RECAP: Warriors 120, Bucks 90 - Scary Hot

by Fantasy Junkie on Dec 5, 2007 11:24 PM PST in Recaps

"Austin Croshere can get scary hot!" -- Fitz

When Austin Croshere is playing, you know the Warriors must be playing well. When Fitz is saying "Austin Croshere can get scary hot" the Warriors must be absolutely killing the other team. This makes me wonder, are the Bucks a real NBA team or just an NBDL team in disguise? That's how bad the Warriors made the Bucks look.

The Warriors were so much faster and quicker than the Bucks tonight. It seemed like every loose ball belonged to the Warriors. Every time the Bucks drove the lane, they were stripped. Every time the Bucks passed the ball in traffic, it got deflected. Every time the Bucks shot the ball, it was challenged. The Warriors combined for 16 steals and 6 blocks to wreak havoc on the Bucks' offense. It was as if the Warriors were playing with 8 guys and the Bucks had 4.

I know the Bucks were on the 2nd game of a back to back, but this was just ridiculous. They hung with the Warriors in the first quarter, but when that 2nd quarter hit, the Warriors slammed on the accelerator and the Bucks were stuck in neutral. The Dubs rolled off an 11-0 run to go up 38-25. Finally, after nearly 4.5 minutes, the Bucks scored only to go another 2 minutes before scoring again on a tip-in and later a free throw. After nearly 7 minutes of action the Bucks scored 5 points. Yikes. When the quarter was over, the Warriors outscored them 27-11 in the quarter and essentially put the game away. Michael Redd gave it his best shot to bring his team back, but his 16 points in the 3rd weren't enough as the Warriors still won the quarter 28-27.

The Warriors had one of their best shooting nights of the year also. Look at the numbers:

FG: 45-86 (52.3%)
3PT: 15-22 (68.2%)
FT : 15-16 (93.8%)

When the Warriors shoot 68% from the Land of Plenty, there aren't many teams that are going to beat them. It was crazy, Jax started off hot from 3 and it was just contagious as 6 more guys hit a three. Al hit a 3, Baron dropped one in, then Barnes, Azubuike, Croshere and even Hudson. Heck, "Scary Hot" was 3-4 from the 3 point arc. I was just waiting for DJ to put one up. That would have been great.

What's even more impressive than the 3 point performance is the job they did at the free throw line. Only 1 missed free throw! 93.8%! That must be a record for this team. Hopefully they keep this up and can get the team FT% above 75% which would put them at about average for the league. Right now, at 69.3%, they're 28th.

As far as players who impressed tonight, I'd have to put Kelenna at the top of the list. He shot an efficient 6-8 from the field for a very quiet 16 points. As Barnett pointed out in the telecast, he's learning new moves and finding different angles to finish on drives. Where before he might have just had a pump fake, he's now working in a juke with that pump fake to mix up his moves.

I also really enjoy watching Monta play now because he's improved since the beginning of the season. The biggest compliment I can give him is that he's able to positively affect the game even when he's not scoring. Before, he was the scoring spark off the bench. Now he's helping out with the rebounds. He's not always skying over people to grab boards but sometimes coming from the big man's blind side to poke or deflect the ball to himself. In the last 4 games, he's grabbed a total of 32 rebounds or 8 per game. Before this recent surge, he was averaging just 2.7 per game. He's also making the extra pass, using the drive to set people up, and making smarter decisions with the ball. Good to see Monta step it up.

Bogut doing his best Barbosa impression

Monta had the highlight of the night too. He got the ball in the corner and nobody was guarding him. Instead of launching a three, he took off full speed towards the basket. As he got just outside the paint, he elevated, cocked the ball in his right hand, and threw it down on Bogut for the dunk and draw the foul. "Monta to the rim!" -Fitz

And I can't forget DJ Mbenga. He really worked his butt off tonight on the defensive end. He deflected quite a few balls and hit the boards, with rebounds 7 in 13 minutes. He's settling into his role on the team as a guy who can provide some bulk and rebounding off the bench, while also giving the team some good `ol hustle. His offensive game is ugly and I don't think he'll ever score in double digits, but if he continues to work hard on defense and clean the glass, he'll earn minutes.

