The Zorgon - Fab Daily Warriors Blog: Enjoying the Southeast 03.10.08

Hello everyone, my name is Fabricio. Zorgon and I have decided to create a daily diary here on GSOM to bring you all the latest Warriors news, stats, rumors, gossip, game previews and reviews plus our own analysis and view of the game. The diary will be called "The Zorgon - Fab Daily Warriors Blog". I will write one day and Zorgon will write the following day and so on and on.

We will try to always post a mind provocative article so that everyone gets involved and share their thoughts here. WE WILL NOT BE POLEMIC AT ALL! We just want everyone to have a good read, have fun, get info on the Warriors and say what they think about the subject that we will bring to the table each and every day.

We hope you enjoy our blog and please always remember to give us a feedback and vote on our poll.
Good read everyone... now off to the article:

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Enjoying the Southeast (Road Trip Review) 03/10/08

18 Road wins and counting! Forth consecutive winning road trip! 10 - 5 on the road against the East instead of a dreadful 5 - 10 record last year... Yeah... Our Warriors are growing and getting better right in front of our eyes! For a team that had a playoff draught that lasted 13 miserable seasons, be at 39 - 23 (16 games above .500), with the 8th best road record in the NBA and battling Phoenix, Dallas and Denver to try to get a Top 6 playoff spot in the most difficult season ever in the West, is pretty remarkable!

I know we could very well be talking today about a huge playoff push, with a 7 game winning streak, all the national media talking about it, but we are the Warriors. We like to be under the radar, to be the under dogs, that is why we lost that game at Charlotte, to go home with a mere 3 -1 road trip record and a 2 game winning streak. I still don't know why Don Nelson is not giving interviews saying that we have no chance to go to the playoffs, that we are done and stuff like that!!

This road trip was won with defense! The Warriors held Miami, Orlando under 100 (the Dubs are now 18 - 0 this season when not allowing opponents to score 100 points) and won by an AVERAGE of 12 PPG (120.5 - 108.5). They also won that game in ATL because of defense because they held the Hawks to 48 second half points (after allowing them to score 70 in the first) and took control of the game. The only game they didn't play any defense (and allowed old pal JRich to score 42 points) they lost! In second halves they allowed an average of just 48.5 PPG and scored 61.5 PPG (+13)! That's what good teams do, close games with runs and defensive stops!

A lot of good things happened on this road trip. For Exemple:

1)    We got Andris Biedrins back (he kept us in the game against Orlando!)
2)    Don Nelson learned to trust more MP2. He played solid defense, had beautiful dunks, and averaged 10.8 PPG and 8 RPG...pretty good for a guy that is averaging 6 and 3 for the season! Welcome back MP!
3)    Stephen Jackson shot the ball extremely well (including in crunch time). He´s now 23 - 46 3PTs in the last 5 games and has scored 20 or more points in 6 consecutive games!
4)    The scramble defense was back! We averaged 10.3 SPG, with only 10.5 TOPG and forced 15.8 TOPG, plus a lot of hustle  (not in the Charlotte game though), a lot of deflections... Warriors basketball at its best!

I said in my last article that, in my opinion, Baron should try to become a pass first point guard at this point of the season, because he would have to take less threes, get all the team involved and specially give the ball to the hot hand like Ellis (who shot over 60% in February!! Or Jackson that is shooting over 50% from 3 point range lately) and Jackson! He proved what I said in the game against Miami where he had 9 assists at halftime, had 0 turnovers and we took control. He also shot the ball only 9 times that game instead of his usual 18 shots per game (season average) and for that he got a lot of rest.
But then... in Orlando he proved me wrong! He had a mere 3 assists which downed his season average below 8 for the second time in the season, but had 33 points and we won because of his clutch shots. The Warriors are really a team with no predictions. We go against the odds every night!

Now a quick recap of all the 4 games for those who missed the games:

Game #1 (at ATL: 135 - 118 W): The Warriors started the road trip slow and allowed the Hawks to score 70 points at halftime. It seemed like we were in for a game like the one we had in Oakland last week. But in the second half, the Dubs won by 19 and forced a lot of turnovers, shot the ball extremely well and won easily game number 1 of the road trip. Impressive!

Games #2 (at CHA: 118 - 109 L): Game number also started with the same feeling of the Oakland game against the Cats: a huge blowout as we stormed out of gates and grabbed a 16 point 1st quarter lead. Then Jason Richarson played almost like Kobe Bryant! He just wanted it more than we did (maybe because we got a little cocky after the big win in Atlanta...) and torched us for 42 points! No matter who was guarding him, he was able to do whatever he wanted, from off balance 3 pointers to tough reverse layups... everything was going their way! They opened a 10 point 4th quarter lead but Baron and Ellis lead a furious comeback to take the lead, but then again JRich was clutch and gave them the W. At least we lost  to a surging team that has now won a FRANCHISE RECORD 5 STRAIGHT! Like VonteegoCummings said in his diary, we should start a WE BELIEVE movement here on GSOM for the Bobcats! Our man Richadson deserves it after we sent him to Charlotte!

Game #3 (at MIA: 134 - 99 W): Not much to talk about this one... Miami was without Wade, had just 7 healthy bodies and they are tanking the season... result... worst defeat of the season for them. Game MVP was Stephen Jackson with huge threes and 22 points (Baron had 15p and 10a double double). But the best thing that happened in this game: starters got huge rest, which gave them fresh legs for the Orlando game on the back end of a back to back on the road, after a 4 games - 5 nights East Coast road trip.

Game #4 (at ORL 104 - 95 W): This game was all about staying within striking distance and playing second half defense, which the Warriors did with perfection. They went down double digits in the first half but closed the 2nd quarter with a mini run and went to the locker room down only by 8. Dwight Howard was a monster with 19-9 and 3 blocks. But in the second half the Warriors gave only 40 points to the Magic and Biedrins played great defense on Howard which limited him to 7-3 in the half. After the 3rd quarter, where the Ws outscored Orlando by 17, all they had to do was protect the lead and go home with another W, and that's exactly what they did!

We left Oakland with a 36 - 22 record (14 above .500) and returned with a 39 - 23 record (16 above .500). With 3 more wins (which can come this next Saturday) the Warriors equal their number wins from last season (in mid March!!!!! This is March Madness time in the Bay Area!! Most importantly they are 2 games ahead of the Nuggets for the 8th and final playoff spot, but are just ½ game away from Dallas (who is struggling with Jason Kidd) and 1 ½ game behind Phoenix for the 6th seed (who is 4 - 6  with Shaq). A Playoff repeat is getting closer and closer for the Dubs (knock on wood 3 times, PLEASE!! No jinx here!!) this season, and maybe this time we can get a 7th or 6th seed which would be great, specially on the toughest season ever in the West! And with some luck we can face a good matchup team in the first round and let the others kill each other and advance to the West Finals (now that would be NICE!). Well, no time to talk about playoffs YET, it's only time to say congratulations to the team that ended the season with a winning record on every road trip and returns home triumphant once again!! Go Warriors!!  

Well guys that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the read and please don't forget to check Zorgon´s diary tomorrow. It will be a lot of fun!! Don't miss it.

For Zorgon, I´m Fabricio, so long everyone! Hope you liked!!

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Here are some links for more Warriors stuff:

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/clubhouse_news.aspx?sport=NBA&majteam=GS  (Warriors Fantasy News)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/gsw/stats;_ylt=AokP_5WiWxIng2xNLb2.FvJ90bYF  (Warriors complete team stats)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/gsw/photos;_ylt=AviCpGiOLUfEQQt07YxCrg190bYF  (Warriors Pics)