors offense.  I think he’s nuts.

Beans minus two.

The Blackhole:  Maggette was the Warriors’ best player in this game.  He got the start at small forward, as Nelson opened the game playing big.  I’m sure that pleased him no end.

Maggette did everything right in the first half.  Drove the ball and got to the line.  Moved the ball well.  Defended on Gay. His fourth quarter was not as good.  He made a bad turnover on a 2 on 1 break.  But that turnover I place squarely on Monta’s shoulders.  He gave up the ball too early, hoping to get it back, rather than driving it all the way, and then giving it up.

Maggette also settled for jumpers on two possessions in the fourth quarter that cost the Warriors. Again, I don’t really fault him for that.  On both of those possessions, the Grizzlies were sagging off of him, and basically triple-teaming the drive. The jumper is what was open.

The Warriors needed better play calls in that spot.  Either that, or for Monta Ellis to take over the game. You decide.

Chris Hunter:  Hunter was terrific in this game, in all phases except rebounding.  He is at his best when playing against larger opponents like Marc Gasol.  After the game, Nellie was asked if Hunter would see minutes after Biedrins and Turiaf returned.  Nellie, replied yes, that he foresees the need to play a third center in the future.  He also said something that I have been fearing: that the Warriors’ are unsure just how well Turiaf will be able to play on his knee. We learned before the season that Turiaf has a cartilage problem, and I have a bad feeling that he will be the next Warrior to submit to surgery in this season.

We also learned from the broadcast team that Hunter was limited by shin splints during the road trip.  Which explains why he played so little.  This might be of interest to Adam Lauridsen and Geoff Lepper and the other commentators who hammered the Warriors’ coaching staff for playing small lineups on the road trip.  Actually, what am I thinking?  Of course it won’t interest them.  They have an agenda that is blind to reality.

Anthony Randolph:  This was not a good game for Randolph.  He got steamrolled on the boards, even letting the rookie Thabeet outmaneuver him for an offensive rebound off a free throw.  Randolph is in the game, first and foremost, to rebound.  He has a tendency to forget that at times, as Don Nelson has pointed out.

Randolph also wanted nothing to do with Marc Gasol in the paint, as I predicted.  5 fouls in 20 minutes.  He’s not going to earn minutes with this performance.

Vlad Rad and CJ Watson:  Both of these guys had off games.  Vlad gotten eaten alive on the boards by Zach Randolph. And neither was very effective offensively.

Anthony Morrow:  Who?

The Warriors are +7.5 road dogs to the Memphis Grizzlies?  Wow, when is the last time you saw a Warriors/Grizzlies line like that?  Unfortunately, I can’t find much fault with it.  This ain’t your grandpappy’s Grizzlies.  This team has a loaded starting lineup, and they are really starting to play.  In the last three weeks, they’ve beaten the Mavs, the Cavs, and the Nuggets at home.  Impressive.

The still short-handed Warriors are going to have matchup problems all over the floor with the Grizzlies.  Starting with Marc Gasol.  Gasol is 7-1, 265, and is averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds.  Wow.  That much derided Gasol for Gasol trade is looking better with every passing day.  I can’t imagine Nellie starting anyone but Hunter against Gasol, and the Warriors will need a big effort from the rook to have a chance in this game.  Eventually, of course, Nellie will go to Randolph to try and pull the big galoot out of the lane.  But if Randolph’s last effort against Haywood is any example, Randolph will not want any part of Gasol on the defensive end.  Particularly because with Biedrins and Turiaf so close to returning, Randolph can see the light at the end of the switch-to-power-forward tunnel.  Why risk injury now?

The best way the Warriors can defend Gasol is to depend on the Grizzlies’ various black-holes not to pass him the rock.

Their leading, and legendary, black hole is Zach Randolph.  Unfortunately, he is so talented it doesn’t really matter if he passes.  All he did in his last game against the Nuggets was put up 32 and 24.  Vlad Rad and Corey Maggette will have their hands full with ZR.  But he’ll have his hands full as well. In the last Warriors game with Memphis, Nellie attacked Zach Randolph’s defense unmercifully with Stephen Jackson and Maggette.  Look for more of the same tonight.

That leaves Rudy Gay and OJ Mayo.  No problem.  If the last game is any guide, it’ll be Monta on Gay, Curry on Mayo, and Morrow on the non-scoring point guard Mike Conley.  Sweet.

Morrow had a pretty decent game against Memphis the last time out.  (Was that his last decent game this season?)  Will the Grizzlies make the defensive adjustment that other NBA teams have made, and throw a blanket over Chocolate Rain?  The Warriors will need a surprise appearance from Morrow or Vlad Rad to have a chance in this game.

The other big subplot that interests me in this game stars Stephen Curry.  Curry finally broke out for 27 points in the last game.  He was very aggressive looking for his shot right from the get-go.  The Warriors need him in that role.  Can he follow through on the road?

Breakfast Links:

The Chronicle reports that Don Nelson has a big smile on his face.  Here’s why.

Marcus Thompson reports the same story.  If you read closely, you might spot some optimism from Monta Ellis. Welcome back Beans and Rony!

And Marcus Thompson follows up with the ramifications for Anthony Randolph, Corey Maggette and Vlad Rad. Don Nelson play big?  Is the end of the world at hand?  Some of us have been predicting it.

Part Un Deux et Trois of AB1’s epic sit-down with Marcus Thompson over at GSoM.  Why does the media hate Don Nelson? Is there a future for the Ellis/Curry backcourt?  Edification awaits.

The Thaiblonde and I rocked the GSoM holiday party at the Oracle last night.  It was great to meet up with the whole crew of GSoM for the first time.  Great group of guys, great Warriors fans, great writers.  And I also met Dan Turman of Fear the Beard fame. So cool.  Awesome time.  Thanks, GSoM!

Watching the Warriors play was only the second most fun thing I did at the game, so I’m not going to drop a recap.  I did notice a couple of things out of the corner of my eye, though:

Anthony Randolph:  Randolph watchers had to be pleased by the run Nellie gave him in this game.  As to his performance, you’d have to say it was a mixed bag.  I loved him leading the break and dishing the ball: 5 assists.  I loved him, at times, running the point-center.  I loved his offensive rebounds and a few of his finishes. I tolerated his missed jumpers (although they send Jae at GSoM through the roof.  Down, Jae!) .  But I hated Randolph’s defense against Haywood, his late defensive rotations, and the forced rookie passes that lead to 5 turnovers.  And I hated his FAIL at inbounding the ball at midcourt. Have you seen that his agent is now floating a $50 million extension number?  A Warriors buddy of mine said it best in an email after the game: “You can’t get that type of dough until you learn how to legally inbound the ball.”

And one other thing, for those who want to see Randolph starting and playing major minutes at center for the Warriors, no matter how big the behemoth on the other team.  Randolph wanted no part of Brendan Haywood in the paint last night.  He did not want to bang with him. He let him have everything he wanted. Looking at the size disparity at close hand, I’m not sure I blame him.  But there it is.  The Randolph Conundrum.

I’m going to say it now, so prepare your air-sickness bag: the Warriors missed Mikki Moore in this game.

Monta Ellis: Is Monta Ellis (8 turnovers) completely comfortable yet being the go-to guy in the fourth quarter?  I’m just asking.

Corey Maggette: For all of you who hate Maggette, please take a look at his line going out-of-position against Antwan Jamison last night:  Maggette: 23 points on 6-10, 8 boards.  Jamison: 10 points on 4-14, 10 boards.

Maggette has been dealt a rotten hand by this injury-ravaged Warriors team.  He is forced to grind it out in the paint against bigger players every game. Have you ever seen him dog it?  Have you ever heard a peep out of him?

How anyone could boo Corey Maggette is completely beyond me.  He is demanding respect.

He’s got mine.

The Natural: Is Stephen Curry making his move?  Don Nelson battled with Steve Nash for two years about looking for his own offense, before the lightbulb finally went on for Nash and he started to become the player he is now.  I’ve said it before, and I’m going to keep saying it: Curry is on a faster track.  This kid’s intelligence is off the charts, and so is his talent.

The Warriors are desperate for a third scorer (among other things), and I think Curry realizes now that it must be him.

The Warriors season may be all but over, but we have this consolation: the Rookie of the Year race is only beginning.

Vlad Rad:  Vlad had a clearly diminished role in last night’s game, but I thought he had a pretty good floor game in limited minutes.  Clearly Nellie delivered a message that he needs to find ways to help the team, no matter how his shot is going.  He did it last night: +1.

Anthony Morrow:  Who?

Hey, the Warriors are a 3 point favorite tonight!  Say what?  Well, the Warriors are facing the Washington Wizards, a team ridden with dissension, beset by trade rumors, and the proud owners of a nearly identical record to the Warriors. And they’re on a 6-game losing streak.

All of which gives me a sinking feeling.  Why?  Well there’s the simple fact that the Warriors are again down to a simple 6 or 7 man rotation, and have no front line.  Chris Hunter, Anthony Randolph and Vlad Rad are not a front line, despite the protestations of Adam Lauridsen to the contrary.  Over the past several games, not one of those players has been consistently playable.  And even if they were, fatigue and foul trouble will require Nelson to reserve them at center, and play Corey Maggette and Anthony Morrow at power forward.

Then there is the fact the Wizards are not actually playing that poorly.  Their biggest losing margin in their 6 game losing streak was by4 points, at Detroit.  They lost to the Celtics by 2 at home.  And they lost their last two road games by 3 and 2 points.

And then there’s this quote from an interview with Gilbert Arenas:

Arenas said making drastic roster changes wouldn’t be wise, and he believes the Wizards – who have lost those six straight by a combined 14 points – are close to stopping their slide.

Uh, oh.  Did he take a glance at the schedule?  The Wizards will be taking aim at this game, and doing it with a real front line.

Matchup madness:

Nellie has owned Flip Saunders over the years, but in a game with only 6 or 7 pieces, there’s not a whole lot of matchup options.

Brendan Haywood is the Wizard’s monstrous starting center.  Will Nellie try to run him off the floor immediately with Vlad Rad, or start with Chris Hunter?  This might be a game in which Hunter gets considerable time, because he tends to match up better with bigger, slower players (Oden, Howard) as opposed to more mobile players who stretch the floor. But I’m guessing Nellie tries to force the Wizards to match up small by running with Vlad.

Gilbert Arenas is the head of the Wizards’ snake, but Caron Butler is a lethal scorer on the wing as well.  I would love to see Monta guard Arenas, but Nellie may opt to keep him on Butler to save his legs.

Antwan Jamison against Corey Maggette could me the key matchup of the game.  Jamison has been on fire for the Wizards lately.  He is very good at torching bigger, slower power forwards.  Maggette will give him a different look.  Can he keep him out of the paint?

Light some incense, pray for chocolate rain.  The Warriors will have a tough time winning this game unless either Vlad Rad or Anthony Morrow gets hot.

Another day, another Warrior bites the dust.  Before the game, the Warriors got the news that Mikki Moore will need surgery for the bone spurs in his ankle that have been plaguing him this season.  Moore struggled as best he could on this injury for several weeks, unwilling to leave the team while it was so desperate for big men.  But apparently it got too bad to continue.  As a fan, I am greatly appreciative of what Moore did for the team this season.  He gave everything he had, playing through pain.

As for the game, I was very pleasantly surprised by the Warriors’ effort and competitiveness, given the fact that they no longer have any option but to start Vlad Rad at center and Corey Maggette at power forward.  I loved Don Nelson’s game plan in this game.  He began the game by putting the ball in Stephen Curry’s hands, and emphasizing ball movement.  The Warriors tried to get all of their players involved.  Vlad Rad in particular was the beneficiary of several wide open looks.  Unfortunately, his wretched shooting slump continued.  He went 0-8 in this game.

Monta Ellis once again wound up with over 30 shots, but that doesn’t indicate the kind of game he played.  He really picked his spots in this game, and bided his time. I felt that Nelson was holding him back a little for the fourth quarter, the way that the Lakers sometimes hold Kobe Bryant back.  And sure enough, in the fourth quarter Monta turned it on. He made the first two Warriors buckets of the quarter, and cut the Spurs lead to 7.  Unfortunately, the Warriors got absolutely nothing from their big men down the stretch. Both Vlad Rad and Anthony Randolph continued to come up empty on open jumpers, and Randolph couldn’t hold off Tim Duncan in the paint.

