RECAP: Golden State Warriors 118, LA Lakers 124- Ain't no shame
by Atma Brother ONE on Dec 30, 2009 8:30 AM PST
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PrintOriginally posted Dec 30, 2009 12:08 AM PST
First and foremost I'd like to do something that our frenemies down in La-La land can't do and that's give a big shout out to the Bay Area footballers who have been named to the 2010 NFL Pro Browl. San Francisco 49ers LB Patrick Willis, TE Vernon Davis, P Andy Lee (also see my man Fooch's notes and quotes over at Niners Nation) will be donning NFC blue jerseys and Oakland Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha and P Shane Lechler (check out SIlver & Black Pride) will be sporting red AFC jerseys.
Sure LA's got a hoops contender and tonight's win, but do they have not one, but TWO punters going to the NFL All-Star Game in South Florida?
I think not.
YAY AREEEEAAAAAAAA!
Ronny Turiaf: Hehe I got you good on that REJECTION!!
Kobe Bryant: You know what's even funnier? I told Mitch to get rid of you like Shaq and you ended up on the Warriors.
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Ain't no shame in this loss or recent stretch of basketball by the Golden State Warriors. JUMP like Ronny Turiaf REJECTING Kobe Bryant at the rim for the recap!
The Lake-Show
Tonight this:
was very similar to this:
It's easy to be two things in life:
- A bandwagon LA Fakers fan.
- A Faker hater
Just so people don't forget:
- Ron Artest didn't even play tonight. That's a very physical defender, 3pt threat, and nearly 5 boards and 4 dimes MIA tonight. If the Lakers had him on the floor the game wouldn't have even been this close.
- Don't forget that Kobe Bryant could easily be sitting this one out as well as many others. Do you realize this guy just dropped 40 points in 3 quarters (including 16-16 from the free throw line) with a FRACTURED finger (see Bryant to Play Through Finger Injury). During the Warriors telecast on CSN Bay Area they zoomed in on Kobe at the line and he was shooting his free throws without using his index finger. Try doing that at home folks. That's great stuff. What if his index finger was fully functional? 88 points tonight?
- Phil Jackson was kind to the Dubs faithful and decided not to unleash the beast that is Adam Morrison.
PAU WANTS YOU TO JOIN THE ARMY.
In case you missed it in the preview some HollyHood-ness...
The Positives
I want to emphasize that there's nothing to be ashamed of about this loss from the Dubs side. They hung in there, played tough, and in the end just lost to a better team. A much, much better team. Let's put it like this. Of the Warriors 5 starters tonight only Monta Ellis would start on the Lakers (over that flopping fish fellow). The rest of the Warriors starting 5 might not even crack Phil Jackson's rotation. Ronny Turiaf is a key part of the Warriors rotation, but remember he was the Lakers' Adonal Foyle hyphy-style. The Lakers roster is just that good.
But here's looking on the bright side on a gloomy December day in the Bay:
- For a team that has it's share of turnover problems and can be young and dumb way too often, it was absolutely refreshing to see some fantastic ball movement tonight. Everyone in a blue jersey was moving without the ball and making sharp cuts to the basket. The Warriors were eagerly pushing the ball up the court too. It all showed up in the stats with the Dubs 31 assists and 2:1 assist to turnover ratio. Nearly 70% of their made buckets tonight came via assist. Again, absolutely refreshing. This isn't what we usually see here in Dubs land. I could get used to this.
- Ronny's highlight reel swattage stole the show (video below), but can you believe the Warriors actually out-blocked the big Mean Team Lakers tonight? Anthony Randolph and Turiaf both rejected 5 shots each. Way to protect the paint fellas.
- C.J. Watson continued his strong play tonight and sunk 4 of 5 treys. This D-League product is making big leaps that I honestly didn't foresee a year ago. I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed in the league for a long time. He's not in the Warriors long term plans, but he's a nice change of pace backup guard. Let that be a message to contending teams as we approach the February trade deadline.
- Anthony Morrow continues to display a diversified offensive game. Too bad Sasha Vujacic hit him in the nuts when the refs weren't looking and threw his game off a little. Shoot, that would throw anyone's game off. I guess when you're a guy whose name is Sasha- well, I'll be nice and not go there.
