RECAP #3: Golden State Warriors 83, Los Angeles Lakers 107 - No Treats, Just Tricks

He had David Lee and Andris Biedrins on the bench when there was still plenty of time left in the game. The Warriors were only down about 12-14 points, but it was too late to put the big men back in the game once the Lakers brought the lead up to 20+.

When Jeremy Lin got on the court, the Warriors went on a 9-0 run, yet Smart kept our starting big men on the bench. Imagine if Lee and Biedrins were on the court during that 9-0 run. Those two would have given the Warriors a bigger arsenal for the comeback, and probably would have built some momentum to spark some extra scoring and defense to rally and win the game. I think it was Charlie Bell and Jeremy Lin during that 9-0 run, too. Smart could have at least put Monta back to join Lin in the backcourt so he could ride with the momentum.

“His presence was missed,” Ellis said.

That’s good to read!!

David Lee had similar thoughts. It is nice to see comments of seasoned players describing the hole that is left when we lack our true Point Guard and Steph is proving to be just that…I still maintain my call from last year, that Steph will be an All-star within two years.

While the loss is unpleasant… I have to say, props to Lin. I was actually impressed with his play last night and he showed the promise of a player deserving his space on this team to develop. Well done JL!

D.Wright and B.Wright looked good I thought, although I would like even more from both players.

Interestingly…. the Andris Biedrins issue kept nagging away at me. I truly think we need a Centre that can dominate the paint with Andris as the back-up centre. He’s good, but he just does not have that… ‘X-factor’ in the paint to make it difficult for teams to come inside and that I think is a major problem and has been for some time. I believe we should seriously look at what we can do to bring Marc Gasol to GSW.

I think we have players now at the power forward position in Lee, Wright and Udoh that will prove their position, however I am really looking forward to seeing how Lou Admunson will boost us. D.Wright in the small forward position, backed up by Carney and Adrien, I think gives us solid wing play, I could even see B.Wright playing the odd game in the SF!! role…. which would be interesting in certain match ups.

So what do we lack? To be honest… I think we miss CJ…. Quiet Storm did just that..he got on with business in a quiet manner and we truly need a proper back-up Point Guard to cover when Curry is either injured or off court. Ellis backed up by Williams and maybe another seems fine to me.

So…I believe we have players like Gadz (he is not actually that bad, but that’s why we need to use him in a trade) Radman and Bell, that have to go to give us a proper back-up Point Guard. Once that has been sorted, we can look at what we can do for next year for the starting centre position.

If those 3 players go, and we get a good back-up PG in return, maybe we can consider bringing back Chris Hunter as back-up Centre. Personally I think Hunter would enjoy playing alongside Lee and I remain convinced he can develop further as a good back-up centre.

But overall… I like the scope and balance of this team on the playing front… I do however still have reservations about Smart’s ability to react strategically to the other coaches moves, as I think was proven by Jackson.

We played solid defense, but could not get a board.

We played solid offense, but could not make a shot.

We’d move the ball to the open man, get an open shot, and not convert.

We played against the lakers without steph curry.

Where is the option for ‘I watched both games at the same time!’

I had two screens up watching both games…AND it was 3am…. the word ‘Loyal’ comes to mind! :) Possibly ‘Mad’ to others… lol

They’re bigger and better. And none of our open shots went in and we resorted to contested shots. Nothing to panic about but it also puts the Warriors in their place. They’re no match for the Lakers.

It was a reminder that our bench is not as good as they played the first couple games. Depth was probably the biggest concern for us heading into the season and it still is. We are going to have a hard time working through any injuries to the starting five.

I’m still feeling pretty good about the team overall. I was a bit disappointed that the game wasn’t more competitive, but when you are on the home court of the Champs you can’t expect anything to come easy. The Lakers really seemed to be giving open mid-long range shots to whoever the poorest shooters on the floor were, and unfortunately the Warriors were taking and missing those shots all night. Good smart defense by LA.

The team needs to start thinking about why they are fouling so much more than they are being fouled. Could be a fluke, but it probably has more to do with the way they are playing.

I loved Lin’s intensity. He wasn’t intimidated at all out there.

Lee seemed like he was checked out mentally. I’m not sure what was up with that, but they were down big early and it’s a long season so I won’t get too alarmed about that.

There is no shame in being out-coached by Phil Jackson, but I’m starting to see some alarming trends from Coach Smart. Before I’m critical let me say that I like the offensive sets that we’ve seen early on. He seems to be putting the players in good positions to score and playing to the strengths of his personnel. Also, I liked the zone D that they showed for a bit. It was effective, and hopefully it’s something that they will continue to work on and use from time to time to keep the other team off balance. The big problem is the rotations. I know he doesn’t have much to work with on the bench, but I don’t like the way he’s using them. I’ll wait a bit longer before getting too critical because it’s so early, but I’m not liking his rotations at all right now.

I knew the bench would be thin, just not THIS thin.

If the Warriors are fighting for the 8th seed by the trade deadline, I hope Riley pulls the trigger & brings in help. Rad’s expiring is pure gold at this point.

On a side note: the lack of drama on this team is refreshing.

bell isnt it. where’s the backup point gaurd?