the crowd had great energy, especially in the 4th. i was pretty disappointed only seeing foyle get so much playing time (not to mention foyle meant d12 wasnt in the game). im still questioning monta's decision to take the 3 at the buzzer though. 3s arent exactly his game, and had he drove a bit toward the basket, and at least made it around a 15-18ft jumper, it would have greatly increased his chances. its alright, the magic arent in the top 3 in wins for nothing. next, those milwuakee bucks, and the yi movement

There's no doubt that this was a winnable game.  Orlando one of the teams that expose the warriors weakness up front.  Even MP could have contained Hedo Turgoklu.  

Monta's a one-man fast break, instant offense, and rising star, but he needs to learn how to play some "D" and work on his half-court game.  On the last play in overtime, his job shouldn't be to take the last shot.  Stick Barnes in the corner, and let Jackson & Al be there for kickouts. With Baron out of the game, and Monta running the show, why even call a set play?  

Oh yea, and when Jackson wants the ball, give it to him.

After such a great stretch of games I can't help but make some excuses for the Dubs on a night like tonight.  First, playing in the back end of a back-to-back Baron is going to be tired, and sometimes his play will suffer.  I can understand and accept that, as long as he stays healthy.  The 3 point shooting is a result of the team having tired legs, and for a team like the Dubs, that depends on jump shooters, that spells trouble.  A LONG and successful road trip followed bay a quick turnaround like the last few days, appears to have caught up to them.  However the Dubs now get to stay home for a few days and rest up with some days off in between games. Also, Diddy fouled out as a result of his tired defense in the first half.

ENOUGH EXCUSES FOR YOU!?!?

Considering all these troubles, the Dubs still managed to hang with maybe the best team in the east, and only came one missed buzzer beater away from securing the win.  I am definitely very happy with their play, and believe that the next two games are very winnable.

GO DUBS!!!
OakFoSho

1. Harrington as Power Forward
Going small to start is fine; when Harrington his hitting 3P's that lineup is pretty much unguardable. When he's not stroking it from deep, however, he's just a liablility on the perimeter by chucking it. Leaning on Howard all night isn't gonna help his J either.

Solution? Play him next to Biedrins, let Biedrins take a turn on him. There is more than one way to counter size; it does not always have to be more 3P shooting.

Biedrins was effective on the glass (15 rebs) and as a  source of cheap buckets that we needed. When we get points in the paint, we win. When we depend on the 3p, its a murkier question.

Playing Harrington next to Biedrins means Lewis gaurds Harrington. Plant Al in the post and let him go to work on Lewis, who cannot guard him (or anyone, really). He's closer to the bucket and it's a much higher percentage play than stone cold 3's.

2. The Final Play: Why Not Jack?
Asking Ellis to run the offense is just too much (I'd say futile, really). With 17 secs or whatever, we could have run anything we wanted to.

What we should have done was have jack in bound the ball, then immediately run along the baseline to the near corner. When the shotclock hits 12, we should have run him thru a pick in the key to set up position on the far side, swinging the ball from Monta to Azubuike to make the entry pass (given azubuike's 40% 3P, they can't sag as much). In any case, Azubuike enters to Jack IN THE POST and cuts through, at 6 seconds Jack can begin to make his move from the post or elbow area.

As Doug Collins on TNT pointed out...when a talented wing player gets the ball on the elbow, he is unstoppable.

The converse, however, is even more true: the farther from the basket, the easier it is to stop, especially when a bonehead young player decides to chuck it and bail out the defense. I could have defended Monta on the play just by sitting down cross legged at the arc and lettin him throw up the not-even-a-brick.

Poor choice of play call and/or execution on the crucial final play. Absolutely no excuse to be taking a 30 footer with the talents on our roster.

That's all for now. I can't fault the effort, but I am unimpressed with the decision making.

Jack missing free throws is disconcerting as well, there is no explanation. Biedrins outshot him.

even though we took the L.

I'm really impressed with the Orlando Magic, and I can see why they have the best road record in the league.  Those guys are straight cold-blooded ASSASSINS.  It felt like everytime the Roaracle started getting crazy, Rashard or Jameer Nelson would silence the crowd on their very next possession and bury a contested shot, every single time we started to gain some momentum.

The game had a playoff-like atmosphere, up until over-time.  As a fan, the craziest moment of the year so far was when we took the lead in the fourth.  And it was followed by one of the most disappointing, when Monta missed one of his free throws and then made that mental mistake at the end of regulation.  When he put that shot up I just knew we were gonna lose the game with Baron on the bench and 5 more minutes to play.

Overall, I still believe the Warriors will keep playing at a high level.  This was a game where we couldn't buy a bucket (38%fg), Baron and Harrington had miserable shooting nights, and still we were right there with the lead at the end.  