- Vladimir Radmonic aka Rad Vlad finally had a decent offensive performance. He's had a lot of struggles since the trade with the Bobcats. I give him credit though for trying to play through them and pitching in on D and rebounding, but the Warriors desperately need some more offense out of him. Tonight was a good start.
- Monta Ellis wasn't sinking his J's like last night against the Celtics, but I'll take 7 assists to 1 turnover from a guy who has a good chance at breaking the league's record for most turnovers in a season any day.
** Watch that at least 5 times before reading on **
What to Work On
- First and foremost Stephen Curry needs to stop throwing soft one handed passes. Curry gets intercepted on those like Brett Farve at the most inopportune moments in playoff games. It might've worked at Davidson, but this is the big leagues. Nellie promptly benched Curry after his second turnover of this sort. Give the coach some props for the teaching moment.
- Anthony Randolph needs to be a consistent rebounding force. In his first 14 minutes Randolph managed only 1 rebound and as Bob Fitzgerald and Jim Barnett alluded to on the Warriors telecast Nellie gave him a few words about his weak rebouding totals when he brought Randolph back to the bench. Guess what? It worked. Randolph did a much better job on the glass during his remaining time on the floor. Again another good teaching moment. If he has the patience and health, Nellie is the right guy for this rebuilding project.
- The Lakers went to the line tonight a whopping 36 times and hit 88.9% of their tries. It's next to impossible to win when you give the other team that many freebies. You have to love the tenacity and attitude the young Warriors exhibited tonight on D (the effort was definitely there), but they're going to need to play smarter and foul a LOT less. Giving up 36 ridiculously high percentage shots amounts to horrendous defense. Remember the Warriors shot 55.4% from the field to the Lakers' 48.3%. Those fouls and consequential free throws pretty much erased any advantage the Warriors had from their nice shooting night.
Ref: "Have you ever tried deodorant?"
Ronny: "Who me?!"
On a night when we can celebrate our Pro Bowlers here in they Bay (which they can't in LA!) tonight's honor goes to San Francisco 49ers legend Roger Craig's cousin.
Some of Corey Maggette's impressive work tonight includes:
- 25 points on 11 shot attempts
- 11 for 13 from the charity stripe good for 84.6%
- 3 assists and ZERO turnovers- what black hole?
I'm surprised Maggette didn't get the foul call on this one too.
Before I forget... DON'T SLEEP!
Purchase tickets | 411 about Q&A with Anthony Morrow | 411 about Free Real Kings of Cali T-Shirt
Let's show Sactown who the Real Kings of Cali are!
If you don't come to GSoM Night 8 to hang with your golden folks... It's a Shame.
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It’s completely shocking that LA’s NFL teams didn’t get a single player in the Pro Bowl this year.
I still believe in you Morrison. The ‘stache will rise again! Warriors should really trade for that guy.
(Yes, I’m just another UCLA alumnus who hates Farmar and loves Morrison).
If Bochy coached the Warriors Bengie Molina would start every game at PG.
by cybermaldonado on Dec 30, 2009 12:22 AM PST reply actions
Two Kobe Stoppers
Once we get Azubuike and Raja Bell in our lineup next season, we’ll start winning all these close games against the Lakers, right? Too bad we don’t have Belinelli anymore. That would make three…
Bell is a free agent at season’s end. He’s a trade piece as an expiring should we make a deal before the deadline. There’s far, far, far less than a guarantee that we would keep him next year, and it would most certainly only happen if he agreed to a greatly reduced salary. If he’s going to do that, I suspect he’ll try to find a team with a better chance of actually winning. I wouldn’t count on him being in our lineup at all.
Belinelli? Meh. He’s getting part time backup minutes for a mediocre team, slightly down from the part time minutes he was getting last year here for a terrible team. Still can’t rebound, still has a nice 3 point stroke making him a slightly below average scoring efficiency guard. Still doesn’t pass that well and still can’t rebound his position. On an overall terrible defensive team last year he didn’t seem to be nearly as much of a ‘stopper’ as some seemed to bill him as. This year on the Raptors, their team appears to be a significantly better defensive squad when he’s sitting. Could that be partly a sample issue? Sure, but couple it with poor rebounding and there’s no real reason to think that he’s much of a ‘stopper.’
by jae on Dec 30, 2009 9:50 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Pro Bowl Voting Dropped the Ball
They should have had Monta Ellis at WR after that sweet post pattern he ran on Tony Allen.
you're tripping
CJ Watson is the best cornerback in the bay area right now. Does anyones else have 10 picks in 2 games?!
by warriorsvictim on Dec 30, 2009 10:38 AM PST up reply actions
FYI on warriors defense
They gamble on defense a lot, and while that will result in more steals and fast break points, it will also result in more fouls and 2nd chance point’s. The only question is whether or not the fast break points will outweigh the free throws/2nd chance points on any given night and last night it didn’t. Still a pretty damn impressive effort by the dubs.