The Warriors really competed in this game.  Watching them play, I got the feeling that having either Biedrins or Turiaf, let alone both, might have been enough to get them over the hump against one of the best teams in the league. So unlike after watching that miserable Sixers game, I wasn’t depressed by this game. As dispiriting as it can be to watch the Warriors lose game after game right now, their play continues to give me hope that once they return to full strength they will be a surprisingly good team.

Monta Ellis: Monta looked like a fully developed superstar in this game.  He laid back when he was supposed to, and took over when he was needed.  He poured in 35 points, but it was a quiet 35, if such a thing were possible.  His 1 turnover, against 5 assists, indicates how little he forced his offense. He just seemed in complete control of his game. His teammates simply weren’t there for him.

Corey Maggette:  Maggette also had a beautifully efficient offensive game.  He was extremely effective in picking his spots, as indicated by his 8-10 shooting, and his 5 assists.  He tortured Matt Bonner, in what turned into an excellent matchup for the Warriors.

Vlad Rad: We’ve been watching the Anti-Vlad in the last few games.  Is there any other way to put it?  Vlad is known for his outside shooting.  He’s not known for his defense or rebounding.  But the Vlad of the last few games has been giving a spirited and surprisingly effective effort on defense and on the boards, without being able to hit the side of a barn with his shot.  Tonight, you could again see how much his shooting slump is messing with his head.  The Spurs were actually daring him to shoot open threes.  I wonder if that’s ever happened to him before.

Don Nelson rotated Vlad and Randolph in and out, trying to find some kind of consistent contribution.  It didn’t work. And when Nellie pulled Vlad for good in the fourth quarter, the Oracle crowd rained boos down on him.  I absolutely hated that.  The fans who booed him are simply ignorant.  Straight up ignorant.

Two kinds of players deserve boos.  Selfish players and players who don’t work hard.  Since he’s become a Warrior, Vlad has been neither of those.  In this game, he drew the toughest assignment on the floor, guarding the much bigger Tim Duncan in the post.  And he did a heck of a job guarding him without fouling.  Duncan went 3-10 in the first half with Vlad guarding him exclusively.

Vlad Rad is a player the Warriors need to hit shots.  He’s in a shooting funk right now, which happens.  His career shooting percentage from 3, which is near 40%, suggests that he won’t be in a funk forever.  But in the meantime, he’s doing everything the short-handed Warriors are asking him to do on the defensive end, and doing it well.

That’s more than enough for this Warriors fan.

Anthony Morrow: Morrow has been an invisible man for the Warriors for several games now.  The league has scouted him, and he’s just not getting left alone at the three point line.  Nellie said before the game that Morrow has to work harder to become a more complete basketball player.  Which means, on the offensive end, do more to make himself open.  Nellie tried to help him out by running a few plays for him, a little two-man-game action.  It worked exactly once.  But left to his own devices, Morrow remained invisible.

The problem with Anthony Morrow, as I noted in my pre-season analysis, is that he’s just too slow and unathletic to ever be anything but a spot-up shooter in a half-court offense.  Now that the Warriors are missing their top 3 centers and are regularly getting outrebounded by 20, their fast break has disappeared.  So half-court offense is what they’re left with.  That’s bad news for Morrow.  He thrives on open jumpers in transition.  In the half court, he’s been wearing a blanket.

Some commentators have been suggesting that the Warriors run plays for Morrow.  Run him around 2 picks to set up his jumper, a la Reggie Miller and Rip Hamilton.  I have news for these commentators.  Anthony Morrow is too damn slow for those plays.  By the time he clears two picks and runs out to his spot, not one, but two shot clocks will have gone off.

The Warriors miss Biedrins and Turiaf terribly.  But they are also badly missing  Kelenna Azubuike right now.  A shut-down defender, and a player capable of enforcing his will on offense every night.  Two things that Anthony Morrow, for all his effort, can never be.

Anthony Randolph: Randolph was brought into this game to play against DeJuan Blair at back-up center in this game (Yes, the Spurs have been playing the 6-7 Blair at center — as I happened to predict).  I know all about what Blair did to the 7-2 Hasheem Thabeet in the NCAA tournament.  I don’t care.  In the NBA, Anthony Randolph should eat DeJuan Blair alive.  And that’s just what happened in the first half.  Randolph used his speed to get around Blair and force him to foul.  In the second half, Randolph suffered from mental lapses.  He settled for his jumper too often, when the drive was wide open.  And he failed to box out Blair on at least two occasions, causing Nellie to yank him and get in his face.  In general, Randolph was terrible on the boards in this game.  4 rebounds in 25 minutes.  That’s not getting it done.

In the fourth quarter, when Nellie gave up on the downcast Vlad Rad, Randolph battled extensively with Duncan in the post.  He did a decent job, but just doesn’t have either the strength or the savvy to stay with Duncan at this point in his career.

Stephen Curry: Curry’s game didn’t make much of an impression in the box score.  But he always manages to do something good to surprise me.  In this game, his defense on Tony Parker was a revelation. He had very little trouble staying in front of Parker, and successfully stripped him on several occasions. Take a look at Parker’s line: 5-11 for 12 pts.  3 assists against 5 turnovers. That’s a pretty great defensive game.  Either Parker has slowed considerably, or Curry is a lot quicker on his feet than people give him credit for.

One thing Curry has on defense that cannot be denied is a phenomenal intelligence.  He’s barely a quarter of the way through his first season, and he appears to know exactly where his man wants to go, and how to keep him from getting there.  And there’s that nose for the ball: 4 steals.

Curry was hampered by foul trouble in this game, which has been a frequent problem for him.  One was a silly offensive foul at the end of the first half, which denied Monta his first quarter ending bucket of the season.  Another was on George Hill.  So three fouls while holding down Tony Parker.  I’m impressed.

The wind chill in Chicago tonight was 12 degrees. It appeared that the Warriors felt it: they shot 38% in this game. I’m guessing in the second half it was a lot closer to 25%.  Its pretty tough to win on the road when you are that cold.  And yet, the Warriors looked like the better team for most of this game, and despite all their struggles, had a tie score and the ball with 24 seconds left.  They ran an isolation for Monta Ellis at the top of the key, he drove the lane, ignored Anthony Morrow standing wide open in the corner, and flung up a contested airball.  The Warrior’s frigid shooting continued in overtime, and that was the ballgame.  

When your team shoots 38% from the field, yet manages to take a road game to overtime, it’s a little ridiculous to pick nits. But that’s what I do! My critical eye found a few other contributing factors to this loss, that I’ll get into with my coaching and player evaluations.  Beginning with the coaching:

Keith Smart: Vinny del Negro made an interesting decision in this game.  He started Brad Miller at the four, and went with a super big front line.  And he gave his team instructions to take the air out of the ball.  It was so evident that Jim Barnett remarked that Derrick Rose, who is superb in the open court, was deliberately not attacking the basket in transition.  I think this was a ridiculous strategy, a clear example of over-coaching.

But Keith Smart failed to find a way to exploit it.  The entire game was played at the Bulls tempo. I discuss a few of the lineup choices that I believe contributed to this below.  I’m not sure exactly what Don Nelson would have done differently.  I’m just going to note that I think Don Nelson would not have let the Bulls play this game the way they wanted to play it.  Win or lose, Nellie would have found a way to push the tempo, and run Brad Miller off the court.

Monta Ellis: Ellis had his jumper going in the first half, and the Warriors cruised to a 7 point half-time lead.  It all fell apart for him in the third quarter, though.  By the time he was pulled with about 3 minutes left in the quarter, he had gone something like 0-7, committed three TO’s, and the Warriors were down 3.

He played better in the fourth quarter, particularly defensively, but just couldn’t get it done in crunch time.  Several times he made the decision to drive into a packed lane and try to finish, rather than look for his open teammates.  Its hard to fault him for that, for a couple of reasons.  First, superstars take the shots at end of games.  That’s what they do. Secondly, Monta’s teammates gave him absolutely no reason to believe that they could hit an open shot in this game.

It needs to be asked, though:  Has Monta Ellis hit a single end of quarter or end of game shot so far this season?  I can’t remember him hitting even one.

Stephen Curry: Curry was virtually invisible in this game on offense.  His outside shot was off, and he got a total of 9 shots, to Monta’s 26.  But the rest of his game was pretty good.  His defense was excellent: Salmons went 4-16, Rose 7-22 (he split time on both).  And he played without committing a turnover.

Smart sat him for most of the fourth quarter, in favor of the far slower, and ice-cold Anthony Morrow.  That’s one of the decisions I wonder if Nellie would have made.  The havoc that the three point-guard look created against the bigger, slower Nets might very well have worked as well against the bigger, slower Bulls.

Corey Maggette: Maggette played a pretty good game.  He took a few of his patented terrible jumpers, but he actually made a couple of them.  Most of his misses came on layups and drives, which is a disturbing trend of his lately. But take a look as well at the number of free throws he shot in this game:  zero.  That’s a travesty.

Maggette gave a great effort on defense though.  And his 10 rebounds led the team.

Part of Maggette’s struggles in this game I attribute to Smart.  Recently, Maggette has had a tough time getting his offense against quick and athletic power forwards like Carl Landry and Jeff Green.  Luol Deng is also quick and athletic.  And yet in crunch time, Smart went frequently to Maggette in isolation against Luol Deng.  It didn’t work.

Note to Keith Smart: Corey Maggette does not have a mismatch against long, quick, athletic power forwards.  (Didn’t I already write this note once?  Someone forward it to him please.)

CJ Watson: CJ was totally solid in this game.  Take a look at his line, and see if you can find fault with it.  He also contributed to the excellent defense the Warriors played against the Bulls backcourt.  He simply did not get enough shots.

Anthony Randolph: In a curious decision that I’m sure will be debated in the forums, Smart gave Randolph a quick hook in both halves of this game.  I’m not sure what the reason was, but I assume it had something to do with not executing the game plan.  Randolph did take a couple of bad shots, but I didn’t see anything else.  He seemed to have good energy.  His rebound total was a little low, but he had 2 blocked shots.

I’m down with disciplining young players, if that’s what happened, but it’s too bad it happened in this game.  I think Randolph was absolutely key to speeding up the tempo against the Bulls.  The outcome could have very well been different if he had gotten 30 minutes instead of 18.

Vlad Rad and Anthony Morrow: were both cold as ice in this game.  For a change, both had all the open looks they wanted.  But they just couldn’t convert.  Their combined 8-28 was probably more responsible than any other factor for this loss.  I will note this difference in the two players, though:  Anthony Morrow kept shooting through the pain. Which is what a shooter is supposed to do.

Vlad, on the other hand, gave in to the pain, and passed up several open looks down the stretch.  Besides leading to a turnover or two, this really hurt the Warriors.  The looks they got, with the shot clock winding down, were nowhere near as good as the ones he turned down. As he did it, I could hear the hectoring voices of Phil Jackson and Larry Brown echoing in his head.  It will take time for the voice of Don Nelson to replace those voices: a created shot must be taken.  In Don Nelson’s system, Vlad needs to let it rip, and damn the consequences.

And once again, I return to Keith Smart.  Smart stuck with Vlad Rad, even playing him at center, despite the fact that he was getting no contribution from him on offense.

I hope he had a very good reason for sitting Randolph.

The 7-14 Warriors are +4.5 road dogs at the 7-13 Bulls tonight. As their record indicates, the Bulls are not playing like the playoff team of last year.  They have been missing Tyrus Thomas and Kirk Hinrich due to injury.  Hinrich returned in the last game, but is still being bothered by a sprained thumb. In my mind, Hinrich is the key reason for the Bulls struggles. I remember the Bulls also struggling last year when he missed time.  For all of his talent, Derrick Rose has not yet proven to be an effective point guard and leader for his team.  The sum of this Bulls team has not been greater than its parts.

The backcourt matchups in this game will be very interesting. Monta Ellis likes to take the other team’s best scorer. Well, is the Bulls best scorer Derrick Rose (16.1), Luol Deng (17.3), or John Salmons (14.4)? Personally I’d like to see Monta guard Rose, and force him to be a passer.  That is not his forte.  If that’s the way Smart goes, Curry and Morrow will have their hands full.