Its about time to ease the throttle on Ol' BD.  He was more of a negative against orlando than a positive, due largely to the extensive minutes he's geting this year.  To me, this team seems like it could manage okay against the mid to lower level teams w/o him on the floor every minute.

He was tired in the early going and we all could tell.  He wasn't D'ing his man(tired).  He was short hoppin' his layups(tired).  He was short on all his jumpers(tired).

If he had the energy to stick to Jameer Nelson, then maybe he wouldn't have been burnt so bad that he would feel the need to go bad baron and force circus shots, then foul jameer out of frustration.  And when BD's frustrated on O, he fouls like year 1 AB.  I counted 2 frustration fouls in the 1st quarter.  Lose those and BD is handlin' the rock in OT.

How many TO's in OT again?

I usually love Nellie's coaching but tonight I couldn't believe how he blew it. He had TWO opportunities at the end to seal the victory and NEITHER ONE involved putting the clearly struggling warriors into overtime without their number one playmaker Baron Davis.

With 17 seconds left the warriors were up by one. They needed to give the ball to their best free-throw shooter Troy Hudson. Unfortunately this is where you really miss Jasikevicius, but I know Hudson could have kept the lead at three forcing the magic to attempt a harder shot.

And the warriors didn't even run a play at the end of regulation! They basically just let Monta run the clock down and heave one up at the last second from like 25 feet. While I completely see the logic behind not letting the Magic get another opportunity you can have your cake and eat it too. They should have run a play that used up the clock and given an open look to a high percentage shooter.

Totally winnable game. Most frustrating loss of the season so far.

only makes you stronger.  The Warriors, led by Monta, Andris, Matt and Al, battled harder than I've ever seen from them.  The problem with winning this game is that the 2nd tier was at such a high level, the normal go-to guys should have managed the game better.  
Bottom line: Look at well we overcame our deficiencies...  Rebounding, free throw shooting, half court offense.  We did many incredible things to hang with an incredible Orlando team.  They were not going to be denied tonight.  They played their A game and its more intense than the West's elite right now.  Can they sustain?  Do we belong?  The NBA has never been more competitive.  If only, the refs will not distort the Herculean efforts of the players and coaches.

There's a lot of things - good and bad - for the team to take away from this one.  Glad it's the beginning of December.  If this were late February or March it would impact us a lot worse.  

Loved the way we battled back, though.  

Here comes the W'S!!!

First, it's becoming painfully obvious that Nellie's overplaying of BD is now a real problem, as shown by BD's poor game last night.  (And when he gets tired -- as he did early last night -- BD ironically insists on trying to take the game over, virtually always failing.)  We need to keep BD's minutes to under 36 every game.  This should be a bright line rule.

Second, Monta played great -- till crunch time.  His "point" play at the end, though, remains weak, as reflected in that terrible final possession in regulation.  No excuses for that, since he had a lot of options and still painted himself into a corner.  As well as Monta's played of late, he can't be great until he learns how to finish a game.  Period.  End of story.  

Finally, I agree that the Technical on Howard was ticky-tack, but it's black and white in the rule book -- and there's no room for "discretion" on the call.  Sort of like spiking the ball after a big -- but non-scoring -- play in football.

Now, let's see how the guys bounce back tomorrow night.

at the end of regulation. As they went back to the bench after he missed I thought I caught a glimpse of Baron saying something to Monta about just that. Monta didn't look to happy with Baron's words but if that's indeed what they were talking about then Baron is right. Drive to the rack and dish out for the open shot, that's what the PG is for!

It was evident that Turgobooooo was trying to get under S-Jax skin.. I mostly saw  that guy throw numerous elbows push off in defense hand check and i think he took some kids churro in the first row..Is it requirred that ref's that come to the Oracle have to make bad calls.. watching the replay on the jumbo screen of where Beans put his hands up slid to the side and did not make any contact on Rashard Lewis just set me into a drunken sailor when Orlando got another free trip to the free throw line. Monte showed his youth in deciding to heave a bad shot at the end of the regulation. Baron is are go to go and in that situation he is going to the basket and going to get foul or make the shot .. Warriors overall great performance and we showed that we can run with prob the best overall team in the East..It was a early xmas president to watch the game last night.. see you guys wednesday..  

it was a great effort by the Warriors, they actually somewhat contained Howard and Lewis, but then Jameer Nelson and Keith Bogan, out of nowhere, had hot shooting night and seemed like they couldn't miss. I was surprised they could play the Magic to overtime.
The last possession in regulation was pretty disappointing though, I thought for sure the ball was going to go to Jackson's hands or Monta drive to the hoop. It was a great game nonetheless.

Even Rashard Lewis (notoriously perimeter oriented) took it to the rack and drew a foul.

Ellis is a vastly superior slasher yet decided to imitate....JJ Reddick?

That was not the scripted play: dribble out the clock and shoot a 30 footer. Naw.