Don’t discount the frenzy and frustration that all those steals create. A big part of the Boston win was the Celtics getting angry and playing overly physical ball. We managed to get under the Lakers’ skin as well. It is also damn entertaining to watch.
Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!
When you are a poor rebounding team, it’s upon you to win the turnover battle. Missed shots are great, but if you cannot close out with a defensive rebound often enough, they lose their worth. Steals and forced turnovers on the other hand are always defensive stops. In general, relying on turnovers is a riskier proposition, but it can work and right now, I suspect that more often than not, it’s a better gamble for the W’s given the personnel out there.
Re: Nellie's good coaching with the youngsters last night
We werent seeing that earlier in the year. It was more of a send them to the bench and deal with it tomorrow in practice mentality.
Does anyone think that was him only giving 50% since we had so many injured players or is he adjusting his style as the young guys grow up?
I have to think he just wasnt making 100% effort earlier in the season because we were such a bad team with the injuries.
by warriorsvictim on Dec 30, 2009 10:40 AM PST reply actions
Maybe he's having a season like Tom Coughlin circa 2007-2008 NFL Season
Coughlin’s star running back Tiki Barber bails on him early in the season (Stephen Jackson leaves for Bobcats). He was on the verge of losing his locker room and the respect of his other star player, Michael Strahan (Monta/Nellie scuffle in NYC). He changes his attitude as a coach, turns the team around and ends up winning the super bowl by beating the undefeated New England Patriots (Warriors win the Western Conference and defeat either the Cavs/Celtcs/Magic in games to become the 2009-2010 NBA Champs!)
WARRIORS BASKETBALL!!! Patiently waiting for a title...I may be waiting for a long time...
by JustSomeName on Dec 30, 2009 10:50 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I think
The chemistry of our team is slowly improving. If we stay this way until the next half of the season we could make a run. Then when the season ends and god forbid no one got traded and everybody is healthy plus we got Buike and Wright back. We will be a decent team. Basketball team is all about chemistry
Win Or Lose Warriors For Life.........
chemistry only gets you so far
The Rockets have all the chemistry in the world, but the best they can possibly be is #3 or 4 in the western conference. To be a legit team you need two stars. We currently have Ellis as a rising star. We need to make a move for a legit player this season or during the off season. People need to stop overrating our players and realize how much better we can be if we get someone that is as good or better than Ellis to play along side Ellis (someone like Bosh).
You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk
by LostHawkGSW on Dec 30, 2009 11:33 AM PST up reply actions
your comment...
belies the fact that the Warriors are unable to attract a second “star” to play w/ Monta. So as fans why not continue to be optimistic about (some of) the current roster. I don’t think that aspiring to be a good team and competing for the playoffs when we have missed them 14 of 15 years can realistically be looked at as “overrating” our players. If anything – your belief that we could actually become a championship team at anytime in the near future by trading youth and potential for 2nd tier “stars” is seemingly unrealistic.
John 8:44 -Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
Even with our current roster, we are not a playoff team. Moves need to be made to get us passed a 40 win team. All i’m saying is that we are one big move away from being a top 5 west team, not necessarily a championship team by any means.
And yes, many people on this site are overrating players on the team by labeling people like Buki/Wright/Morrow/Andris/Curry as untouchable. Also, why do we need to ‘attract’ a star when we can just trade for one.
You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk
And yes, many people on this site are overrating players on the team by labeling people like Buki/Wright/Morrow/Andris/Curry as untouchable.
Unless you are already a championship contender, it’s unreasonable to consider more than one player “untouchable”. When you’re not really a playoff team, even that seems a bit high.
thats all i'm tryin to say
the only player’s right now that are even close to being ‘untouchable’ (although i’m sure there are deals in which we would trade them, but i highly doubt they would ever come up) would be Ellis and AR. After them, we should be TRYING to go for a big name with everyone else.