Actually, no matter how the matchups are worked, Morrow needs our prayers in this game.  He will be tough to hide.

At center, Mikki Moore will have his hands full trying to keep Joakim Noah off the boards.  But the matchup at backup center could be a good one for the Warriors.  Brad Miller will have a very tough time running with, let alone staying in front of Anthony Randolph.  And on the other end, Miller is a high-post center who likes to operate from outside. He will have a hard time punishing Randolph in the post.

The Warriors most promising matchup this game, as in the last game, might be at power forward.  In the absence of Thomas, the Bulls have been going with rookie Taj Gibson.  He’s been a nice surprise, but will have a tough time guarding Vlad Rad and Corey Maggette.  The best thing the Bulls could do against the Warriors, in fact, would be to leave Gibson on the bench, and play “small” with Luol Deng at the four.  Will Vinny del Negro be able to find this move?

If Vlad Rad and Corey Maggette give the kind of effort on defense and on the boards that they did against the Nets, then this is a winnable game.

Keith Smart began this game by putting the ball firmly in Stephen Curry’s hands. Curry ran the point, Curry ran the plays, and Curry took most of the shots in the opening minutes.  Monta played off the ball.  This was a great call by the coaching staff, one that set the tone for a new Warriors philosophy of ball movement.  I could tell right from the start that this game would be about sharing the basketball.    

The change in philosophy was evident in the play of Monta Ellis as well. This was a game in which Monta Ellis undertook to transform himself from a self-obsessed scorer into an unselfish team leader.  Whether it was because he finally looked himself — and his 2 assist 9 turnover boxscore in the last game — in the mirror, or because Don Nelson and Keith Smart finally got his attention, Monta radically changed his approach. When he drove the ball, he looked to dish to his teammates FIRST, rather than last.  The resulting ball movement of the Warriors was electric, and contagious.  Against the Thunder, the Warriors had a meager 12 assists.  In this game, they had 23.

Monta appeared to struggle a bit with the adjustment. His jump shot was way off. He opened 0-7 from the field in the first quarter, 1-10 in the first half. This may have been caused in part because he had more on his mind, and because by deferring, he was slower to work himself into the game.  But by the end of the game, Monta came on strong, while still fully giving himself over to this new style of play. In garbage time of the last game, Monta selfishly and stubbornly worked himself up to 30 points. In garbage time of this game, Monta created several dunks for Mikki Moore off the drive, to the delight of the Warriors bench.  Monta finished with 18 points and 8 assists. And a win.

Hey, I know it was the Nets.  There’s a limit to how excited you can get with a win over a 2-19 team.  But it was also a game in which the Warriors, and their leader, evinced a determination to come together as a team, and play team basketball. This kind of play makes me wonder what kind of team they can be when the heart of their lineup, Biedrins and Turiaf, return to action.  And THAT gets me excited. I can’t help but feel that both Monta and the Warriors team turned a mental corner in this game.

So one game after giving in to my dark side, I am now pleased to highlight the positive things I saw in this game:

The Three Point-Guard Look: The Warriors lead the league in steals. Take a look at the ridiculous number of steals the Warriors generated in this game: 17. Ellis, Curry and Watson got 12 of those steals on their own. All three of these players have a tremendous basketball IQ on defense.  They just have a knack for cutting the passing lanes, and for slapping balls away.  This ability, combined with their ability to stay in front of their man playing man-to-man, makes them a very underrated defensive unit, despite their small size. Watching this game, I thought to myself that when the defensive, shot-blocking and rebounding abilities of Biedrins and Turiaf are added back into this Warriors team, the Warriors’ defense may become the shock of the league. The presence of Beans or Turiaf in the lane will erase many of the defensive deficiencies of the Warriors’ undersized guards. The Warriors defense is already finding a way to get under their opponents’ skin.  Monta Ellis has been a revelation as a stopper. The pressure that Watson and Curry bring as well, and the resulting league-lead in steals, has also been a revelation.  It’s going to get better.

Obviously, if the three-point guard look can hold its own defensively, it is going to blow teams away.  Because offensively this group is simply dominant.  Monta Ellis by himself is so good as to totally distort the opponents’ defense. All three players’ are among the leagues’ best shooters and scorers. When playing off the ball, all three are much better passers than all but the best wing-men in the NBA. And the speed at which they are able to play together is unparalleled.  You saw it tonight.

The Small Ball Unit: The Warriors small-ball unit, with Randolph at center and Maggette at power-forward, dominated this game.  A simple glance at the +/-  tells the tale: Randolph +21, Maggette +25.  Mikki Moore and Vlad Rad, by contrast, were -1 and -9 respectively. This comparison is a little unfair, since Moore and Vlad Rad did a lot of the heavy lifting against the Nets huge front line of Lopez and Boone, and helped eat up minutes.  But when the small-ball unit hit the floor, they were absolutely devastating.

Anthony Randolph: played another terrific game.  He couldn’t do much to keep Lopez from posting and scoring, but he helped the Warriors in many other ways defensively.  He was a great shot-blocking presence, and picked up 9 boards. And he was again almost perfect offensively.  Like the rest of the Warriors, he was determined to move the ball. Working most of the time in the high post, to bring Lopez out of the lane, Randolph quickly located the open man, and made the perfect pass. 4 assists, 0 turnovers. He was aggressive on the offensive boards, and picked up a few putback slams.  One play in particular stood out:  Randolph grabbed a defensive board, took the ball end-to-end by himself, completely under control, and then finished with a jump stop and a pump fake to draw a  foul.  After a slow start to the season, Randolph is progressing in every facet of his game.

Corey Maggette: also played great in this game.  He had an all-around floor game, particularly on the defensive end. He picked up 9 boards and 2 blocks.  I know the box score says he only had 1 block, but it was 2, trust me.  Maggette also willingly sacrificed his own scoring in favor of facilitating the offense, making several nice passes.  The one time he took a bad long shot, I saw him slap himself in the head. D’oh!

Maggette gets it.  He is trying hard to fit into this team.  I appreciate his effort.

Mikki Moore and Vlad Rad: Mikki Moore had a nice line, largely because Monta and the Warriors guards did a nice job of finding him for dunks.  But he did a nice job himself of moving without the ball, catching the pass and finishing.  He also did a lot of the grunt work against the massively bigger Lopez, and managed 7 boards.  I definitely got the feeling that he had a little extra in the tank going against his former team.

Vlad Rad had a relatively quiet game in only 19 minutes of play.  But how about those 9 rebounds?  Vlad has been something of a revelation on the boards since he became a Warrior. Nellie told Vlad when he came here that he wanted him to improve his rebounding, and I think Vlad may be demonstrating with his effort on the boards his excitement at being able to play in Nellie’s system.  Let’s hope it continues.

I’ll leave you with some interesting stats to contemplate, on a night when small ball ruled:

Warriors centers: 27 points, 16 rebounds.

Warriors power forwards: 22 points, 18 rebounds.

The Warriors are +1.5 dogs at the 2-19 New Jersey Nets. Now that’s embarrassing! The Warriors are now riding a 4 game losing streak of their own, and have lost 6 out of their last 7.  I expect them to be a little bit hot about that, and bring everything they’ve got tonight.  And by everything, I mean all 7 men.  That’s right, Anthony Morrow is back, and so far as we know, no one injured themselves getting off the bus.

(Update: Mike Massa at the Examiner is reporting that Anthony Randolph may miss this game due to a family situation. There you go, Warriors fans.  Adjust your handicapping accordingly.)

There should be some interesting cross-matching in this game.  I expect the Nets to guard Monta with Devin Harris. Harris is an excellent defender of small point guards. Back in the day, when he was on the Mavs, he used to give Tony Parker fits. Will he be able to keep Monta in front of him?  Or will the Nets follow the league’s example, and collapse all 5 men on Monta and watch him try to jack it up anyway?

I’m guessing Monta will be guarding Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Nets small forward and leading scorer.  That will put Stephen Curry on Devin Harris.  Harris is lightning-fast and loves to drive.  This will be a real test for Curry, who struggled against the Thunder’s James Harden, who also loves the drive.  In the last game, Keith Smart apparently failed to instruct Curry in the proper method of guarding these types of players, so I’m going to step up in his place:

Memo to Stephen Curry:  Sag off, and dare Harris to shoot.  Never a great shooter, he’s shooting 35% this year, 20% from three.

Anthony Morrow, if he starts, will be guarding Courtney Lee.  I’m a little concerned about this matchup, because Lee is quick and athletic, and a good scorer.  Look for Lee to have a big game.

Another tough matchup for the Warriors will be Brook Lopez in the middle.  The second-year man out of Stanford was a big surprise out of the draft last year, and has been putting up some eye-opening numbers this year: 19 and 9, with two blocks.  This looks like a case for Anthony Randolph playing point center, to pull the monster out of the lane.  Nellie did it, will Smart?

The Warriors’ biggest advantage in this game, besides having Monta Ellis, will be at power forward.  (How often have we gotten to say that in the last 20 years?)  With Yi Jianlian out, the Nets have been starting Josh Boone at the four.  Unlike Landry and Green, I don’t think Boone has a chance of being able to guard Vlad Rad and Maggette out on the floor.  If those two guys come to play, which has not been a given of late, the Warriors could have a big night.

This game is no cake-walk.  The Nets are playing much better under new leadership, and are winners of two of their last three.  But the day I can’t pick the Warriors over the Nets, getting points, will be the day I have to hang up my remote.

Once again, fate intervened to prevent the Warriors from having more than a 6 man rotation.  This time, it wasn’t injury, or swine flu.  It was the weather in North Carolina that caused Anthony Morrow’s flight to be delayed too long to make this game.  Crazy.

I suppose the Warriors have every reason to mail in a few games after going for so long with so few players. They must be on the verge of exhaustion. Still, I’m feeling a little curmudgeonly after this loss.  In stark contrast to the last game, I saw a lot of things that I didn’t like in this Warriors’ performance, so I’m going to give in to my dark side, and get a few things off my chest.      

Monta Ellis: It may seem a little out of line to rag on the Warriors’ best player on both sides of the ball, but that’s what I’m going to do.  After this 2 assist 9 turnover performance, it’s time for Monta Ellis to look at himself in the mirror. He is playing extremely selfishly on offense.  Exhibit A is his simple refusal to learn how to run the pick and roll. Every game, when Anthony Randolph is brought into the game, the Warriors’ coach du jour calls for a high pick and roll with Monta and Randolph.  This play has, to my recollection, never been completed by Monta.  Tonight was no exception.  They ran the play, Monta got trapped, Randolph rolled into the lane wide open, and Monta threw the ball away.  What is going on with that?  Does it have something to do with the rift between Ellis and Randolph that occurred earlier in the season?  It is an easy pass, and it is perplexing in the extreme that Monta has never found a way to complete it so far this year.  The high pick and roll is the single most devastating play the Warriors can run, on paper.  With highly mobile big men with good hands, and an unguardable ball-handler with a deadly mid-range jumper, this should be a go-to play for the Warriors.  Curry already has it mastered, in the first 20 games of his NBA career.  If Monta continues to refuse to run it, the ball should be taken out of his hands.

Exhibit B is Monta’s refusal to look for his teammates on his drives.  It is quite obvious to the rest of the world, if not to Monta himself, that he is getting double and triple-teamed on his every drive to the basket.  It should be very easy for Monta to identify the open man, and get him the ball. But Monta never considers passing until the last second, when he is up in the air and about to hit a brick wall. His last-second desperation dump-offs are what lead to most of his turnovers. Jim Barnett pointed out that Monta needs to change his mind-set.  If defenses are insistent on trapping him, he needs to look for his teammates FIRST.  If he proves able to get his teammates easy baskets, his own drive just might open up again.

Exhibit C was garbage time in this game.  Losing by 20, there was simply no excuse for Monta to continue looking off his teammates and working one-on-one for his own shot. And yet that’s exactly what happened. It was almost as if he were concerned about getting to 30 points. Was he?  Selfish. Disappointing.

