Recap: Warriors 97, Hornets 89 - I'll take it!

by Hash on Jan 2, 2007 8:04 PM PST in Recaps

Ahhhh. It's nice to get a win. It's like a drink of refreshing Iced Tea. Not that real Natural Iced Tea crap but that super sweet artificial lemon flavored one. Yea, that's the good stuff.

Yet despite the W tonight, I think there is one thing that the collective Warriors Nation can agree upon.

It should NOT have been that close.

Boxscore

Kabuki to the hole!

(AP Photo/Ty Russell)

What happened in the first quarter? Why such terrible shots? Why were we forced to sit and bite our nails in the fourth quarter as we played an inferior team that happened to be missing 4 of their main players? What would have happened tonight if Chris Paul was in the game? Why so many threes, AGAIN?!

Okay, I'm not going to be "that guy". Y'know, the one who beats up on his team even when they pull in a win. I am just as happy as the rest of you that we walked away with this one in our pocket. I just knew that to some degree we were all thinking it.

Tonight we saw some definite positives as well as negatives from our squad. Barnes continues to establish himself as a sleeper hit with a killer 29 points, 11 boards, and 5 jacks. Not to mention his EXTREMELY clutch 3 pointer in the waning minutes of the game.

Baron did exactly what we needed from him tonight. With no Monta and no JRich, he shouldered the load, playing a full 48 minutes with 29 points, 7 dimes, 7 boards, 2 jacks, and a sweet block from behind.

The problem tonight was the production spread. The rest of the team looked relatively dead out there tonight. Murphy, McLeod, and Beidrins, among others, logged some serious minutes tonight with extremely low production. No one is saying that they need to be nailing 30 point games each, but there needs to be consistency among our supporting cast. Baron is more likely to injure himself than ever logging all of these minutes, and while I love the progress that Barnes has made, he cannot be relied upon to perform like this every game (yet).

Kabuki didn't exactly impress either, but he gets the benefit of being new and having a really hard name to spell. That wins points with me. I don't know why.

But a win is a win and we're above .500. Let us march on to Memphis and shame them at home in front of all of their fellow Memphibians. Lets get this streak started.

Warrior Wonder: Whew, this is a tough call so I'll let you decide. Is it Baron or Barnes? Convince me!

UPDATE: Live from OKC... it's loyal GSoM community member Zorgon with another great recap of the Warriors' win against the Hornets!

Poll

Who is the Warrior Wonder for tonight's win?

Baron Davis

90 votes

Matt Barnes

19 votes

109 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 27 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

it is

barnes! 29 pts 5-9 3pts..hes a good all around player

by djchuckdeez on Jan 2, 2007 8:05 PM PST reply actions

exactly wut i said in the other post

but i would give it 2 barnes for his massive hustle, clutch plays, and all around contribution. we wouldnt have won it without him. (although i dont think we would have won without baron either, but thats normal)

by twelve years on Jan 2, 2007 8:11 PM PST reply actions

WOW

biedrins played 1/2 the game?! i was watchin the game thinkin where the hell is andris. i guess i didnt even notice he was there. just not his nite nothin to get worried about

by twelve years on Jan 2, 2007 8:14 PM PST reply actions

Huh?

K-Bu impressed me. I mean what am I supposed to expect from some random ass D-League guy. He came out, scored a couple. Stole it and slammed it. Jeez it was his first ever NBA playing time. Give it up for K-Bu!

If you take a look out of your windows, you can now see Dallas, TX. Quite the site, no?

by coma @ Golden State Of Mind on Jan 2, 2007 8:20 PM PST reply actions

Give it up to K-Bu

He joins the team for the first time at shoot arounds that day. Doesn't know any plays or our D. I think for just being thrown out there he did great. He performed better than Roberson every has and the only time McCloud has played better is the lost aganist Sac. Look for Roberson to be cut soon.

by Psion on Jan 3, 2007 12:18 PM PST up reply actions

Baron

Everyone knows Baron has to carry the dubz now, opponents key on him and he is still carrying us. Barnes benefits from relative obscurity around the league and is seizing the opportunity, thankfully. But you point about him breaking down is right on, and Nelson & Co. need to fix that asap.

by hardcore on Jan 2, 2007 8:21 PM PST reply actions

We'll take it

I'm down in SoCal so I didn't catch the game (haha, so I can scout out the Paper Clips and Fakers), but looking over the box score and Hash's phat recap-- how did the Warriors win this game? Looks like it was hustle and fast breaks.

The Warriors did a nice job of taking care of the ball.
Turnovers
Warriors- 7
Hornets- 17

Fast breaking!
Warriors- 26
Hornets- 2

THROW UP A W!

by Atma Brother ONE on Jan 2, 2007 8:28 PM PST reply actions

nice stats. those made a huge difference

by twelve years on Jan 2, 2007 8:30 PM PST reply actions

road win!

