Recap: Warriors 129, Nuggets 140: Don't Let the Box Score Fool You

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 24, 2006 11:16 PM PST in Recaps

In the preview for tonight's game I noted that if the Warriors were going to win tonight in Denver they needed to bust out a bottle of Windex after they lost the battle on the boards 34 to 54 this past Wednesday at home. Well, the Warriors did bust out the Windex tonight, collecting the same amount of rebounds at the Nuggets, but they forgot to take out the garbage.

Box Score (Don't let it fool you though!)

Well at least someone was luvin' this Warriors' outing.

This throwback wasn't fresh
Tonight's game was eerily similar to last season.

There were the injuries. Baron Davis was out. Ike Diogu was sidelined. Mickael Pietrus had to leave the game after the 1st half because of a stomach flu.

There was the heart and soul. The only Warrior who came to play tonight on both sides of the ball was Jason Richardson with 18-4-4 when the game mattered. JRich or die trying.

There was very little else. It was the "Same Song" (RIP 2Pac). Poor defense, poor free throw shooting (62.5%), and too many unforced turnovers.

Injuries aren't an excuse
Sure Boom Dizzle and Ike were out and LL Cool P was under the weather, but every NBA team faces injuries with last year's Pistons' starting 5 the exception. Remember the Nuggets played tonight without Kenyon Martin and Nene.

Monta Ellis exposed
Former Warrior great Earl Boykins and the rest of the Nuggets read the scouting report on Monta. They forced him to go left. They got the refs to call carrying. They did their homework.

At least Monta got another poster jam.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

Defense wins championships and regular season games too
The Warriors gave up a whopping 140 points. For most the game it looked like they weren't even trying to stop the Nuggets from scoring. In the 1st quarter I was a little worried that former Warrior fashion great Eduardo Najera was going to go off for 40 points. It boils down to effort and playing smart. Tonight the Warriors as a team did neither- a deadly combination.

On defense it looked like Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, and Andris Biedrins were on some kind of Turkey hangover from the holiday. Uh, thanks?

Were they playing zone? Were they playing man to man defense? For most of the game I honestly couldn't tell. It was that bad. Whatever they were doing let's hope they don't do it again.

Thank god she wasn't playing tonight! She would've dropped 45 on the Warriors' interior.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Warriors' 26 turnovers also didn't help their case on the defensive end. I'll let Coach Don Nelson take this one:

The turnovers let us down. Most of them were self-inflicted. You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot or you'll have a game like that against somebody that is looking to run the ball.

Andris Biedrins was very impressive and very unimpressive at the same time
This was easily the most impressive offensive showing of Biedrins' young NBA career as he scored 31 points. Biedrins showed us a few nice fakes and shakes down low to accompany his trademark gaudy high field goal percentage.

He also showed us his worst defensive effort of the season. Biedrins did a little Steve Nash impersonation tonight- only playing offense and pretending defense is only one of those things you read about. Throw in his 6 turnovers, the silliest being his assist to Carmelo Anthony to close out a quarter, and you could reasonably argue that his amazing offensive output was negated. Sad, but true. It was a Glenn Robinson type outing for Andris tonight.

I'm pretty shocked. Andris always, always, always brings it on the defensive end. I'll just call it a fluke and move on.

The 1st 3 Quarters count too fellas
Don't let the box score fool you. The Warriors have a long way to go if they're going to sniff .500. Troy Murphy hardly had any impact on the game. Mike Dunleavy's 14-6-6 were meaningless and mostly came in garbage time. Murphy and Dunleavy didn't look focused or prepared for the majority of tonight's game.

Normally, when a player pulls down 31 points (on 14 for 17 field goals no less) and 10 rebounds, they've pretty much dominated the game. That was far from the case tonight for Biedrins.

Big ups to the Nuggets
They dominated the Warriors on the glass in Oakland and destroyed the Dubs in Denver.

Melo dropped 30
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

JR Smith poured in 31
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Najera rained game with 40 points! Haha, just kidding. Coach George Karl wanted to keep his super star rested for the Nuggets' next game, so he limited Najera's minutes tonight.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

Like Scarface- "Never Seen a Man Cry"... after blowing out another squad!
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Seriously though, Warriors Nation hopes Reggie Evans is cool after that elbow to his head. Also, shout out to The Nugg Doctor. Make sure to check out his cool logo.

Warrior Wonder
Earl Boykins for his 17 points and 10 dimes off the bench.

Hey, he's a warrior even though he isn't a Warrior anymore!
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Don't worry it only gets easier for the Warriors! Saturday night the Dubs square off against the Utah Jazz who currently hold the league's worst record at 1-12. Then, on Monday night the Warriors host the perennial lottery bound San Antonio Snores. After these 2 games pencil in the Warriors for another nice 5 game winning streak!

* Warning: It's late and I might have made a few mistakes in that last paragraph. See how many you can spot.