Corey Maggette: Midway through the third quarter, in a very competitive game (I believe the Warriors were trailing by 1), Maggette got whistled for a ticky-tack foul, and immediately got himself ejected with 2 quick technicals. The Thunder went to the line for 4 free throws, and the Warriors, now down 5, were forced to go with a disastrous 3 big lineup.   Ballgame.

I can sympathize with the feelings of frustration that led to Maggette taking those technicals.  No player in the league takes more punishment going to the hoop, and no player in the league, at least in the last several games, gets less respect from the officials.  And the foul he got whistled on was a ridiculous brush foul.  But Maggette simply cannot take himself out of the game like this when he gets frustrated.  Particularly when the Warriors are so short-handed.  It is, need I say it…? Selfish.

This is also the third time Maggette has done this to his teammates so far this season.  The other two times he committed frustration fouls in crucial situations at the end of the game, that got him yanked, and quite possibly cost the Warriors both games.

Is Maggette a competitor, or a quitter?

Anthony Randolph: Randolph didn’t do anything to raise my ire in this game.  He simply demonstrated, quite thoroughly, that Nellie is correct in making him a back-up center.  He is just not ready yet to play any other position. Against the quick front line of the Thunder, Randolph was unable to create any of the advantages for himself that he had against Gortat and even Howard in the last game.  The power forwards of the Thunder were able to guard him more closely on his jump shot, and deny his penetration.  This resulted in Randolph forcing up a mess of awkward and off-balance gunk.

It would help, of course, if Randolph had a point-guard who was intent on working with him to create easy dunks.  But so long as the Warriors have Monta dominating the ball….

Stephen Curry: Curry also has a well-documented turnover problem that he needs to work on.  He made another couple of lazy passes that resulted in turnovers in this game.  The difference between Curry’s turnovers and Monta’s, though, is that Curry’s are the exact opposite of selfish.  Curry is actively looking to get his teammates involved.

Curry was the only Warrior on this night who had his shot going.  But he rarely got the chance to shoot it.  If Monta continues to refuse to look for him, the coaching staff should simply take the ball out of Monta’s hands, and give it to Curry. Watching this game, I’m pretty sure Keith Smart doesn’t have the guts to enforce that, so we’ll have to wait for the return of Don Nelson.

Keith Smart: I was disappointed in Smart’s performance in this game.  I’m not sure that’s fair in a road game that had so many factors stacked against the Warriors, but there it is.  Smart did nothing to try to impose his will on Monta and the Warriors in this game.  After watching Monta blow one high pick and roll with Randolph, he never went back to it. After seeing that Curry was the only Warrior who had it going from outside, he did not take the ball out of Monta’s hands, and put it into Curry’s.  One game after watching Nelson play Randolph at the point to great effect, Smart left that play in the playbook.  And after seeing the ineffectiveness of isolating Corey Maggette against the quick and athletic Carl Landry, Smart insisted on isolating Maggette against the quick and athletic Jeff Green.  This led to a terrible stretch of basketball in the third quarter that resulted in Maggette getting himself thrown out in frustration, and the Thunder sweeping into the lead.

And one more thing that’s been bugging me about Smart.  When is he going to demonstrate that he has his players’ back?  Both Maggette and Monta have been the victims of some horrible officiating in games that Smart has been coaching. But not only has he never taken it on himself to draw a T, he has never even gotten into an official’s face.

In the final minutes of this game, Curry got absolutely hammered on a drive to the basket.  He got hit so hard he couldn’t move his arm for a full minute.  The officials swallowed their whistles.  And Smart swallowed his pride.

I’m coming off a one game winning streak.  I finally nailed a matchup prediction in the Orlando game.  Got the starting lineup right, got the matchups right.  Got Orlando’s matchups right: Pietrus on Monta.  And then there was my prediction on how long Mikki Moore would survive against Dwight Howard.  I put the over/under at 8 minutes.  He picked up his third foul and hit the pine in 7:55. Is it time to start betting feltbot ATS?

Not so fast. Tonight’s opponent, the OKC Thunder plays 6-11″ superstar at the small forward.  This presents a difficult matchup problem, it goes without saying, for every team in the league.  But even more so for the Warriors.  The Warriors have taken to guarding the other team’s best scorer, regardless of position, with Monta Ellis.  And by and large, he’s been very effective with that assignment.  But the Warriors can’t guard 6-11″ Durant with Ellis, can they?  No way, right?  Right?

Could this be the moment to put Anthony Randolph into the starting lineup?  I would love to see Randolph match up against Durant at the SF, one game after combating Dwight Howard at center.  Whether or not this happens may depend on whether the Warriors open the game with a big line-up.  They may not, because the Thunder’s starting center Nenad Krstic, sat out last game with a sprained ankle, and their backup center is Nick Collison, a power forward.  Heck, even Corey Maggette could handle him!  Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to make you ill.

If Krstic sits out this game, I think you can expect it to be a battle of smalls right from the start.  In that case, it will be tough to predict the Warriors’ starting lineup.  Even if Randolph does start, however, I don’t believe he will be used to guard Durant, even though he would probably be the most effective of all Warriors to use on him.  Randolph is too valuable to the Warriors as the last line of defense in the lane.  They don’t want to waste his shot-blocking  and rebounding by using him on the perimeter.

So here’s my guess:  Vlad Rad will guard Durant, whether the Warriors start Randolph or not.  Anthony Morrow will have the difficult task of guarding power forward Jeff Green.  He’s big, but not that much bigger than Carmelo Anthony. Once Morrow gets chewed up, Maggette will take over.

So will Monta guard Sefolosha or Westbrook?  Hmm, that’s not so easy either.  Sefolosha is 6-7″ and a pretty good scorer.  He would be a handful for Curry.  But Westbrook makes the Thunder go, and would be even more of a handful.  I would put Monta on Westbrook, and see if the Thunder want to make a scorer out of Sefolosha.  Anything that keeps the ball out of Durant and Green’s hands would be a plus.  As Don Nelson says: You can’t attack every mismatch at the same time.

The Warriors are +7.5 road dogs in this game.  Wow, really?  In the last two games at OKC, the Thunder were only -1 and -2 favorites, and the two teams split.  The Warriors are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games on the road.  I don’t get this line. I like the Warriors.

Dwight Howard and the 15-4 Orlando Magic are in town.  I suggest we start Maggette at center, Morrow at the four… oh, wait!  Anthony Morrow is out for this game. So scratch that idea.

Once again the Warriors are down to 7 healthy bodies.  Can they be magnificent? That’s going to be a pretty tall order, considering they have very few fouls to throw at Dwight Howard.  Expect to see one or two dunks by the young fella.

Randolph and Devean George are going to be available in case of emergency. Where’s the fire alarm?  Is it too soon to break the glass?

Matchup Heaven:  Every time I start to get a feel for how the Warriors will matchup, someone else goes down, and its back to the drawing board.  Lets see how I do on this one:  Curry will guard White Chocolate.  Nice!  Looking forward to that.  Monta will guard Vince Carter.  I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing Monta torture Half Man, Half Dog.

But who will start at small forward against old friend Mickael Pietrus?  Will it be CJ Watson or Corey Maggette? Will the Warriors once again go to the three-point guard lineup?  Or will this be the game that Maggette starts and goes the distance?  I think it will be CJ.  No, Maggette.  No, CJ.  Definitely CJ.  He’s got more minutes in him, and of course, we have to reserve Maggette for big minutes at center.  I mean power forward.

The rest of the matchups will be conventional, which is to say, greatly troubling. Vlad Rad against Rashard Lewis, in the battle of old Seattle teammates.  It’s tough to see how Vlad has any exploitable edge against Lewis.  They both play the same game, but Lewis is longer and more athletic.

And of course, Mikki Moore will be the first to be fed to Dwight Howard.  Yum! Chris Hunter will get an early call in this game.  I set the over/under at 8 minutes.  Have you been impressed by Hunters’ physique and stature in the games to date?  Be prepared to see him look like a little kid staring up at Superman.

The Warriors are +9 home dogs to Orlando in this game.  That’s all?  Once again, the Warriors fortunes will rise and fall with Monta Ellis.  Does he have a big game in him, one game after he looked depleted by illness?  Can he find a way to get to the rim and get Howard in foul trouble?  That’s the only scenario in which I can see the Warriors prevailing.

Look for the Magic to cross-match Pietrus against Monta.  He might give Monta trouble, whereas Carter and Williams can do nothing but watch him go by.

Welcome back Don Nelson!  The Warriors’ capo is returning to the bench tonight after his bout with pneumonia.

The Warriors are +2 home dogs against Houston tonight.  The Warriors lost by 1 to Houston at home in a heartbreaker on opening night, but they will not be taking the floor with the same team tonight.  How about no Biedrins, no Randolph, no Jackson, no Azubuike, and possibly no Turiaf?  In their place, Vlad Rad and Chris Hunter.  And maybe Devean George.  In the Warriors favor, the Rockets are playing the back end of a back-to-back (they demolished the Gordon-less Clippers last night in LA).

It’s next to impossible to handicap this game with so much flux in the Warriors’ lineup.  Obviously, the Warriors are going to have a much tougher time matching up with the Rockets’ front line of Scola, Hayes and Landry than they did on opening night.  In fact, if Turiaf is out, Nelson might be better off not trying to match up with them at all.  How about a lineup with Vlad Rad at starting center, and Maggette at power forward?  That would at least force Houston to struggle to match up with us, as well.  Vlad Rad at the three point line might very well pull Hayes out of the game.

Once again I am faced with a conundrum regarding who Monta Ellis will guard.  We know now that it will be the other team’s best player, regardless of position.  But is Trevor Ariza the Rockets’  go-to guy, or is it the lightning bugs Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry at the point?  Whichever of these players does not find himself guarded by Monta is likely to have a big game going against Anthony Morrow and Stephen Curry.

Another thought that has crossed my mind is whether Nellie will move CJ Watson, who has been playing well, into the starting lineup, and move Stephen Curry, who has not, into the sixth man role.  As you may recall, that was Feltbot’s Prescription, although then it was Kelenna Azubuike who I thought should be in the starting lineup.  Similar arguments can be made in favor of CJ Watson:  he’s a better defender than Curry, and he’s far more comfortable asserting himself while playing next to Monta Ellis.  As for Curry, he might find it easier to get into a  comfort zone as the leader of the second unit off the bench.

Monta Ellis had a big game against the Rockets on opening night (10-20, 26 pts.), before the Stephen Jackson trade, and before the all-star transformation we’ve witnessed in the past two weeks.  Unless the Rockets try a Nuggets-style trap, he should have little difficulty getting to the rim against the Rockets’ small front line.  The Warriors will need another monster game from Monta, and a healthy dose of Nellie match-up magic, to pull off this win.

Monta Ellis is a star.  Watching him earlier this season, I had my doubts.  Those doubts are gone.  Monta Ellis is back. All the way back.  This is the player I watched two years ago, thinking that he could be better than Allen Iverson. This is the player that two years ago Kobe Bryant said was his favorite player in the league to watch. Watching him play right now, I don’t know whether to gasp with excitement, or exhale with relief.  He’s back.

The Warriors have an electrifying all-star.  And because they have an electrifying all-star, they have a basketball team. Hang onto your seats, Warriors fans. Warriors basketball is back. Don Nelson Warriors basketball. Fast break basketball. Blowout quarters, like we witnessed in the third quarter of this game, are going to follow.  Point differential is going to follow.

Wins are going to follow.

Winning time in this game came midway through the third, when Keith Smart finally went to the Don Nelson small-ball, with Corey Maggette at the four.  The Warriors pressured and scrambled, coming up big with several steals and key team rebounds, and got out on the fast break.  And as Monta Ellis said in his post-game interview, the Pacers got tired. For those of you, like me, who watched every minute of RunTMC, this should be very familiar to you, and as sweet as hooking back up with an old flame.  The third quarter is when RunTMC would stick it to the opposing team, wear down their legs, explode their lungs, and melt their brains.  The third quarter is when the game ended, and the blowout began.  Warriors fans, RunTMC is back.  All it needs now is its new name.

