I’m sad
I’m hurt
I’m disappointed
I’m without comfort

I’m shedding
My tears
Down my warriors
Team shirt 

49 win season
With what to gain?
A lottery pick
For a future sidekick?

The only solace in me
Are the fans who so badly
Are hurting tonight
With our lose this weeknight

On GSoM
And our new site in hand
We thank our Warriors
For trying their best against the spoilers

Tonight the Denver Nuggets clinched the 8^th spot in the playoff race with the Warrior’s lose to the Phoenix Suns. With so much to say but too depressed to write, let’s take a look at what happened tonight.

Jump

Down by 14 points at the half, I knew the Warriors had to come out on fire to regain control for the second half, if we were to have any shot in hell. Thinking our guys can pull it together, I was gearing up for another come from behind win, before I threw in the towel.

But something happened I’ve never seen before. Nellie benched Baron Davis. He didn’t bench him for a couple minutes or for a long stretch. No he benched Baron for the ENTIRE second half. I don’t want to get into the details for I’m sure more will come out tomorrow and drama will ensue, but for now it was a great idea for the 3^rd quarter. The Warriors sprang into action and outscored the Suns 38 to 19.

We actually had the lead. We even led by double digits at some point in the fourth. But then fate somehow came around and ended our year on a sour note, missing the playoffs, Nellie walking off the court before the buzzer, and Baron refusing to talk to the press.

I’m just hoping we can pull ourselves together and have a memorable showing for the last game at The Oracle on Wednesday.

Yea that fat lady sang … but what was good?

Do you all enjoy the new site? If anything it will take a while to get used to it but people have poured in compliments on the new thread style, and I’m loving it. Being able to comment right away to someone’s post and chant with the rest of the crazy Warrior fans out there, makes life that much more enjoyable, even in these dark times. Though we lost and are out of the playoffs, I’m already looking forward to next season. This summer is going to be a bear having to wait.

With our new thread system came some of the funniest banters all year. Between Saintdee saying this was like a Pokemon game (trying to quickly increase our bench player’s skill level) to others laughing at the possibility of a 1^st overall pick. I could always rely on you guys to make this enjoyable.

As far as the game goes, Kosta did a decent job on Shaq while only playing 13 minutes. Taking some rough beatings down in the paint, he stood his ground and showed promise for next year. Jackson did all he could by shooting 50 percent and ending the night with 23 points. Azubuike took advantage of his playing time and gave us solid assistance with 17 points and 9 boards. Lastly, Monta still gave us something to smile about. Collecting 20 points and 8 boards, he was able to shift by most of the defenders all night and dish out 6 assists and create 6 steals. In my mind he’s again the Most Improved Player of the year, and I can’t wait for him to dominate next season.

How we lost

We’re going to hear it everywhere tomorrow. On the news, radio, water cooler. Everyone’s going to talk about Baron being benched for the second half. I really don’t want to dwell on this fact. Baron had a horrible game, but you know what, he’s also won a ton of others for us. Playing 17 minutes and only scoring 7 points, he just couldn’t do it. He’s been a lot slower for the past week, but this long and strenuous season has taken its toll. Time for a vacation man, I still love ya!

Baron wasn’t alone in the "poor play" department. Harrington shrank back inside his turtle shell and contributed 6 points and 2 assists in 26 minutes. That’s unacceptable. On one of the biggest nights of the year the two of you can only muster 13 points collectively? There’s nothing more I want to say about this.

But the real reason we lost the game, was due to Nash, Shaq, and Amare. Bottom line these guys were just being themselves, freaking stars. Nash had 13 points, 9 rebounds and 14 assists. We couldn't stop this general leading the Suns. 1 rebound shy of a triple double, Nash was throwing passes from the corner of his eyes. Our porous defense made it easy, but it was still impressive. Shaq bullied his way down low for 19 points and 15 rebounds, doing exactly what they traded him for, to allow Amare to blow up. And he did. Shooting 75 percent (mostly dunks) and hitting 10 for 13 of his free throws, Amare had 28 points to lead his team to victory. It’s hard to write about our other failures when clearly a very good team beat us. We just couldn’t hold them off down the stretch.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge the referees for ruining our chances once again. I really hate being that guy who always blames the refs, but I’m honestly sick and tired of the lack of respect we get out there. I guess we’re just going to have to win 22 in a row or a championship for the league to do anything about it!

I know … I know

Season at a glance

So we are lottery bound. It’s going to take awhile for me to be able to digest this loss and the one against the Nuggets last week. So many what-if’s. Had Jackson played from the season start would we be in this position? Had we not lost our first 6 would we be in this position? We made history tonight for having the most wins in a season and not making the playoffs, and I’m not terribly thrilled to have that honor.

To end this recap, all I can say, is that I’m sad like the many of you and we have each other to help us through this time and look forward to next year. Just think, how good is it going to be watching Monta after an offseason of training? I can’t wait!

Thank you to GSoM and all our fans. With our new site, this community it ready to take off.

Warrior Wonder: GSoM!! All of us deserve a freaking award. Great season, sad way to end it. One game remaining, I want to give all of us a Warrior Wonder for cheering our team on. Go show our support this Wednesday if you can!

Photos courtesy of (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) (AP Photo/Bill Waugh)