Road wins are always a good thing. Especially when we're talking about the Warriors.

by ssmokinjoe on Jan 2, 2007 8:53 PM PST reply actions

i like the box score on jrich

Jason Richardson: DNP - Jason Richardson...?

so he didnt play because of a jason richardson...

Go Tigers! Back to back to back Big West champions! ...and Warriors

by pacifictigerpepband on Jan 2, 2007 8:57 PM PST reply actions

Jason Richardson: DNP - Jason Richardson...?

He 's been hurt so much that he's become the generic term for "hurt"

by Skeptic con Urquell on Jan 2, 2007 9:25 PM PST up reply actions

lol

by ivanbe on Jan 3, 2007 1:09 PM PST up reply actions

Decent Game

It was a road win. The officials let a lot of hacking on the Warriors go until Nelson got a technical in the second quarter.

The Warriors shot very poorly from the line. End of story.

I thought the new guy was decent enough. Give him a chance.

by Gain on 10 on Jan 2, 2007 9:10 PM PST reply actions

LOL!!!

I was watching ESPN News, and when they showed Azubuike getting that breakaway dunk, the lady paused for like 8 seconds and finally said his name after the highlight had finished.

by racsan on Jan 2, 2007 9:12 PM PST reply actions

lol

that happened on nba tv (or was it fsn final score?) too. he said azu..... and then just made up sum crap

by twelve years on Jan 2, 2007 9:17 PM PST reply actions

a. roberson

dnpcd? i thot he had a toe injury. also is zarko not injured?

by twelve years on Jan 2, 2007 9:22 PM PST reply actions

yea there just wrong there.

Roberson is still wearing a boot. and Zarko has the back surgey so he should be listed as injured back for a long time.

by Athletix Man on Jan 2, 2007 9:50 PM PST up reply actions

barnes

barnes for the warrior wonder. Of course! His second quarter was amazing. And he consistently went after loose balls, and drove to the rim. Baron was on point tonight as well. And you got to give it up for the new guy. Couple of shots, steal, and how about those rebounds? He'll get even better, and we need him without j-rich and monta.

by tadams1080 on Jan 2, 2007 9:35 PM PST reply actions

rock the kabuki

gotta give him some props for stepping in and looking like he belongs out there...the #'s weren't huge, but you can tell the kid can play.
Though of course the W's Wonder tonight was our man Barnes. Is there STILL people out there not believing? Barnes baby Barnes...

Let's Go Oakland! Gas, Brake, Dip.

by OaktownFunk on Jan 2, 2007 10:48 PM PST reply actions

i'll be "that guy"

terrible shot selection throughout the game, and especially in the 4th which led to barely shooting 40% for the game. for the first half of the 4th i thought it was seattle/new jersey all over again. the horrible shot selection was led by baron for most of the game. warrior wonder definitely should be barnes, and i don't think it's really that close

by AJC3317 on Jan 2, 2007 11:45 PM PST reply actions

I'll be that guy too!

I agree with AJC3317 on everything he said. How come Diogu didn't play the entire game?!?! come on man. I bad mouthed Barnes so much today that he had to come out and have a great game! I should say he's crap every day so he'll play like that more often. I still think he's only a role player though. We need more IKE, less Dunleavy!!

by kenntoe on Jan 3, 2007 1:03 AM PST reply actions

Unless you want to win. . . .

I guess Nellie must be a fool to limit Ike's playing time until he learns some defense (you know, where to go, what to do) and can do something on offense other than just sit down in the low post (motion, motion, motion is the only way this team can win). So, if you want more Ike at this point and less Dun (and who was it that hit that critical three last night after the W's almost died in the fourth?), you're certainly not interested in winning basketball. Fortunately for fans of TEAM basketball, Nellie is.

by johnl on Jan 3, 2007 10:20 AM PST up reply actions

look

Barnes and Boom Dizzle took over %52 percent of the shots the warriors took. Biedrins took only 3. We were lucky to get a win today with the way we played, and the way we shot the ball. I still maintain, the Warriors are the dumbest team in the League (Then why do i love them so!?!?!).

by kenntoe on Jan 3, 2007 1:05 AM PST reply actions

how about...

Co-Warrior Wonder? Both Baron and Barnes deserved it. The both scored 29; B Diddy playing for 48 minutes, and Barnes for his hustle, rebounding and 3s. We had a awful 4th quarter; however, they both came through with their clutch shots(with Baron dropping dimes on both Dundun and Matt for their 3s. Don't forget that Baron made MOST of his freethrows in the final seconds to secure the game.

Has there ever been COWWs? We could make this the first!

by MVP @ Golden State Of Mind on Jan 3, 2007 5:48 AM PST reply actions