Let’s go to the players:

Monta Ellis: 45 pts. on 15-27, and 14-16 from the line.  His drives to the basket were relentless and unstoppable. Literally unstoppable.  Except by the refs, of course.  Danny Crawford completely blew what should have been an And-One, fouling Monta out on a totally bogus offensive foul call. Can I just ask a simple question?  Would Crawford have fouled out Kobe Bryant on this call?  Lebron James?  Forget about the fact that it was a completely obvious, completely blown call.  Even if it weren’t, would he have fouled those guys out?

The Warriors get absolutely no respect from the refs, even at home.  But I think that may be about to change.  When Monta Ellis is an all-star, the respect will come.  And I think the last week of basketball has made clear that Monta Ellis is about to become an all-star.

What is beyond amazing about this offensive performance, is that it came once again on absolutely no rest — Ellis played every minute until he fouled out — and it came while putting up yet another great defensive performance on the other team’s best player.  Take a look at Danny Granger’s line: 7-17 for 22 points.  This is a 6-9″ all-star that has averaged 38 points in his last three games against the Warriors.  Monta completely smothered Granger, absolutely denying his drive. The Pacers tried several tricks to try and exploit the matchup, posting Granger up, or trying to hit him on the move in the middle, but it just wound up taking them out of what they know how to do.  Monta turned Granger over several times, coming up with 5 steals.

Why was Monta Ellis guarding Danny Granger?  According to Keith Smart in his post-game interview, it was because Monta Ellis asked to guard Danny Granger. To which I can only say, Wow. The Warriors not only have a budding all-star, they have a budding team leader.

If there is one quibble with Monta’s game right now, it is the difficulty he has in creating for his teammates.  Watching tonight’s game, I asked myself: If Corey Maggette and Mikki Moore, for heaven’s sake, can create open threes for Anthony Morrow off the drive and dish, why can’t Monta?  But I recognize that this may be simply asking too much of a player who is just now beginning to realize the kind of scorer he can be in the league.  It took Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant years to realize the importance of involving their teammates.  If Monta can add that to his game, he won’t simply be a star, or even an all-star. He’ll be a superstar.

Of course, we have to ask, how long can Monta Ellis go playing all 48 minutes? The answer is, until either CJ Watson or Stephen Curry, or both, start stepping up on a regular basis. Which brings us to the Warriors’ second hero of the night:

CJ Watson: Watson had a huge game, which helped turn a 14 point first half deficit into a 19 point win.  Until CJ caught fire in the third quarter, Monta had been carrying the load by himself.  This team, and Monta Ellis, needs a second banana to step up in every game.  Someone, as Keith Smart said in the post-game, to take the heat off Monta, and allow him to play off the ball.  The Warriors have been hoping that that someone would be Stephen Curry, but he has yet to really find his stride playing with Monta.

Tonight, Curry got the quick hook, and watched CJ Watson show him how its done.  It should be a good lesson for the rookie, because he is eminently capable of creating the same sort of shots for himself that CJ creates.  But as Smart said, CJ is now an old hand, and he knows exactly what he wants to do.  Curry is tentative and indecisive.  After a few more benchings, and a few more lessons like this from CJ, I would expect Curry to take note.  He is a quick learner.

I have been insisting to my friends for over a year that CJ Watson is one of the best, if not the best, back-up point guards in the league.  By which I mean, genuine back-ups, not starters-in-waiting, or 6th men.  And I’ve taken a lot of grief from them for this opinion.  But can you think of a better?  When you’re coming up with names, ask yourself if your choice is capable of simply taking over a game, the way CJ did for a stretch in the third quarter of this game. Or the way he did for entire games last year while a member of the Magnificent Seven.

CJ is not just about that money jumper.  He is also about that rock-solid handle: 6 assists against 2 TO’s. And he’s also about that vastly underrated defense, and that nose for the ball: 3 steals, 4 rbs.  His great flaw has been a lack of court vision.  But as I’ve often said, if he had that he wouldn’t be a back-up, he’d be a starter.

Of course, someone in the media was quick to ask Coach Smart whether CJ Watson might move ahead of Curry in the rotation with this performance. Trying to get the controversy started, trying to sell some newspapers. I absolutely loved Smart’s response.  He said the Warriors are going to play the guys who are playing well, the guys who are helping the team win.  He said the Warriors are trying to build a team, and not trying to cater to any one guy.  And he said that everyone on the team has to play at a nice level, and if they’re not doing that, you have to move on to the next guy.

This applies, of course, to the Warriors’ approach not just to Stephen Curry, but also to Anthony Randolph and Anthony Morrow.  And their approach in the past to players like Brandan Wright and Marco Belinelli.  And it also happens to be the approach to developing young players followed by every other team in the NBA.  It is NBA 101. Which is why the Bay Area media have proved incapable of understanding it.  Unfortunately, they’re not interested in understanding NBA basketball.  They’re interested in selling newspapers with controversy.

The Blackhole: Corey Maggette was lost on offense for a large part of this game.  This was mainly due to the Warriors failure to run any plays for him. Keith Smart didn’t call his number in this game, preferring to let Monta and CJ run rampant.  But after a slow start, Maggette found a way to make things happen. He moved the ball superbly, played good defense, and rebounded.  The game did not begin to turn in the Warriors favor until Smart went to the small lineup with Maggette at the four.  Fans everywhere in the Bay Area will groan at this, but Maggette is simply superb in that role. Take a look at his +26 for this game, and at the game flow chart at Popcorn.net.  They don’t lie.

And in the fourth quarter, when Monta fouled out with 6 long minutes left, and Granger immediately hit a three to cut the lead to single digits, and a chill of unease descended over feltbot’s couch, Corey Maggette stepped up and put the Warriors on his back.  He is capable of that.  Maggette has been a big-time, crunch-time scorer for years in this league, and he is an important part of this team.  He showed it down the stretch.

Chocolate Rain: Morrow got some open looks in this game, and buried them. 4 for 6 from three.  Which is a good thing, because his defense on Mike Dunleavy made me throw up in my mouth a little.  Fortunately, Mike Dunleavy, while improved as a player, is still Mike Dunleavy, and he folded down the stretch.  Those short-armed bricks from three in crunch time looked kind of familiar, huh?

Chris Hunter: After Anthony Randolph went down with an ankle sprain (what next?) and Rony Turiaf got a quick hook in the third quarter (saving him for the back-to-back, or the victim of Keith Smarts’ philosophy?), the Warriors went with Chris Hunter at center down the stretch.  And boy did the young man deliver.  He moved his feet on defense, blocked a shot and rebounded.  And he made two eye-opening three-point plays.  One was a layup off a drive that started out by the three point line.  The other was a thunderous dunk with a man draped on him. Let me make a point about the strength and power of Chris Hunter: he simply does not feel contact from opposing players when he’s finishing.  Can you remember the last Warrior player that was true of?  Where in the world did this kid come from?  And how lucky are we that we found him? Is he for real, or am I dreaming this? Hunter was thrown into the fire in the fourth quarter and responded with a near-perfect game.

Wow.

I’ll give the last word to Keith Smart, who, we are learning, is a terrific interview. Smart was asked what he thought of Hunter being ready when called upon. Smart replied (I’m working from memory): “Hey, when you’re on a shoe-string budget, you better be ready.  You gotta pay that rent.  I know, I’ve been there.”

Aaaaaaaarghh.  That is the sanitized version of the noise I made when I returned home from my no-limit poker game only to find that I had recorded the wrong channel.  Instead of enjoying a glorious Warrior win with a snifter of Lagavulin, I suffered a melted brain.  Someone must pay, and that someone is DirectTV.  I’m switching to Comcast tomorrow.

So what follows comes to you courtesy of the box score, Tim Kawakami (dare I admit that?), and a few kind friends.  I won’t blame you if you decide to skip this recap, but I do want to throw in my two cents on this game, handicapped as I am by not having seen it.

Obviously, Monta Ellis was the star of the game, and I’m going to give him full credit down below.  But I want to begin with the other star of this game, a man who I know will receive absolutely no credit for this win from the Bay Area media.  That man, of course, is Don Nelson.  When I noticed that Nellie started Corey Maggette at power forward, over Anthony Randolph and newly acquired Vlad Rad, I thought I could hear the outraged screams of Adam Lauridsen and other Bay Area writers over the cacophony of poker chatter, chip splashing, and calls of the board girl in the Lucky Chances Casino.  Nellie’s small ball drives them absolutely batty.  Slaves to convention, they simply can’t grasp the rationale behind it. And they also hate when Nellie plays veterans ahead of 20 year olds, because they’ve already given up on this season.

I hope you don’t make either mistake.  I hope that you, like myself, are still holding out hope that the Warriors can produce some beautiful music this year.  And I hope you are willing to open your mind enough to read a fan of Don Nelson basketball attempt to explain why he thinks Nellie deserves the credit for this win.  The biggest reason is simply this: if in a basketball game the worse team attempts to match up conventionally against the better team, the worse team is asking to lose. Don Nelson, almost alone of NBA coaches, is simply not willing to do that.  He is not willing to concede a game before it begins, no matter how big the disparity in talent.  He will look at his roster of players, and look for something, anything, he can use to create an edge for his team.  Don Nelson wants to win.

Hence Corey Maggette versus LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward.  We all know in our heart of hearts that matching up Anthony Randolph versus Aldridge, at least at this point in Randolph’s career, would result in conceding the edge at power forward to Portland.  We know this is true of Vlad Rad as well.  But what about Corey Maggette?  Does playing Maggette at power forward concede the edge to Portland?  The answer is unequivocally no.  We know that Maggette will be extremely difficult for Aldridge to guard.  We know that Aldridge will find it impossible to run with him.  So unless Aldridge can dominate Maggette on the offensive end and on the boards, Portland cannot win the matchup.  Now we have a ballgame.

We already know from watching the two play against each other last year, that Aldridge has difficulty playing against Maggette, let alone dominating him.  And in fact, a glance at the boxscore tells me that Maggette won this matchup again tonight.  Statistically, he played Aldridge even. So why did Maggette win the matchup? First, because Aldridge is a difference maker for the Blazers, and Maggette played him even.  Second, because playing him at power forward allowed Nellie to get Morrow in the game, and match him up against the non-scorer Andre Miller.  Advantage, Warriors.  And third, because he got Aldridge out of the game early in the first quarter with foul trouble.  That set the stage for the Warriors fast break that took over in the second quarter.

Nellie also made other subtle matchup decisions in this game that helped the Warriors win.  I lazily predicted this morning that Morrow would have trouble guarding Roy.  I should have known better.  Nellie refused to concede the matchup, and decided to guard Roy with the quickness of Monta Ellis, rather than similar size. This allowed Nellie to cross-match Morrow with Miller. Unconventional.  And brilliant.

What else?  How about Randolph against Pryzbilla?  By not falling prey to conventional thinking, and starting Randolph against Aldridge, Nellie was free to use him against the Blazers’ backup center.  And thus convert a major Warriors disadvantage in size into a major Warriors advantage in speed and skill.

And how about using the rookie D-league call-up Chris Hunter against Oden to start the second half?  Apparently Hunter’s terrific game was a big surprise to everyone.  But how many coaches in this league could have pulled the trigger on using him in this way?  Wouldn’t most coaches have used him as a backup, and played him against other backups?  Nellie had a game plan, which was to use his big bodies on Oden, and get Randolph as many minutes as possible against the Blazers’ backups.  And he stuck to his game plan, to the point of using a D-leaguer without so much as a practice under his belt, against a front-line center.

I give Don Nelson some credit for this eye-opening win against a Western Conference power.  How about you?

And now, a couple thoughts on the Warriors backcourt, who also had a slight impact on this game (that’s a joke, Nellie-haters):

Monta Ellis: Monta was the clear star of this game.  To which I have to say: Finally!  I have frequently stated that I don’t believe that the Warriors will have much success in games in which Monta isn’t the star.  In this game, he was able to put the Warriors on his back, and that got the whole team going.  Particularly remarkable was his defense on Roy. Who would ever have thought, especially watching him play last year, that Monta was capable of this kind of defensive performance? I wish I had seen it.  Obviously his 6 steals were key in starting the Warriors fast break.

Offensively, he carried the load as well.  34 points and 8 assists will get the Warriors a lot of wins.  Can he do it every night?  Well, that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it.  It must be pointed out that the Blazers backcourt of Miller and Blake is probably the most pathetic defensive backcourt in the NBA.  Neither they nor Roy have a hope of staying in front of Monta.  But this performance nevertheless gives us hope that he and the Warriors may be starting to click.

