… a win in the end would have greatly boosted the team’s confidence. Maybe this loss will be like the loss we had against the wizards in 06-07 that sparked the Warriors into playing some amazing basketball.

Even though we lost, it’s still good to know that it was only because of little mistakes that are fixable. It’s not like we sucked at all, we just couldn’t get one last rebound, and we were a little lazy on the inbounds play. I think it will be very easy for this team to bounce back from that loss. The team knows that they played good, it’ll make them even more hungry for a win next time.

hope we win that :(

should have intentionally fouled Miami when we had the 4point lead and make it a free throw game!

tonight was probably his best game of the season, and perhaps of his warrior career, and yes i’m saying that about a game where 2-11 for 8 points. he only had maybe 3 of his patented forced drives, and was spectacular in keeping the ball moving around, and ended up with 11 assists. he finally showed some leadership on the floor. i’d love if he played every game the rest of the season shooting the ball only 11 times. i hope this wasn’t just a flash in the pan.

also, gotta beat a dead horse and say the coaching at the end of regulation was….questionable. to put it nicely

i was at the game, and when i saw quinn hit that three, i turned around. 3 seconds later i see beasley freakin going to the line. ahhh i almost hit another car driving back home because of my frustration!

Someone in the open thread mentioned that the hand/wrist injury was the best thing to happen. I think that’s true. When the injury forced Jackson to sit out against the Knicks, I think he got a “birds eye view” at watching how the Knicks moved the ball to find open men and score against us. And I think a light bulb went off in his head going, “Oh, so this is how I do it.” Except for his poor shooting, there was little to complain about in his performance tonight. He LED the team, he INVOLVED his teammates, he kept the FLOW going, he didn’t ball hog.

Now let’s see if this is for real, or if this is a one-game anomoly. 4 days before the next game. That’s a long wait.

for my 15 win season prediction baby! lets go for an 0-for crawford record

is there anymore ways to lose game.

My TiVo didn’t record overtime, which is merciful, from the sounds of it.

I’ll say this: I LOVED how we played the first three quarters of this game, and was feeling better about all of our recent villains. Jackson was really leading, in a way he hadn’t led all year. Crawford was great. Maggette was quietly doing a great job too, getting us to the line early and often and showing a defensive energy we hadn’t yet seen from him. And Nellie, by sticking to a simple, common-sense rotation, was coaching better than he’d coached all season.

And then the fourth quarter started, and Nellie decided to go to smallball again.

It’s an absolute joke that we were able to stretch this thing into overtime, because we played HORRIBLY in the fourth… luckily the Heat did too, and the bounces and calls all went our way. Just look at how the offensive flow disappeared once Wright left, and look how comically overmatched our defense became. Yeah, we’d already been horrible on the defensive boards… that’s always going to be a weakness on this team. But when we went down to one big, the shot-blocking disappeared too, and the Heat could do whatever they wanted.

Brandan Wright made a number of mistakes in this game, on both offense and defense… this was not one of his better games. BUT LOOK AT HOW MUCH BETTER WE PLAY WHEN HE’S IN. The offense opens up, because he’s moving, setting picks and cutting to the basket, and the defense toughens up because we can at least protect the rim. And our defense flat-out soars when Turiaf’s in, though he’s not too helpful on offense.

This was heartbreaking, because I thought Nellie had finally figured it out. I thought he’d finally realized that a regular-sized lineup led to better play. Instead, once the Heat tied it up, he panicked, went back to smallball and lost us the game. I’m not even upset about the loss so much… sucks for the Oracle crowd, but there’s not much difference between 6-12 and 5-13, in the scheme of things. The sad thing here is that we played the game the right way for three quarters, with teamwork, energy and a lick of defense, and then reverted to our bad habits late, thanks primarily to an idiotic return to the strategy that’s been killing us.

The rebounding was atrocious throughout, but we can win games while getting beaten on the boards… we did a bunch of that last year. We can’t win games playing smallball. I wish Nelson would just open his goddamned eyes.

….but Barnett was right tonight: If Mags just layed that one shot up instead of trying to dunk it, that would’ve been an additional point (given he makes the 3 point play) towards the final score. He should publish a coffee table book full of his barnett-isms. Haha.

I really hope we bounce back from this one soon. We ALMOST had it.

It was good to see CJ and Ronny being consistent.

…that Don Nelson, like internet viral videos, gets less and less enjoyable every time you watch?

But atleast Mistah F.A.B. was at the game!

