RECAP: Warriors 82, Celtics 105 - So Long Upset City. Hellooooo Brick City!

by Hash on Nov 21, 2007 8:23 PM PST in Recaps Comment 20 comments

Well that was good ol' fashioned beatdown, wasn't it?!

Granted it was deserved; we really did nothing throughout the course of the game to stop it, but man that was a solid molly-whoppin'! Thorough too! I mean, the Celts certainly didn't play at their A-level but they still beat us collectively on boards, dimes, swats, shooting percentages... and oh yea, let's not forget about points.

Open Thread (120+ Comments)

Box Score

It's easy to start up an analysis on tonight's events by blaming the loss on the fact that we just played last night. It's easy to blame it on the fact that we're on the road. It's perhaps easiest to blame it on the fact that Barnes and Al, integral parts of our team, didn't play. But the fact of the matter is; we'll really never know if those were the reasons that we lost. Because I can confidently say that the remnants of our squad that stepped on the court tonight did not even play close to their ability. It looked ugly out there tonight. Chris Kaman ugly. (And that fool is UGLY.)

Yup. That ugly.

Barnes and Al couldn't save what happened tonight. Hell, KG swapping teams during halftime may not have saved it. Although I must say, the man would look GREAT in a Dubs outfit. (Have we beaten this dead horse hard enough yet?)

It was all wrong from the start. From opening tip-off to ending buzzer, the Warriors simply couldn't find a rhythm. Careless turnovers, brick after brick after brick after brick; even Jax picking up 3 fouls in the first quarter! If it could have gone wrong, it went wrong. And every time it did, one of the Boston Three Party was there to remind us of our mistakes. I, much like Fitzgerald, spend most of the game wondering how we weren't down by more points.

Let's hit some notes of interest:

Beatdown Bulletin:

If there's such a thing as cross-eyed juice, we drank some with breakfast this morning. Tonight the Warriors "nailed" 29 out of 87 total shots; or a mere third. To put it in perspective, the Celts hit that exact same percentage just from beyond the arc. Major brick-layers included Kabuki at 1 for 7, Boom at 3 for 13, The Cap'n at 4 for 15, and (sad to say), Stallone at 1 for 9. Marco logged some serious minutes tonight. I was really hoping to see him nail some of his jumpers.
Speaking of the long bombs, let's take a moment to collectively wretch at 4 for 22 from deep.
Wright showed some excellent glimmers tonight. In his limited minutes he dragged down 9 boards (4 of them on offense!) and nailed a few solid buckets. He still looks a little nervous out there but I'm glad to see him have a nice outing. We easily forget sometimes that he is still a boy among men.
Monta! Where you been man?! We missed you! Did you read Atma's recap on the Knicks game last night or something?!
"Bold prediction: Monta's not a Warrior past the February trading deadline." - Atma Brother ONE, 11/20/07
Now I'm not saying my man Atma is wrong about that, but by all means, keep trying to prove him wrong. Good hustle out there tonight!
Gotta give it to Boom and Monta for forcing the turnovers tonight. Unfortunately, we did nothing to capitalize on the steals, but their hands were quick nonetheless.

Well there's not really much more to say. Truly Garnett, Pierce, Allen and the Celts as a whole are living up to the hype. Facing off against them tonight served as an excellent reality check of how cohesive the Warriors truly are. While it would have been nice to be partying in Upset City right now, unfortunately, most of the game felt like this:

Granted, there were a lot fewer rabbits making out on the court.

Gotta give this one to Money Monta. It's been a tough season for him so far but tonight his game fell back into place. Solid 10-15 shooting and 4 jacks is enough to send you home with the prize. Now go shoot 100 free throws and hit the lockers.

0 recs | Comment 20 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Boston defense

While I got to imagine tired legs and plain ol' suckiness was part responsible for the horrid shooting night, I do find the Boston defense surprising. We weren't the first team to get romped (Denver got killed too).