Monta’s post game quotes were also encouraging. Suddenly, since Jackson left, Monta has been saying and doing all the right things. Simply a ploy to increase his trade value, as Monte Poole and Kawakami are suggesting?  Or does he genuinely believe now that he can work alongside Curry, and make this Warriors team something special?  You decide.

Stephen Curry: Obviously the 8 assists against 1 turnover is impressive.  The kid learns fast.  His scoring was down, and his wrist injury is a concern.  I happened to see one of the plays he made, leading the fast break and hitting a moving Morrow in stride at the perfect moment to allow him to step into a three.  That play may seem unremarkable to some, but to me it spoke of tremendous vision combined with perfect understanding of a teammate and the game. Others may like Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans ahead of Curry. I might grant them that, for this season. But I will take the Curry I believe we’ll see two or three years down the road ahead of them in a heartbeat.

The Warriors are stunning +8 home dogs to Portland tonight.  The line no doubt reflects the loss of Biedrins, Turiaf and Azubuike, and the fact that the Warriors will be playing only seven players. But I think it also reflects something more. This is a team Don Nelson and the Warriors have traditionally given a lot of trouble to, short handed or no.  I think this line reflects the absence of Stephen Jackson.  Jackson has done a  terrific job guarding Portland superstar Brandon Roy over the years, and with him gone, and no Azubuike or Bell, the Warriors simply have no one to guard him.

Roy has moved to small forward this year, so Corey Maggette will get first crack at him.  This is a bad matchup for Maggette, who has always struggled guarding the quicker small forwards and guards in the league.  I think we’re going to get a good close-up look at the reason Nellie prefers to play Maggette at back-up power forward.

Difficult as it will be to guard Roy with Maggette, the Warriors problems will only get worse when Anthony Morrow comes into the game.  Morrow’s only hope to be effective is to outscore him.

Breakfast Links: Jared Cowley, who writes an excellent Warriors blog for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, has responded to my recent comments on why the Warriors may be better off without Monta Ellis.  Here is Jared’s rebuttal.

Bobcat’s Update: The Bobcats are 2-0 ATS (against the spread) since Stephen Jackson joined them, 1-0 ATS since I began betting them. In the first game, they played at Orlando, and lost a close game in the final minute.  In the second, they played at Philadelphia, and the same thing happened.  The Bobcats lost Tyson Chandler to back spasms in that game, but nevertheless played well enough to have  a 3 point lead in the final minute of play.  At the end of the game, with the score tied, the Bobcats had an open Diaw three that should have been the last shot of the game.  But the backcourt inexplicably let the long rebound go for a layup.  As Jackson gets better integrated into the team, mistakes like that should disappear.  But the team is already beating the lines.

The Bobcats’ difficult road trip continues tonight in Milwaukee.  They may have caught a break in that Bogut is out. Charlotte is +4.5.  I’m still on the Bobtrain.

Why is it that the Warriors always play so well when they are down to 7 players?  At the end of last year, also fielding a 7 man skeleton squad, the Warrriors earned themselves a “Magnificent Seven” nickname by reeling off several impressive wins.  On this night, with Vlad Rad playing his first game in Warriors uniform, and more bitter break-up rumors swirling about the team, the Warriors once again came through with a very nice game.  They didn’t get the win, but they played unselfishly and gave a good effort.  A small victory, but small victories go a long way towards soothing the savage beast that is raging at this moment in the breast of every true Warriors fan.

Let’s start the player analysis with the two new Warriors:

Raja Bell: You may be surprised that I’m starting with a guy who only dressed for show, and didn’t get in the game.  He did get off the bench, though, and that’s why I want to mention him.  In the break between the 3rd and 4th quarter, according to Jim Barnett, Bell stood up and got vociferous in Anthony Randolph’s ear.  A little pep talk, if you will.  And voila, the Anthony Randolph who had virtually sleepwalked through the first three quarters, allowing Hickson to dominate him, suddenly woke up and took over in the fourth quarter.

How nice is it to have a gamer and a leader like Raja Bell on our team?  If only he could play this year…

Vlad Rad: Radmanovich looked like a heaven-sent gift in the first quarter, when he made his first three shots.  I’m not sure he made an outside shot after that, but he still played a pretty decent game, particularly since he hasn’t played with the team yet. I was particularly impressed with his passing ability. He never got to show that playing catch and shoot for the Lakers. He is also clever at spacing the floor, and cutting without the ball. As an offensive player, he really knows how to play the game.

Coming to the Warriors is a chance in a lifetime for Vlad.  If there is one coach in the league who is able to maximize Vlad’s strengths, and let him play his wide-open game, it is Don Nelson.  And Nellie is also the one coach in the league whose system is designed to hide Vlad’s weaknesses on defense.  Don Nelson is going to do his best to turn Vlad into Dirk Nowitzki.  Is the 29 year old Vlad, who is notorious in the league for “not caring,” finally ready to embrace this new situation, and give his all for a coach who is ready and willing to use his all?  I’m beginning to get interested in this story line.

Monta Ellis: After hammering Monta in my Pre-Game Jitters, he showed me up in this game.  I was pretty impressed by Monta’s floor game.  First of all, it was nice to see him actually caring on a day in which the national media was lit up by rumors of him being on the trading block.  He gave a great effort, playing all but two minutes of the game.  His defense was strong. And at one point, he and Nellie actually slapped hands as he was taken out of the game.  What was up with that?

The selfishness that I saw in Ellis in several games this year was not evident in this game.  He actually created several nice passes to Stephen Curry and Anthony Morrow, which was practically a first for this season. In fact, the backcourt of Ellis and Curry worked together quite nicely. Monta got 8 assists and Curry 7, and the Warriors’ 24 assists matched the Cavaliers.  Chemistry like that could go a long way towards making the Warriors a winning team. Could the absence of Jackson have anything to do with how Monta approached this game? Is there a possibility Monta will remain with the Warriors? Questions for another day.

Stephen Curry: Curry was back in the starting lineup, but with Jackson gone, his role was subtly different.  He appeared to be the point guard on most possessions.  In fact, Nellie started the game with him running the pick and roll. Curry responded with a quietly great game.  He didn’t force his offense, getting 14 points on only 10 shots.  And he ran the offense beautifully, with an array of passes that continues to make my jaw drop.  Tonight we saw a laser of a left-handed behind the back pass that hit a stunned Anthony Morrow on the hands. We saw a beautiful lock and lob to Monta Ellis that received a rare Ellis acknowledgement. And we saw a beautiful pick and roll with Anthony Randolph. I don’t believe I have ever seen a rookie run the pick and roll as well as Curry has.  Nor have I ever seen a rookie who can drive and finish with his left hand as well as he can with his right.

Don Nelson stated that he would have taken Curry with the second pick in the draft.  Despite the great performances we have seen so far from Evans and Jennings, I am in agreement with him.  I see a very special player in Curry.

The Blackhole: Maggette actually got to play some small forward in the third quarter of this game, perhaps because he got matched with Lebron James, who is as big as Karl Malone.  He continues to be the Warriors’ best front-court player.  His 10 rebounds led the team.

Anthony Randolph: As mentioned above, this was not one of Randolph’s better games, until the fourth quarter.  He simply didn’t compete in the first three quarters, which is something I haven’t seen too often.  He dominated in the fourth quarter, though, and was instrumental in the late run that saw the Warriors pull to within a point.  He continues to make silly fouls, which leads to camera shots of Nelson making silly faces on the bench.

Chocolate Rain: made an appearance tonight.  Morrow drained several nice threes. His teammates appeared to be looking for him a little more. Even Corey Maggette got involved, hitting him in the corner with a nice drive and dish. And Morrow did not get noticeably beat on defense.  I’m not sure whether that was because Cleveland failed to target him, or the zone that Nellie played hid him effectively. Or perhaps he’s become a great defender.  You decide.

Mikki Moore: I like Mikki Moore.  Sue me.  He’s not blocking shots or rebounding, but he is willingly holding off bigger players in the post, and giving desperately needed minutes to the undermanned Warriors.  He’s a surprisingly effective offensive player.  He understands the pick and roll, and has the good hands to catch and finish. He passes surprisingly well (4 assists!).  And then there’s that jump shot.

If it weren’t for Kelenna Azubuike’s devastating knee injury, this would have been a great game to watch.  The Warriors gave an all-around superb performance in the second game of a road back-to-back, a performance to be proud of. Unfortunately, their team performance was overshadowed by the incandescent individual performance of sensational Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings, who laid 55 points on the Warriors.  29 of those points came in the third quarter, when Jennings made his first 11 shots, many from 3 point range. For the game, he shot 21-34, including 7-8 from three, with 5 rebounds and 5 assists.  A rookie performance for the ages.

Unfortunately, this performance came largely at the expense of Monta Ellis.  And that’s where the recap of this game must begin:

The Ellis/Jennings matchup: Offensively, I’m tempted to say this was Ellis’ best game of the season.  He shot 11-19 on the tail end of a road back to back.  He was 3-4 on threes, a couple of which were extremely clutch in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.  He drove the ball well, and played under control.  While he rarely succeeded in actually setting a teammate up for an open shot, he was a willing passer.  I did not see the selfishness that has characterized several of his earlier performances.  His defensive intensity and performance was good, far better in this game, and this year in general, than it has ever been.  It just wasn’t good enough.

The problem is, Monta is no longer the quickest player on the court.  In this game, that player was Jennings.  Monta looked quick on occasion, when he exploited switching big men for drives.  But next to Jennings, Monta was standing still.  In the third quarter run where the Bucks erased a 9 point deficit to surge by the Warriors, Jennings ate Monta alive, head to head.  He was a blur, creating separation from Monta with ease.  He was on fire, it’s true, but it’s also true that he rarely had a hand in his face.

Monta Ellis used to be Brandon Jennings.  He used to be the quickest guy on the court.  The guy whose every shot was wide open.  He doesn’t appear to be that guy any more.

Put another way, Monta Ellis was not the star of this game.  The star of this game was the rookie he was matched up against.  I know I’m repeating myself, but even when the Warriors return to health, if Monta Ellis is not regularly the star of the game, they will struggle.

Team performance: The Warriors, and I include Monta in this, gave an overall excellent performance in this game. Virtually everyone played well.  I am tempted to call it their best performance of the season, because this game against the 4-2 Bucks was not at all like playing the Timberwolves at home.  These Bucks are a very solid defensive team, and the Warriors offense carved them up for 125 points.  The Warriors forced the game into their tempo, and only a superlative performance by Jennings was able to hold them off.  And who’s to say what the final score would have been if Buike hadn’t gone down?  Could Nellie have slowed Jennings just a little with Buike on the court?  It’s not unlikely. Which is not to mention, of course what we could have done with either Biedrins or Turiaf, or both.

Private Jackson: Jack came to play.  He was cold from three, but hit several big shots to halt Bucks runs in the early going.  His floor game was excellent, and his defense superb as usual.  The few times that Jennings struggled in the second half were when Jack got switched onto him.  People often comment on Jack’s lack of athleticism, which makes his ability to guard far quicker point guards uncanny.  We’ve seen him do it in the past to guards as talented as Chris Paul.  In this game, he guarded everyone from Jennings to the gargantuan center, Bogut. Love him or hate him, he’s a remarkable player.

The Blackhole: Corey Maggette was simply superb this game. His stats, 7-11, 2-3 on threes, 9-9 from the line, 5 rebounds, 4 assists against 1 TO, as phenomenal as they are, don’t tell the whole story.  Maggette put the Warriors on his back in the fourth quarter.  Nellie went small, leaving Maggette matched up with Bogut at center.  He delivered.  On defense, he held his ground and battled.  On offense, he was the Warriors go-to guy, and his decision making was nearly perfect.  He drove the ball, getting Bogut in foul trouble, and himself to the line.  He swung the ball well, finding open teammates.  And when the Warriors needed him to hit a big shot, he was there every time.

Unfortunately, Maggette may have given the game away on a play where he lost his temper and decked Bogut.  Bogut had elbowed Maggette in the face, and when the refs didn’t call it, Maggette took matters into his own hands and shoved Bogut to the floor.  This came at a crucial time in the game, with the Warriors down 3 and less than a minute remaining.