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Comments

ellis

exposed? that fool gotta step it up when barons out. live up to the hype, monta!

by chimp on Nov 24, 2006 11:27 PM PST reply actions

off the bandwagon already??

you only hopped on for about 2 games.

by Athletix Man on Nov 25, 2006 12:52 AM PST up reply actions

he's still got game..

but his left is really non-existent at this point. he's gonna be the man someday though (hopefully sooner than later cuz i jut picked him up on fantasy). jrich or die tryin'.... great line.

by dj fuzzylogic on Nov 25, 2006 6:41 AM PST up reply actions

you should have

got monta early in the season cuz he was hella cheap i think his price has doubled and is still going up

by travisl212 on Nov 25, 2006 10:09 AM PST up reply actions

i know...

i picked him up late. i thought he was just a one dimnesional player (pts), but since diddy's gone down, he's def. been runnin' thangs. deron williams on the otherhand is a beast. i hate how cocky he is, but he's been blowin it up!

by dj fuzzylogic on Nov 25, 2006 11:53 AM PST up reply actions

hahaha

i hate bandwagon jumpers

by travisl212 on Nov 25, 2006 10:09 AM PST up reply actions

last nights game

we have trouble with big teams and thats why we lost last night and thats why we'll get owned tonight. props to atma for bringing it as always and reaching jim barnett status for his analysis.

by jrizzle on Nov 25, 2006 8:53 AM PST reply actions

Maybe it was the turkey?

Hope the boys were just too full of it last night?
Bright spots were JRich looking healthy, B'Dris showing more moves under the rim and Barnes showing hustle off the bench.
The bad part is the team seemed to give up after the Noogies made 3 consecutive steals and dunks. They've ALL got to believe they can win without Baron, JRich can't do it alone. What happened to the team confidence and energy? Couldn't hear if nellie yelling at all the turnovers? Could see the Nugs have some good looking cheerleaders though so the game was not a total bust

by Skeptic con Urquell on Nov 25, 2006 9:52 AM PST reply actions

don't fool yourselves

we need baron. the last 3 games have been proof. if anyone was thinking that we don't need baron that we should trade him cuz we got monta. we still need baron. monta is great but he's no baron.

by travisl212 on Nov 25, 2006 10:11 AM PST reply actions

Don't wanta trade Baron!

I didn't say we don't need Baron, I said the team needs the confidence to think they can win without him. He can't be on the floor all the time, he needs to play less than 48 minutes a night. If they can play a winnig game with Baron out then we'll be much better off. Like the Lakers coming in here and winning without Kobe, do you think they were planning to lose?

by Skeptic con Urquell on Nov 25, 2006 10:23 AM PST up reply actions

good points

but i never said you specifically said we should trade baron. but i think some people may have thought that

by travisl212 on Nov 26, 2006 1:27 PM PST up reply actions

This team can win without Baron..

it'll be hard but very possible.
What the problem is that the Warriors as a team have a very low Basketball IQ... and they can't make free throws, but they still try to get to the line...funny
Today is going to be a great game for the Warriors.

Giving a shout out to Mr. Mean, Purvis Short, J.B. Carrol, Bernard and of course, Mr. Bill King

by World Sleepy King on Nov 25, 2006 10:51 AM PST reply actions

My 2 cents

I thought the problem on defense was a little more complicated than Beidrins not playing 100%. I saw him contesting shots and plugging up the lane. I'm a little disappointed that Atma dinged him on this, because while he is clearly not a Nowitski-type ball handler, I think the 10 blocks proves a stout defensive effort, not to mention the uncounted contested shots that didn't fall. The bigger problem was that nobody was helping him out. Usually Pietrus steps into this role, but obviously he wasn't doing that hot last night.

Our team has a few players that can play decent defense, with Pietrus, Beidrins, Barnes, Baron, and Monta coming to mind. Unfortunately, when the others dominate the floor you will see more games like last night. Mark my words, you will rarely see Richardson, Dunleavy, and Murphy on the floor at the same time if Don Nelson can help it. Last night this wasn't an option due to injuries.

Somebody check me if you disagree, but while I really admire Dunleavy's effort lately, I think Murphy has become the biggest liability for the team right now. I just don't see any improvement whatsoever on the defensive end. I can understand his speed, size, or hands not being a factor, but he won't even put up his hands to contest a shot! Ridiculous. I can't help but think he plays for his stats and is clinging to the culture of mediocrity that has plagued the team the past decade.

by RonG on Nov 25, 2006 12:20 PM PST reply actions

correction

I mistakenly posted 10 blocks for Biedrens last night, I meant 10 rebounds.

by RonG on Nov 25, 2006 12:25 PM PST up reply actions

I was at the game...

It seemed to me that the big difference was when Dunleavy was in the game. I'd be interested to see the plus minus for him, without taking garbage time into account. In the first quarter he had a few really bad turnovers, where everyone in the building knew where he was looking to pass because he was staring at his target for 3 or 4 seconds before dishing it. As soon as we benched him and dropped into a zone, we made a nice little run. I think given the option, Nelson would have stuck with Pietrus for the second half, and we might have seen a different game. While Dunleavy drew a couple charges, he was unable to guard anybody - Najara schooled him in the first quarter to the tune of 10 points in like 3 minutes.

As for Biedrins, most of his turnovers occured when he caught the ball 12-15 feet or so away from the basket. Most of those possesions the rest of the team stood around and watched - he didn't have a guard making a big effort to get the ball back from him and allow a repost. I think Baron out there demanding the ball would have kept him from trying to make a play he shouldn't have.

by manute-o on Nov 27, 2006 10:59 AM PST reply actions

Nice points

I was thinking the same thing watching the game on TV.

But whoa! A Warriors fan in Denver? Major props!

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 27, 2006 11:25 AM PST up reply actions

seattle, actually...

My parents and bro live in Denver and I was there for thanksgiving. I hardly ever get to watch the W's play so it was cool to see them live. BTW, you guys have a great site and I read it all the time, I just wish I could watch more games...

by manute-o on Nov 27, 2006 12:02 PM PST up reply actions