Maggette killed us all night. While he put up some scoring numbers early, and hist some free throws late, he was unable to keep Haslem out of the paint in the second half and overtime and he missed a free throw in overtime that would have given us another point. Plus, he was arguing and arguing and arguing the whole night. Plus, he refuses to pass the ball. Maggette stagnates the offense and is incredibly predictable on the defensive end: He’s going to get out hustled, out-rebounded and taken to the rack. The guy is simply a liability (except at the foul line). We need him coming off the bench for about 10 minutes a contest. I’d rather have Morrow in hoisting up the number of shots that Maggette shoots. Morrow at least, rebounds.

THIS caught my eye.

“CJ Watson, D-League call-up and "natural" back-up (as described by Nelson), had four steals, including crucial stops during the fourth quarter and overtime. The rest of the roster managed 5 for the entire game. Sometimes defense isn’t a matter of intelligence, natural ability, or coaching, but simply desire. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our best defense is being played by guys struggling to snag 7 (Randolph), 18 (Turiaf), or 27 (Watson) minutes on the court. Meanwhile, those logging 50 (Crawford), 49 (Jackson) and 46 (Maggette) are repeatedly abused by their men with seemingly no consequences or dismay. For two months in 2006, we saw a Warriors team hungry to defend, run, and punish opponents. We haven’t seen anything close since. If we’re going to regain that desire, we should start by rewarding those providing the best effort and enforce a consistent standard across the roster, from Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette to Richard Hendrix and DeMarcus Nelson. If our choice is now between varieties of losses, I’d rather see hard-fought than phoned-in.”

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/warriors/2008/12/02/the-little-things-warriors-129-heat-130/#comment-82107

If there’s anything that Don Nelson can learn from this game, it’s that CJ deserves his 25-30 minutes that he’s been getting lately and that Randolph, Turiaf, and Wright deserve a LOT more minutes than they have been getting.

and I’m still hurting all over.

on the 4th quarter

Love that improvement.

But man, when CJ gets crucial rebounds you know something is wrong.

Another inbounds play that got stolen from us, though this time we lost.

Why was Watson subbed in twice for defense in the final moments of OT? While I understand wanting your best free throw shooters in the game in the case of a foul after a rebound/made shot, other than a steal here and there, Watson continues to get picked on screens and let his man run right past him – leading to mismatches, other Warriors compensating and ending up out of position, which then leaves opponents with wide open jumpers and easy pick and roll points in the paint.

Watson simply cannot keep his man in front of him. Yes, he has been great on the offensive end, but if he cannot guarantee 2 points on every offensive possession, he is costing us by being a defensive liability, allowing opponents to score at will.

I would have much rather seen Wright and Randolph in there to defend both the paint and the perimeter (we’ve seen them both block their share of 3 pointers) than CJ’s man losing him and getting a wide open shot. Or get Turiaf back in for defense (isn’t that his specialty) in hopes of altering a shot or grabbing the rebound.

Everyone keeps saying this was not Nelsons Fault, it was the lack of rebounding. Well why the feezy do yall think we had no rebounding!!!!

Generally good play. Lost the game in the final minutes with stupid mistakes (their average age is 23 for cryin out loud!) – bummer, but to be expected.

This is a young team. They really coalesced in this game and starting playing like a team, rather than 5 players on the court at the same time.

Ronny (my boy!) came in with some vicious swats.
Watson handled well when he needed, and shot the ball pretty well.
Wright was a hustle machine.
Maggette did what he does: gets to the line
Captain Jack realized he wasn’t shooting well, and passed the ball.
And Jamal Crawford, from my lovely hometown of Seattle, made an Oracle debut something to be appreciated. He was on fire, and he doesn’t even know the W’s system yet.

Let’s step back from an admittedly painful loss and appreciate how close we came to beating a team that is, frankly, better than we are (now), although that won’t last.

Biedrins needs to find his pick and roll skillz – not sure whether it’s his rotation after the pick or if our guards are flubbing (which seems more likely, to me), but Beens can get to the hoop fast with great hands. A well placed pass and 2 pts easy. Needs practice (watch Stockton and Malone do it over and over).

Boxing out and rebounding clearly need work.

On the flip side, the Dubs really progressed on defending the pick and roll. Still needs practice, but much improvement over the last couple games.

Basically, I’m not a fan that gets too worked up or too down on the win/loss column. I’m as pumped as the next guy when the game goes our way, but it’s helpful to remember (for those dying after this loss), that we’re a young team still developing. I think Nellie ball is fun as hell, and would hate to see Nellie kicked off the Warriors – they make basketball fun. Something Chris Paul (altho I love his skills and ability) cannot do. This style of play may never win us a championship – though I hope it does – but it certainly makes me a fan, and makes me want to get out there and shoot hoops myself, and yell “RONNY!” every time I swat my 5’ 6" opponent and “MORROW!” everytime I hit that crazy jumper from the side of the key.

He had a great game, but i think it was just cause his hand was hurt honestly, cause ive never seen poor shooting affect his shot selection before.