Make of this what you will, I would still call this a special performance, and I will still call Maggette an increasingly important player for the Warriors.  I’m going to invite ridicule, and say that when Maggette is playing power forward in the fourth quarter, his offensive abilities are not dissimilar to Charles Barkley’s.

Mikki Moore: This was MM’s best performance of the season.  He didn’t rebound, but he was perfect with his jumper, which helped draw Bogut away from the basket.

Anthony Morrow: Another lackluster performance for AM.  He got very few shots again, but missed most of those he did get.  In the fourth quarter, he spent much of the time sitting on the bench, while Acie Law, a far better defender, played in his place.  He did get a chance at a last second shot, but seemed to hurry it against a charging defender.

I have previously stated my belief that Anthony Morrow’s destiny in the NBA is to be a role player, not a starter.  The primary reason, of course, is that he’s simply not athletic enough to guard opposing off-guards.  But there’s another important reason too, a reason that was amply demonstrated at the end of this game:  Anthony Morrow can be guarded.  He cannot get his shot off unless he’s wide open.  This severely restricts his value as an offensive player, particularly at the end of games, when everyone is closely guarded.  And as for the playoffs, well.  Far more athletic players than Anthony Morrow have been unable to get their shot off in the playoffs.

Stephen Curry: I thought Curry was great this game.  He finally gave the performance I’ve been looking for from him off the bench.  In the third quarter, he was dumped into the boiling cauldron with Brandon Jennings, and didn’t flinch. He didn’t do much to slow Jennings down, but he went right back at him on the other end, and hit several big shots of his own.  And he did manage to turn Jennings over a couple of times, and even blocked his shot once.  He also ran the offense beautifully.  It was Curry who handled the point guard duties down the stretch.  His passing wasn’t reflected in his assist totals, but many of his best passes were followed by misses.  Most impressive to me was that he was able to create a wide open three for Morrow within seconds of entering the game in the third quarter.  Why can’t Monta Ellis do that?  Morrow of course bricked the shot.

Anthony Randolph: Really played well this game as well.  His minutes were restricted because Nellie went small in the fourth quarter when the Warriors fell behind. (I’m sure Nellie’s decision to go small will be attacked in the post-mortems.  But it did produce a great run in which the Warriors came from an  8 point deficit to take the lead.  And they may have managed to win but for Maggette’s crucial blunder.)

Randolph played very intelligently and under control in this game, as his 0 TO’s indicate.  He did his job on defense and on the boards.  There were two offensive highlights for me.  The first was when he calmly drained a 21 footer in Bogut’s ugly mug.  The second was an out of bounds play in which he rumbled with Kurt Thomas, and then swooped wide to get around him for a nice contested layup.  The kid is making progress.

Hey, the Warriors are on the board in ‘09.  We can all breathe out now.

A large part of the credit for this win goes to Don Nelson.  His central conception of attacking Zach Randolph with Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette was the difference in this game.  When Memphis went away from Randolph offensively in the second half, they were left with nothing but a terrible defender.  That’s how mismatches can win games.  That’s classic Don Nelson small-ball.

Winning time came, as it so often does on Don Nelson teams, late in the third quarter.  That’s when Nelson unsheathed his long knife.  He took out Stephen Curry, and went with this lineup: Moore, Maggette, Jackson, Morrow and Ellis.  And Rudy Gay, who had to this point torched Azubuike and Morrow to the tune of 29 points, suddenly found himself being guarded by Stephen Jackson.   It began like this:  Morrow hit a three to push the lead to 5.  Gay tried to answer with a three of his own, got surprised by Jackson’s quick reaction and length, and shot an airball.  And the Warriors were off.  They pushed the lead out to 10, and it stayed there the rest of the way.  Gay took a total of 2 shots in the fourth quarter.

That is Stephen Jackson.  That is what he does.  For those of you who don’t understand how Jackson wins basketball games, this game is a good place to start.

I’ll let the players tell the rest of the story:

Monta: This was Monta’s best game of the season by far.  Particularly impressive was his defence.  He wasn’t long enough to bother Mayo’s shot, but he did a great job staying in front of him and Iverson, and creating turnovers.  5 steals.  He also did his customary good job helping out with the rebounding. 7 rbs.  His 12 assists on offense are the obvious story line, though.  Monta clearly put an extra effort into creating for his teammates this game, and the results showed against the porous Memphis defense.

I have to say, though, that to me he still does not resemble the Monta of two years ago.  For one thing, his shot is off. Particularly disturbing was the wide left airball he shot in the fourth quarter.  After a disastrous first quarter (he opened 3 for 12), he did start driving the ball effectively.  But even there I did not see the same level of effortless quickness, explosiveness and elevation that we used to see.

For the Warriors to win, Monta Ellis needs to dominate.  He needs to be the best player on the court.  This game was a positive step, but I haven’t seen any sign yet that he can get back to that level.

Buike: Ozzy had a very disappointing game.  He did absolutely nothing to slow down Rudy Gay, which was the primary reason he was on the floor.  Nellie gave him a quick yank in the third quarter.  If KA is not getting it done defensively, you might as well play Morrow in his place.

Private Jackson: I’ve noted above what Jack did to Rudy Gay.  He opened on Randolph on the low block and gave a good effort in defending him.  He was rested for much of the second quarter.  But in the second half, Jackson really asserted his will on this game.  He moved the ball well, gathering 6 assists against 2 TO’s.  And he shot judiciously and well, including a trademark 3-ball dagger in the fourth quarter to ice the game.

Jack has appeared somewhat subdued to start the season.  I think that has a lot to do with the fact that his offensive role has changed.  He no longer has the ball in his hands.  I see no evidence though, that he is giving less than 100%.  He likes to win, and he plays to win.  And so far, he is doing everything that Nellie has asked of him.

Biedrins: Beans has yet to have a good performance this season.  This one was very nearly disastrous.  He picked up three quick fouls in the first quarter, and forced Nellie to lean heavily on Mikki Moore.  Fortunately, Beans returned in the fourth quarter for a very effective run in which he got 7 rebounds in about as many minutes.  One of those was a nice offensive rebound and put-back that stopped a small Memphis run.

Unfortunately, Beans came out of the game with what looked like a lower back injury.  Could this be the secret reason for his slow start to the season?  The Warriors have opened the season with injuries to Wright, Turiaf, Randolph and Biedrins.  Virtually their entire front line.  I sure hope this isn’t the prelude to a replay of last season.

The Natural: Curry had a very quiet 9 assist game last night.  Am I really writing those words?  9 assists, 1 TO in his third NBA game.  Ho hum.  Curry was content to be a complimentary player, setting up his teammates, not looking for his own shot.  He seemed determined to follow Nelson’s agenda for this game, which was to restore ball movement to the offense.

He did a decent job on defense as well. Iverson made some shots against him, but Curry successfully kept both him and Conley out of the lane.  He picked up 5 rebounds, continuing to show the same kind of team rebounding savvy that Monta Ellis has.  And he got another 2 steals.  He’s now averaging 2.3 on the year.  A natural.

Chocolate Rain: was back tonight, after a 2 game drought.  His teammates did a much better job looking for him, and he found the openings against the poor Memphis defense to get his shot off.  He even managed to get to the rim on some nice drives.  He has apparently been working on making quick decisions with the ball once he gets it.

On defense, he had a target on his back.  Memphis went right at him, and Gay in particular lit him up. Nellie did something quite clever with Morrow in the fourth quarter, however: when he switched Jackson to Gay, he switched Morrow to the point guard Conley.  Morrow had a tough time running around after Conley, but Conley had an even tougher time converting that advantage into baskets.  Nellie will continue to hunt for unconventional ways to hide Morrow on defense, so he can get his dead-eye shooting on the court.

The Blackhole: also had a terrific game.  His defence on Zach Randolph was excellent.  And on the other end of the court, he was unguardable.  Nelson ran several plays to get Maggette on the move, either on curls or backcuts, and Curry connected with him beautifully.  There were a few isolations that resulted in jumpers, but fewer than in previous games.  And he even connected on a couple of them.  Maggette was instrumental in the second quarter run that got the Warriors back from a 13 point deficit.

Maggette also made a very conscious effort to move the ball in this game.  He swung it quickly and effectively.  His game can appear selfish at times, but I have never gotten the feeling that he is not coachable.  He tries to execute what Nellie wants from him.

Mikki Moore: It didn’t show up in the boxscore, but this much derided off-season acquisition saved the Warriors’ bacon last night.  With Biedrins out with early foul trouble, Moore was the only player left on the roster who could bang with Gasol, and keep him out of the lane.  He gave some very effective and desperately needed minutes.

Anthony Randolph: Nelson said before the game that Randolph would be playing backup 5, but not against Gasol. Gasol is simply too big for him. And sure enough, when Gasol sat to start the second quarter, Randolph came in. He did some nice things against Thabeet, most notably a pick and roll with Monta (finally!).  But when Gasol returned, Randolph was pulled.  But not before the Grizzlies fed Gasol in the lane, where he “horsed” Randolph under the basket (Nellie’s word) and forced the foul.

In the fourth quarter, Randolph got a couple of minutes more against Gasol but was largely ineffective.  He got his shot blocked, and missed a rotation on the defensive end in his preoccupation with bodying up in the lane.  In the end, Randolph got only 7 minutes on the court.

Randolph didn’t get the chance to show much this game.  The main reason for his few minutes, however, was predetermined: Nellie had a game plan to beat Memphis, and it worked to perfection all night long.  The matchup of Jackson and Maggette against Zach Randolph was too effective to mess with.

We can only hope that at some point Randolph will force his way into the lineup. Matchups will play a large part of it. But so will the continuing effort of this 20 year old to learn the game, and to play effectively in the minutes given to him.

By Justin Cherot

I just knew this would happen.  I was flowing through these at the beginning, but within the last week we’ve seen the inevitable “Justin Cherot Stall”, which if you’re a follower of Live From the Nosebleeds (no posts since the day after the NBA Draft) you should be quite accustomed to by now.  However, I’m going to buck the trend and finish these.  I promise.

If you’ve read the first several (see the archive at the bottom of the page if you haven’t), you know the drill by now.  Team by team, player by player previews going in a predicted order of finish.  I’m in my “teams on the outside looking in” category, and that will continue with my 2nd favorite team in the NBA to watch on a nightly basis, the Golden State Warriors.

Star

Stephen Jackson

Not too many in the NBA have swag like Stephen Jackson. Photo courtesy the basketblogger.com

Interestingly enough, this is probably the first team where I had to do a back and forth debate with myself about who the star of this team was.  In the end, I flipped a coin and chose the artist formerly known as Captain Jax (get it, because he’s no longer a captain?).  I know Monta Ellis is probably, in terms of talent, the best player on this team, but Jackson is, for better or worse, the symbol of this squad.  I love his “F it” brand of basketball, and you can never go wrong with a player who is unafraid to take a shot regardless of the situation.  The problem?  Dude no longer wants to be there.  He didn’t even flinch when the Warriors fined him 25K for publicly declaring his desire to be traded.  Funny, you’d think with the Warriors brand of basketball players would die to go to the Bay Area, but Don Nelson has this weird effect on good players.  Once you’re on his poopy list, it’s hard to get off.  Hence, we have the first star that will probably be gone by the trade deadline.  While he’s here, though, it would be cool if he worked on his defense.

The Other Starters

Monta Ellis

Yeah, the Warriors were pretty darn bad last year, but I think a lot of that had to do with Ellis’ suspension.  If he’s healthy and on the court and off of mopeds, the Warriors would have won at least eight more games.  I still like him far more off the ball then I like him as a lead guard, but scoring guards are still en vogue in the NBA, and not too many can get to the tin like he can.  Ultimately, his biggest problem right now is that he’s far too reckless with his body.  It seems like whenever I see him play there’s some part of his body taped up from nightly paint encounters.  He has a nice mid-range game, but without the luxury of a top-flight point guard getting him easier shots (Baron Davis, maybe?) we didn’t see it as much last season.  Whether he likes it or not, I think Stephen Curry is the point guard of the Warriors’ future.  It’s up to Ellis if he wants to be off the ball or not.  While he’s here though, he should work on his defense.