Lastly, I enjoyed watching Yi Jianlian. Other than Michael Redd, no Buck stood out. It's hard to stand out when you're getting blown out by 30. But, Yi impressed me with how smooth he is. He's 7 feet tall, but you wouldn't know it with his footwork and soft hands. He had a nice spin move, a couple blocks, and had a nasty dunk off of an offensive rebound. One other thing is that his defense on the perimeter was pretty good. He made Jax and Al think twice about shooting out there because he's long enough to get a hand in their face and quick enough to challenge them if they drive. Just from watching him tonight, it seems like he's got the tools to be a good player.

Boom Dizzle. He bounced back from his 6-23 shooting night against Orlando to go 7 for 14, 2 of 3 from 3, and 4-4 from the line. His 20 points and 9 assists came in just 31 minutes of play. He also had a ridiculous +31 +/- tonight. Nobody on the Warriors really even came close to that. Basically for every minute that he played tonight, the Warriors would outscore the Bucks by 1. Great bounce back game for Baron.

Update: The Monta Dunk - "You just got YouTubed." Thanks to danielholl for digging this up.

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Comments

Thanks

for the snappy recap. You mentioned Monta's rebounding; that's the single most important and impressive change in any Warrior's game this year. If Monta manages even 5 rebounds per game for the season and improves in no other category, he'll have helped us win a whole lot more than last year.

by mikej on Dec 5, 2007 11:38 PM PST 0 recs

Andris's

free throw percentage improvement is just as impressive as Monta's rebounding differential comparing last year vs. this year, but it makes less of a difference for the team's success, especially considering that Andris shoots very few free throws--the difference amounts to about a point per game, even though percentage-wise he's more than twice as good as when he came up.

by mikej on Dec 5, 2007 11:41 PM PST 0 recs

Biggest Difference

NO EARLY ISO's.

I find that when the warriors come out passing more than standing, waiting with the ball in hand, they start better.

Passing sets the tone for the whole game. They don't see as lethargic and it keeps them ACTIVE.
An ACTIVE warrior > a LAZY warrior.

Best duo since...

by Tim N Chris Burger on Dec 5, 2007 11:57 PM PST 0 recs

see = seem

Best duo since...

by Tim N Chris Burger on Dec 5, 2007 11:58 PM PST up 0 recs

Yi = Garbage

didnt do anything to impress me. Overhyped.

by spartan21 on Dec 6, 2007 12:39 AM PST 0 recs

Yao = Overated, Yi = Underrated

I'm the biggest Yao hater around (well at least in the Bay Area) and even so, I think that Yi deserves much more love than he's getting. Yao puts up ok stats, but he's a slow, methodical player, who has two great attributes. First, can play great defense on true centers and second he can be a deadly scoring weapon in the post. However, the dude is 7'6" and can barely average 9 rebounds and 1 1/2 blocks per game, despite playing 35 minutes a contest. In my book that in excusable for a guy his size. Biedrins is hands down a better rebounder and shot blocker, yet Yao gets all the love for center spot in the Western Conference's All-star voting, then again Biedrins isn't quite an all-star either (it should be Duncan, but for some stupid reason he's not a center on the ballots).

I'm not a fan of the type of NBA ball that a team needs to play to take advantage of Yao's skill set. Rather, I like the fast up down open style of Doug Moe's Denver Nuggets in the mid-80s into early-90s basketball. You know it as Nellie-ball. I think Yi's game is tailored to that type of ball. He's got a smooth shot and the length to make it difficult to block when he's on perimeter. Yi also has above average speed and lateral quickness for his size. The one thing I think he needs experience. He needs about two full NBA seasons to get the rugged style of the NBA down. I think playing in the east will help with that. Any thoughts?

by mcwalter44 on Dec 6, 2007 9:45 AM PST up 0 recs

I don't know if Yi

deserves more accolades than he is getting now as he isn't doing much but I agree that he looks fluid and has a lot of upside