You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk
Frankly, I’d not include either of them on my “untouchables” list. Monta has a talent for scoring, but was a much better secondary option with a real alpha dog barking than he’s been when he feels he has to control the whole game. When he’s been cool and collected, like against SAN, he’s looked great and he can be a part of a winning squad, but he’s certainly not the elite type that is absolutely necessary to be a contender. I’m much of the mind that Randolph likely won’t be either even though I think he can be a very good player. I would entertain talks involving either.
Given the relative scarcity of really big people, I suspect we’d find a high scoring off guard with a few flaws that could replace Monta before we found another elite rebounding center with a nice touch near the glass to replace Biedrins. But both should be considered tools to make the team better either on the court or through trade.
I agree
But I think the value we get for Ellis or AR will not be equal to what they are really worth to our franchise right now. I think our FO really has high value on Ellis, and I dont think they could pull off a trade that would net equal or better value for Ellis, thus he is on my more untouchable list. If we can get a equal or better play than him to play along side him, he and our team would benefit greatly.
I don’t look at andris the same way, if we get an equal or greater player to play along andris…i don’t think our team would be as good as if we get someone to play along ellis. I could be totally wrong, but thats just the way I look at it based on what we could likely get for each player.
You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk
“Big names” often don’t correlate to winning games. If “big names” were the goal we could trade the whole team to Philly for Allen Iverson, Elton Brand, Ryan Howard, Donovan McNabb, Rocky Balboa’s statue, and Ben Franklin’s corpse.
Nobody disagrees that guys like Buike, Wright and Beans aren’t untouchable; and comments like “we should be TRYING to to for a big name” are kinda pointless without specifics. You got a trade in mind?
There will be no extra point!
by Sleepy Freud on Dec 30, 2009 2:55 PM PST up reply actions
By big name, i mean more of a big impact player
like Bosh.
Andris + fillers (fillers are anyone but Ellis/AR) for Bosh.
Pray we get Wall.
Profit.
You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk
AR/Bosh front court?
we’d get killed inside
by Reverend_Randy on Dec 30, 2009 3:42 PM PST up reply actions
At their current rates, the two would combine for 22 boards and 3.6 blocks per 36 minutes. I doubt there’s a better rebounding 4-5 tandem in the league; and I’m almost sure there isn’t a more athletic one. Throw in Ronny for your beef; grab a big body off the scrap heap (or keep Hunter); and oh yeah, add a 22 year-old somewhat bulked-up Brandan Wright for good measure. Outside LA and Orlando, I can’t think of many NBA teams with a more impressive stable of big men than that.
If Toronto offers Bosh for Biedrins-plus, you thank your stars and figure out the specifics later. Even without Wall —
Curry
Monta / Morrow
Azubuike / Maggs
Bosh / Wright
Randolph / Turiaf
— looks to me like a 50 win team starting next season…
There will be no extra point!
by Sleepy Freud on Dec 31, 2009 8:05 AM PST up reply actions
Yea that’s absoloutely disgusting (in the good way). However, you neglected to account for any of the “plus” that we would have to include with Biedrins. I assume some combination of draft picks, Randolph, Maggs, Curry, Monta, Morrow, Turiaf, etc would need to be packaged with Biedrins.
Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!
Gotta love Turiaf right now...
Turiaf has come back strong after being out almost the whole season…The block on Kobe last night had me jumping off the couch! With our bigs back in action we should see a greatly improved Warriors team and already have with quality wins agains the Suns and Boston. The rest of the season we should see better basketball and more wins…
God Willing...
Good Job
to the Dubs. Even though they didn’t win, they came close, hanged in there, and did their best. They were leading most of the game, but the defending champs just came back. Overall, good game Dubs, maybe next time.
Atma...
He’s not in the Warriors long term plans, but he’s a nice change of pace backup guard
YOU KNOW THE WARRIORS LONG TERM PLANS?
Indulge us, would you?! You’re so fascinating.
That right there is part of the reason people have a problem with your style of writing, and just your personality in general around here. Do not take liberties and make things up to help your word count. You have no clue what the Warriors long term plans are, and how could you? No one does. The Warriors front office is about as reliable and intelligent as a 4th grade class. Apparently, though, you’re JUST the right guy who can figure out all their jaded thinking and outdated tactics. Good to know.