Anthony Randolph

In a league full of players, I don’t think there’s a more intriguing specimen in the NBA right now than Randolph.  In the last 15 to 20 years, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with such a versatile skill set at his size who plays with more energy.  If you play him at the four, which is where he’s slated to start, he’s unguardable on the perimeter.  If you play him at the three, he’ll be the mayor of back ‘em down city.  Hell, Nelson even experimeted with Randolph at the one spot during summer league games.  What does that tell you about his versatility?  Early front-runner for Most Improved Player in my mind.  At 19, this kid has absolutely no ceiling… but he should look to improve his on-ball defense.

Andris Biedrins

It seems like he’s been in the league forever, and yet I had to do a double-take when I looked at his age.  Dude is only 23 coming off a career season where he averaged a double-double.  He’s the perfect center for this team, a guy who won’t complain about his touches and just gets garbage points.  Also a bonus: he plays a little defense. 

Kelenna Azubuike

He may be the best cosmetic starter in the league.  Azubuike is an athletic two-guard who can light it up when given the opportunity.  The problem?  With Corey Maggette, Anthony Morrow and Stephen Curry all competing for minutes, Azubuike could eventually end up being the forgotten player in Nelson’s weird rotation. 

Bench

Corey Maggette

Maggette reminds me a lot of Jerry Stackhouse during his years in Dallas.  Yes, he’s great off the bench, but you can tell that he absolutely hates coming off the bench and thinks he could start for a contender.  The difference?  Maggette is actually right.  Physically he’s a nightmare for any opposing two guard or swingman to check.  He’s one of those guys who can get to the rim whenever he wants, and he’ll either finish or get fouled.  Only thing: he needs to work on his defense.

Anthony Morrow

Even on a team full of scorers, this dude just stands out.  As a rookie, he led the NBA in three-point percentage, and this past summer he made a mockery of summer league defenses.  His play has basically made more than one current swingman on the Warriors’ roster expendable (Jackson?  Maggette?).  I can easily see him going for 16+ this season off the bench, but it also wouldn’t surprise me to see him crack the starting line-up at some point this season.  If only he could play defense.

Brandan Wright

Poor guy.  Looks like he’s going to miss the majority of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.  That sucks: he was probably the Warriors’ best interior defender.

Stephen Curry

I can’t even hide the manlove anymore: Curry is my favorite current NBA player.  Maybe it’s due to our relatively slender statures and our penchant for making deep, game-changing threes.  Personally, I think it’s because he’s the classic underdog.  Nobody wanted him.  Then once they realized he was good, everybody hated on him.  Admittedly, even I’ve waffled back and forth between whether or not he could be an effective pro.  A year and a half ago, I said he was a cross between Steve Kerr and Juan Dixon.  But that was before he played the point at Davidson last year and displayed very high basketball IQ and an ability to get his shot off against pressure.  I caught him in a pre-season game against Phoenix, and with the game on the line, he was the one with the ball in his hands, and everytime he made the right decision, whether it was hitting the open man with a jaw-dropping pass or setting himself up for the J.  I’m sold: eventually Curry will be an all-star.  As long as he doesn’t cry about the lack of minutes he’ll get this season (because that’s how Nellie does his rookies), Steph will be fine.  Of course, he has to learn to play better defense.

Ronny Turiaf

Every team needs a Turiaf, a guy who will come in and just stir things up, whether it’s diving for loose balls or dunking emphatically.  Beyond being  a hustle guy, Turiaf has an underrated skill set for a guy his size.  He shoots the ball well from 18 and in, plus he sees the floor very well.  The Warriors will need him for fairly big minutes off the bench this year.

Mikki Moore

Please do the world a favor and legally change the spelling of your first name.

C.J. Watson

There are many teams in the NBA that can use a guy like Watson.  Too bad the Warriors have pretty much no place for him.

Acie Law

Take everything I said about Watson, switch names, and you have my opinion on Law.  Only he doesn’t defend as well. 

Speedy Claxton

More like “Not as fast as I used to be, which was kind of overrated in the first place” Claxton. 

Devean George 

For the past 10 years, George has been the token “replace this guy with any halfway decent player not in the NBA, give him the same minutes and he’d put up the same stats” player in the league.  Why no GM has realized this I have no idea.  I mean, he can’t even play defense…

… which makes him no different than 80% of this roster.  And, despite my love affair with this team’s brand of basketball, that will be their downfall and why they’re ranked so low on the totem poll.

NBA Preview Archives

30. Sacramento Kings

29. New Jersey Nets

28. Milwaukee Bucks

27. Minnesota Timberwolves

26. New York Knicks

25. Oklahoma City Thunder

24. Houston Rockets

23. Charlotte Bobcats

22. Indiana Pacers

The Golden State Warriors are the Oakland Raiders of the NBA. The similarities are eerie. And for any self-respecting Bay Area sports fan, that isn’t a good thing.

Randolph better have a Superman suit under that uniform if the Warriors are to be contenders.

Train-wrecked front offices, apathetic coaching, and the love for a certain type of player that does nothing but look sexy in a uniform; I could continue, but I’m sure Warrior fans are well aware of the situation.

After languishing through 12 seasons wherein the team did not even get within sniffing distance of the playoffs, Warrior fans were repaid with arguably the most exciting month in franchise history.

Of course, the next season, Golden State went on to a set a record only to be expected by the most pessimistic of fan bases—compiling the most wins in the regular season, 48, without making the playoffs.

So now, after the obligatory front office dismantling of anything reminiscent of success, the Warriors are once again starting at ground zero. Or maybe lower.

Despite the curious offseason moves, the conclusion of last season left a lot for Warrior fans to get excited about. Monta Ellis started flashing his pre-moped quickness, Anthony Randolph and Brandon Wright emerged as legitimate frontcourt players, and Corey Maggette took the sixth man role to heart.

But once again, the Warriors managed to disturb the good will they had created when aptly named Captain Jack threatened to go all Al Harrington on Don Nelson. Jackson made a public request to be traded in August and later asked to relinquish his captaincy—Nelson obliged.

And if that weren’t enough, Jackson has been “taking it easy,” to say the least, during the preseason.

Jackson picked up five fouls and a technical in less than 10 minutes in a matchup against the Lakers earlier this month, and was sent to the locker room by Nelson following a testy exchange.

Jackson never returned and a two-game suspension that cost the ex-captain roughly $139,000 followed.

So where does all this leave the Warriors for the 2009-2010 season? They certainly have the talent to be a threat in the Western Conference, especially with the Pacific Division looking remarkably weak—aside from the Lakers.

Ellis, Stephen Curry, Jackson, Randolph, and Biedrins form an explosive fivesome. And with Maggette, Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Morrow, and eventually Wright coming off the bench, the team even has nice depth to boot.

But Golden State is still facing the same problems they encounter every season: lack of size, lack of leadership, and too many guys who play the same position.

Once again, the Warriors will try to win by forcing the opposition into a fast-breaking score-a-thon, a strategy that has been sparingly successful in the NBA.

But if any team could do it, this might be the one. Biedrins and Turiaf are nice players, don’t get me wrong, but they’re no match for legitimate scoring big men like Tim Duncan or Amare Staudamire; especially if they find themselves playing Jackson, Randolph, and Biedrins at the three-four-five.

Last season, the Warriors were the youngest team in the league. So what did they do to rectify the situation? They added a rookie to the starting lineup and took the fire out of the only person in the entire organization who offered any semblance of direction—including the head coach.

Who are the Warriors expecting to emerge as guides to the youngsters? Speedy Claxton? Mikki Moore? Not a good strategy.

The Warriors are on their third GM of the decade—Garry St. Jean, Chris Mullin, and now Larry Riley—and it seems like each one tries to outdo his predecessor in adding more swingmen to the team. Imagine this possible scenario in the front office:

Chris Cohan: Larry, Mullin has the franchise record with six. I don’t think you can beat that. A steak dinner on me if you do.

Larry Riley: I was hoping you would ask me about that. I’ve been spending the entire season thinking about it.

Chris Cohan : Great! I never bought into the idea of landing a legitimate star like Amare or Chris Bosh anyway. What are your ideas?

Larry Riley : Here’s an easy one. You know how Jamal Crawford can create a lot of points by himself? Well, we can trade him for two overpaid, below-average guards who can’t do anything.

Chris Cohan : Oh! I like it.

Larry Riley : Hold on, you haven’t even heard the best one. We can trade Belinelli, who emerged last season as a clutch shooter and a solid defender, for Devean George. That guy is in the playoffs every year!

Chris Cohan : And then I can draft another two-guard instead of a big guy like Jordan Hill, meanwhile making Monta unhappy at the same time!

Larry Riley and Chris Cohan in unison: Excellent (evil laughing).

Although I absolutely love Curry, it will take him time to adjust to running the point, as he’s only spent one season playing the position in his career.

But there is no question that Curry is already the best point guard the Warriors have—not that he has much competition. Expect rookie struggles and slumps, but it will be worth the growing pains, however, because if Ellis and Curry make nice, that is one dangerous backcourt.

Overall, I think it will take a minor miracle for the Warriors to return to the playoffs, but if things break right—lots and lots of things—there is a possibility.

It’s a good thing Golden State fans care more about Randolph winning the Rookie Challenge MVP award than the Warriors playing meaningful basketball in April. Oh well, maybe next year.

I missed the game.  When your girlfriend is taking you out to a fine restaurant on your birthday, it’s pretty tough to say, “But honey, it’s a pre-season game against the Clippers!”

A couple of things stand out from the box score:      

Mr. Anthony Randolph:  Looks like Smart (or most likely Nellie through Smart) yanked his chain.  It could be the 3 early fouls.  I also think it might have something to do with Randolph needing to find his role in the offense.  If you want to know what I mean, check out the play at around 7:30 of the 3rd quarter against the Suns, where he waved Monta Ellis off (and props to the Lauridsen blog poster whose name I forget who pointed me to this).  Monta wasn’t pleased.  That’s not what you do to the leader of the team.  Randolph is an extraordinary talent who can use some extra touches, but he has to be careful to take his offense within the context of the team.  Uncle Nellie will help him find that line.

Speaking of Monta Ellis:  It appears that the kiddie time portion of the preseason is being scaled back, and its time to get the starters worked in.  Good to see Monta get some real burn.  The high turnovers indicate the point guard project is a work in progress.  Anyone notice some pick and roll with Biedrins?  That’s the play I’m really looking forward to.

Azubuike:  I don’t need to see the game to know his ankle sprain is bothering him.  His line speaks for itself.  It really sucks that the Warriors are once again playing short-handed.  When oh when will it end, O Lord?

Stephen Jackson:  Anyone who doubts his worth to the Warriors (when possessed of his right mind), and the worth of Azubuike as well, should compare the lines of Baron Davis and Eric Gordon in this game to their lines in the first game.  Losing Stephen Jackson would create a defensive hole in this team the effect of which is incalculable.

The Black Hole:  The most maligned Warrior on the roster (after Jackson)  just happens to be one of the most efficient wing scorers in the league.  Maggette shot an effective 10-12 from the field, or 83%.  Whatever you think of him, or how he wound up on this team, or his contract, you must deal with those numbers first if you’re determined to badmouth him.

CJWatson:  I’m not ashamed to say I like CJ, and its good to see him back on the court.  And not simply because we’re once again back to a 7 man roster.

And saving the obvious best for last,

CHOCOLATE RAIN:  It’s almost embarrassing to mention Maggette’s efficiency in the face of this line.  Wow.  Sometimes you get the feeling there’s something a little extra-terrestrial about Anthony Morrow’s shot.  Has any human being ever been able to shoot like this?  Is this a case for the Men in Black?

And then there’s the rest of his line: 5 rbs, nice, 4 assists, VERY NICE (he really needs to add playmaking to his game).

But 4 steals and 2 BS!  What!??  What’s up with that?  Something tells me that Coach Smart played Mr. Morrow at the 4 again.  Right?

The only things remotely human about Anthony Morrow are his foot-speed and defense.  If any coach in this league can find a place to hide Morrow on the defensive end of the court,  it is Crazy Nellie.

Can you smell what the Don is cooking?