And I was impressed that he can move on defense

Other than both being Chinese I don't see why Yao even comes into this conversation. Their games are nothing alike

by Zig on Dec 6, 2007 10:30 AM PST up 0 recs

what's the purpose of the comparison?

yao and yi are totally different players - different positions, different games, different teams.

we need to get beyond comparing guys simply because they come from the same country.

by OaktownWarrior on Dec 6, 2007 10:41 AM PST up 0 recs

Yao comparision is wrong

Agreed... all I'm getting at is the amount of love Yao gets on GSoM where as Yi, who fits the Warriors bettter, doesn't get all the GSoM love. Otherwise, there really isn't much to compare. One plays the exclusively in the post and the other is a wing player with the size to play in the post. I guess we could compare post skills, but really there's no need to compare them.

By the way... I love that haterade pic from Tony.psd... it's awesome.

by mcwalter44 on Dec 6, 2007 1:13 PM PST up 0 recs

Er...

Yi, who fits the Warriors better, doesn't get all the GSoM love

Really now? Try doing a GSoM search for "Yi" or "Yi movement" and see how many love letters you turn up. Be sure to set aside a few hours and have snacks handy...

by Sleepy Freud on Dec 6, 2007 4:32 PM PST up 0 recs

Here's the Yi Love

Haha The Yi Movement started at GSOM. I don't need to explain much, just go to this link: GSOM + Yi

by Fantasy Junkie on Dec 6, 2007 11:41 PM PST up 0 recs

Haters... as if...

by Tony.psd on Dec 6, 2007 11:56 AM PST up 0 recs

Hey

Fantasy, thanks for the great recap, I really had fun reading it!! Nice job! And what a game tonight! Hopefully we can keep the pace on friday against the aging Heat!

F**K REFS!!!

by faetati on Dec 6, 2007 12:40 AM PST 0 recs

Oh yeah,

How about POB hitting a couple of jumpers. Then you hear Barnett say that during their scrimmages he drops them all the time. What a weird depth chart that would be.
PF Harrington/POB
C Beidrins/Wright
But it almost seems more fitting for Wright. And a 7'2" at the 4...I love it.

Keep Monta Movement.

by danielholl on Dec 6, 2007 1:37 AM PST 0 recs

I think that

Steinzman said it best; "Bogut, you just got youtubed".

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K-t8q1xT0Vc

BTW Monta had a +23 for the game in the new stat.
Love it.

Keep Monta Movement.

by danielholl on Dec 6, 2007 1:43 AM PST 0 recs

My two highlights of the game

The T-Hud to BWright alley-hoop dunk.

One of the announcer (forgot who) - "You just got MBengad!"

by lightz0ut on Dec 6, 2007 2:25 AM PST 0 recs

No kidding.

That had me on my feet. I looked for it on YouTube, but it's not there. If anyone posts it, let us know!

by chacabuco on Dec 6, 2007 10:54 AM PST up 0 recs

Well

I was realy impressed by the unit that played during garbage time. I know the game was pretty much over, but the Bucks were still playing hard, and so was our unit. Croshere, Wright, POB, T Hud and Bookie kept our lead the same as when the starters left. I was impressed with POB's blocks and feathery touch, and T Hud ran things really well. I wouldn't mind giving him a couple of minutes of real time if Baron is out of gas.

WELCOME TO THE GUN SHOW!

by tadams1080 on Dec 6, 2007 5:54 AM PST 0 recs

strong win

the warriors are doing what most good teams do which is blow out really bad ones. if this was the warriors early on last year, we might have seen a loss or a much closer game. It fun to see finally see some consistent blows out !!!

i got to say that Michael Redd and Mo Williams seemed like they took like 90% of the shots (though they didn't). They're both obviously skilled, but its weird to me that Bogut and Yi had only 11 shots between them. I guess if you're slacking on defense like those two were, then you don't deserve touches (of if you're calling out your teammates in public repeatedly). but it almost looked like the game plan was just let Redd and Williams do whatever they wanted and when disaster struck, find an open man to bail em out.

by dj fuzzylogic on Dec 6, 2007 7:06 AM PST 0 recs

doesn't it sound too familiar

not too long ago. And still rings a bell every now and then?

by lightz0ut on Dec 6, 2007 3:58 PM PST up 0 recs

i want to credit the officials crew last night...