So, Atma, tell us. What are the Warriors long term plans?
Everyone knows CJ is more than likely not going to be here after this season
and even if he is, he is at best a backup. Curry has the potential to be a legit starter.
You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk
Oh yeah?
Everyone knows? Really? How? Did you guys go into the Front Office and chop it up with management?
Nice. I wasn’t aware they were having meetings with random rosterbating fans.
Signing him to a one-year contract at the price they did suggests that both parties didn’t see it as a long term relationship. For Watson, the one year deal meant that he’s an unrestricted free agent next year. I believe he’s said as much somewhere. For the Warriors, the one year deal was a good signal that he wasn’t in long term plans. This could change as we’ll have his full Bird rights, but there’s nothing in any of their actual actions that suggest that Watson should invest in Bay Area property.
Do we know this for a fact? No, but that’s the most reasonable inference, and it requires no secret meetings with management to determine this.
by jae on Dec 30, 2009 2:05 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Agreed
They offered him a 3 year contract but he took the 1 year qualifying offer instead. Doesn’t that prove he doesn’t want to stay for too long?
WARRIORS BASKETBALL!!! Patiently waiting for a title...I may be waiting for a long time...
by JustSomeName on Dec 30, 2009 2:19 PM PST up reply actions
I believe he will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year. He hasn’t accrued enough years (4 I believe) to become an unrestricted free agent. I wouldn’t mind keeping him for 1.5M a year for a couple of seasons if he doesn’t get better options. Even if he does get better options hopefully we would be able to work out a trade for him and get something back in return.
Of course this all changes if we land John Wall. :P
Too bad Warriors will never get Wall...but lets dream for a second
I dream of the day we get wall…
Ellis/Wall backcourt with Curry off the bench…Now that would definitely be the most dynamic backcourt in the league…
I’ll keep dreaming too…throw in Bosh (For Andris + w/e, and he agrees to resign)
PG: Wall – Curry
SG: Ellis – Morrow
SF: Buki – Bell (or maggs if we keep him)
PF: AR – Wright
C: Bosh – Turiaf
Damn, that would be a nasty team…too bad it will never happen, warriors never have luck on their sides
You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk
I believe he will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year
I stand corrected. It does appear that we will have the restricted right to match if we pony up another qualifying offer.
Wasn’t the FO and Nellie perfectly straight up with CJ this offseason? They told him that if he could find a better deal than the 3 year/1.5 mil we offered him that he should take it, and if not he should come back for a showcase year and then see what happens. The guy is probably good enough to start for a handful of teams, and I imagine that is what he wants. If he’s willing to be a heavy minute backup for us, that’s awesome. I am far more interested to see what happens with our 4th guard spot if he does leave (Monta, Curry, Morrow making up the first three).
Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!
I thought he was being courted by the Magic
by Reverend_Randy on Dec 30, 2009 3:45 PM PST up reply actions
They wanted to trade for him and we refused after we matched their offer, if I remember correctly. It was never disclosed what they offered. We would have been silly not to match. He is a very good value.
Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!
Yeah, I think he realized that the Warriors would match
so he took a shorter deal.
by Reverend_Randy on Dec 30, 2009 3:49 PM PST up reply actions
whoops…the Magic never offered him anything because they were convinced we would match (we had already put the 4.5 mil in front of him). Seems to me his main motivation is playing time, hence his rejecting our offer. I would guess he is as good as gone, and will probably be traded before the deadline.
Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!
Great take on Randolph
I wonder why it’s the minority take among the Warriors’ writers?
Nice balanced recap. There were a lot of positives to take away from this tremendous Warriors effort on a difficult back-to-back. And some things as well, as AB1 noted, that need to be worked on.
Based on the last three games, I think this Warriors team is about to make some noise.
RANDOM:
Does anyone have a link to a video of Monta & Corey’s handshake?
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Haha yea that's the one!
But they added some stuff to it that I seen before the Laker game. It was hilarious!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
Type the words RUN TMC in Ebay!
this was a great post atma
keep up the good work. i enjoy your writing
Cause Havoc. Bring Nash in and 120 point games will be very expected
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