...we've all seen enough games like that where every stripped ball on the post / in the lane resulted in a blown whistle and free throws (may very well be that no one on that Bucks team warrants the unspoken "star treatment" YET). we saw how we benefitted in the playoffs, when the physicality is always given more rope. with how active our guys need to be flying around with their long arms & quick hands on defense, it's a huge help to be officiated by a crew that actually CALLS the game, and not what they ASSUMED happened every time. it's going to go both ways, but our superior quickness most nights is going to more than make up for a few swallowed whistles on overly physical shot blocks at the other end.

...big ups for letting 'em play. it's the exact reason our games against Phoenix are so darn much fun, and the NBA folks upstairs should take note.

by 321 IN n OUT on Dec 6, 2007 8:01 AM PST 0 recs

What's encouraging is

when shots are falling, they run teams off the floor. When they're ice cold, the games are close (except for the Boston game).

I missed the game live so I had to catch it On Demand at like 4am. I just went back through the game thread and I nominate this for Line of the Night by GSWarrior:

"B WRIGHT.. MAN HE FLEW LIKE A DAMN STICK."

Is that a "playing fetch" reference?

Sick dunk though.

by bloodsweatndonuts on Dec 6, 2007 8:47 AM PST 0 recs

Heh

I loved that line too. You'd have to be a pretty good fetch player to throw a stick such that it stayed as vertical as Wright, but somehow it made sense. If we're still looking for nicknames for him, we could do worse than "Stick"...

by Sleepy Freud on Dec 6, 2007 4:40 PM PST up 0 recs

How about "Fetch"?

Throw the ball up there and he'll go get it. It's a good nickname for a rookie too.

Nothing beats Andris's nickname: ^^^^

by bloodsweatndonuts on Dec 6, 2007 6:13 PM PST up 0 recs

Now that I think about it

Hudson didn't really make a good pass... haha.

If that was any other guy, it would have been a turnover. Instead, Wright made it look good.

by lightz0ut on Dec 6, 2007 11:59 PM PST up 0 recs

Aren't Blowouts Fun Recaps?

It was fun to watch last night (even better when you can fastforward) and everyone was shooting well. The lack of ISOs was definitely a welcome sight.

The Warriors are scary good when they are in the flow passing and catching and shooting. Barnes really is an intangible/scrapper kind of player and the Warriors play better when he's in there.

Its nice to see the improvements in the games of Monta, Al, Biedrins and Kelenna. I think that shows dedication by the players and good coaching.

Yi, wow. He's not some stretched out beanpole who just happens to be a shooter, he's got NBA ready skills now and the quickness is already there. All he needs is to get some respect from the refs and learn how to get into certain positions to avoid fouls. Once he gets that, he's going to be an All-Star.

POB really showed what he can do. Garbage time yes, but his jumper from deep is nice. He even looks like a vet now, not someone just happy to be there (rookie.) Really like Brandon Wright too.

Warriors are on the upswing!!!

Nothing better than "The City".

by philsmith75 on Dec 6, 2007 11:45 AM PST 0 recs

Thanks, Nellie -- Finally!

It's real easy to monitor BD's minutes -- and keep him relatively fresh for crunch time. Just follow the Phoenix-Nash model and sit him 6-8 minutes each from the late first and third quarters into the early second and fourth. Those 12-16 minutes can be covered by Monta, Jack and Hudson (making sure that Monta and Hudson aren't on the floor together). Nellie'll have to weather a few tough moments, but this team can handle it. And BD won't be with us by year end if he doesn't start getting the rest he so obviously needs in order to be as terrific as he's been. So, a little self-discipline, Nellie.

Plus, the W's are easily capable of playing nine or ten deep now -- as they must if they want to reach the next level. (They're much deeper than last year, when Barnes was about it; now add the greatly improved AZ, Croshere and even Hudson -- I still have trouble with MP -- with Mbenga and the quickly improving Wright bringing up the rear.)

Besides the obvious, the two nice things I saw from the bench last night were (1) Hudson actually passing the ball (who knew he had point talents?) and (2) Wright consistently boxing out for defensive rebounds (he's also got wonderful "Jack hands," tho they're untrained at this point). Let's hope Nellie can keep up with the substitutions for the Heat and the Lakers, at least; he might not be able to control himself with the Spurs, though he should really try.

Finally, Atma and friends, I was very impressed by Yi (first time I'd seen him other than in clips), especially with his defense and rebounding. The kid's a real talent, with his quickness and moves. Still, although it's close, I actually prefer BW's upside (he plays raw, but much smarter than I'd anticipated -- note his "Worm"-like positioning on defense) and find him quite "Worthy" to be a W star in the near future -- perhaps as early as next year. We'll see.

by johnl on Dec 6, 2007 12:06 PM PST 0 recs

I agree completely

Nellie has a problem substituting guys into the game, even in blowouts, last night was the first time he emptied the bench. He's playing Davis and Jack way too much, Hudson has to get into the game earlier, as does Croshere. When the Warriors were having such a bad game against Orlando a couple of days ago, shooting brick after brick, Croshere should have been in there, he has the most consistent 3 pt. shot on the team. This team is 10 players deep and they should be utilized. We are a frenetic team, and in order to play that style it requires liberal substitutions.

by wushi on Dec 6, 2007 3:59 PM PST up 0 recs

by "worthy"

you mean James Worthy? Those some bold statements!

by dj fuzzylogic on Dec 6, 2007 5:53 PM PST up 0 recs

Yeah, I do

BW lacks all of Worthy's polish and he lacks Worthy's offensive moves (and arsenal) -- at this point (because he's so young). But watch his game, especially on defense, where his growing prowess is becoming evident (even with his weak body). Already he plays better position defense than any W except AB (the best), Jack and BD (when he's playing within himself). He blocks out just like Worthy did. He's got very fast hands -- as were in evidence against the Bucks. And he releases the outlet pass right away (sure, some will go astray, but I'll take that at this point). I think he can be a powerful defender -- especially at the three -- by the end of this season.

Offense, of course, will take more time. BW has yet to show any range, though I expect we'll see him excel in the 8-12 foot jumper pretty soon. And his offensive positioning is not yet up to par. But he's got good hands, smart eyes, and he has a discernible knack for playing above the basket. Moreover, once he gets more comfortable with Nellie (or, rather, vice versa), I think we'll see him timing his releases better on defense (i.e. when he has no shot at the rebound), and we'll start to see him finishing fast breaks a la Worthy.

Granted that the easiest comparisons at the moment are physical resemblance and Tarheel background, I really believe BW -- if he gets stronger, but NOT much thicker (see Bosh, Chris -- whose new found bulk is holding him back), and can play wiry strong (a la Rodman) -- can be something really special. He's got (the dreaded) potential up the wazoo. But what's impressed me most thus far is that he plays much smarter than I would have thought and he seems to pick up schemes really quickly, like AB did. Plus, he shows a real good sense of maturity at this point, taking what Nellie's giving (or not giving) him without complaint -- and, I think, slowly winning Nellie over.

I agree that only time will tell, but the signs all look very good to me.

by johnl on Dec 7, 2007 12:00 PM PST up 0 recs

Third that.

At the same time, there are going to be games where BD will need to play 40+ minutes, but I think it's key that the team work their schedule appropriately so that they can allow for that. I think Ellis' remarks about planning to run the Bucks off the floor in the first half are encouraging. As recent games have shown, the Warriors can clean out a lot of teams in the league. It's going to be key that they foresee likely W's in advance, and try their hardest to get a sizeable lead early on. I think we'll see more of this as they grow more confident in their ability to finish games without having BD and/or Jax on the floor. As Wednesday showed, even our bench can win quarters against certain teams. As this becomes more evident, we'll be able to feel out against which teams we can afford to empty the bench.

"SCARY HOT!"

by Talimon on Dec 7, 2007 1:38 AM PST up 0 recs