Essentially, they have Garnett, ubermobile and ridiculously long 7 footer roam all the way out to the elbow extended. He's fast enough that he is a one man zone in that area. Then you have a competent (not spectacular) big body in Kendrick Perkins backin him up. All the perimeter defenders can play defense knowing they have mega help, they switch well. While not great individual defenders, Pierce, and Allen have sufficient veteran experience not to make stupid mistakes, which counts for a lot on defense (see: Ellis, Monta; Pietrus, Mickael; Warriors, Golden State generally). Posey and Rondo are actually good individual defenders. Add it all up and it's a daunting defense to crack.

Bill Simmons is right, though,...a Duncan/Garnett throwdown in the Finals would be awesome.

24 > 23

AIM: Jetforze

by OptionZero on Nov 21, 2007 8:41 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

who says good defensive teams don't play zone

THey were in zone 40% of the time. Yes, it was zone. A flat, 3-2 zone that had more sag than Evizu jeans at the sideshow. We had open looks. We just couldn't make them pay.

Best duo since...

by Tim N Chris Burger on Nov 21, 2007 9:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yup it was a zone. I want to see more of our bigs

in there, too. I was sick of the Celtic announcers smugly talking about how you beat Golden State is to pound them inside into submission. We had POB doing a good job with Brandan Wright who was superb. The Wright Stuff made it look smooth and easy albeit he was going up against the Boston scrubs.

What bugs me is Nelle doesn't play big men together. It's like he playes them one at a time; His thinking is they cannot play his matchup game. I just want to see domination on defense and let the chips fall where they may. Who needs to be small in order to run? I'm sick of small ball and the matchup game always being played instead of the power one. I don't thing small ball wins championships when the playoffs are a different animal.

by callahan on Nov 22, 2007 6:23 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm just happy we got an extended look

at Brandan Wright. I would really love for him to fill out and hope we build around him. We need to feed our players some of whatever Curry and Randolph is eating.

by lightz0ut on Nov 21, 2007 9:34 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

BWright Future

On the season...

33 minutes
16 points (6-12 fg, 4-9 ft)
17 rebounds
2 turnovers
1 foul

Small sample size, obviously, and in garbage time, but compare that to what a fellow rook, "OZ's wet dream" Dominic McGuire, has done under similar circumstances:

33 minutes
6 points
1 rebound
4 turnovers
5 fouls

Did I mention that Wright is two years younger than McGuire? I'm starting to think when he's McGuire's age he may be by far our best player. WTF Nellie, this team's not going anywhere this year, give the kid some burn.

by Sleepy Freud on Nov 21, 2007 10:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

hey

post lasme's stats too!

24 > 23

AIM: Jetforze

by OptionZero on Nov 21, 2007 10:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If shots changed and passes changed

were stats I'm sure you'd have posted them here as well.

Best duo since...

by Tim N Chris Burger on Nov 21, 2007 10:17 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

i agree

that this team won't go any farther than last year's team (if they even get THAT far).

Play BWright!!!!!
He was awesome tonight and the only reason i stuck through it till' the end. I was happy he got to guard Garnett and get his feet wet against the best and the guy who he should try to be.

Warriors, Stupidest franchise in the league.

by kenntoe on Nov 21, 2007 11:50 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

BWright

does anyone else see that Nelson is deliberately not putting Bellinelli & Bwright into the fire too fast? This might be part of his plan to bring them along building their confidence and build the team over 82 games rather than chuck it all and play to the youth movement. He might actually want to make the playoffs again. Analyzing BWright's stats in 33 min of mostly garbage time is deceiving - he isn't likely to post a line like that in 33 min of a full game (if he's the stamina) against front-line NBA players. When we get excited about POB's lone good game, or BWright's stats at this point we are only illuminating that we are grasping at straws ourselves, desperately reaching for hope that Mullin's underwhelming roster will somehow duplicate last year's end of the season run ... Nelson just might be trying to nurture those rookies despite his reputation otherwise

in Nelson we trust

by hardcore on Nov 22, 2007 9:31 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Don't Get Too Excited

Last night the Warriors just simply couldn't hit a shot. They were the hoops equivalent of the 49ers' offense with 3 and out's on every possession. The starters all had poor shooting nights which is tough to overcome without Al and Barnes.

Kaz unfortunately looks like he's coming back down to Earth
Props to Monta for a great game
Biedrins has had back-to-back completely ineffective games. Let's hope he picks up his game for this upcoming back-to-back against the Wiz and Sixers which I think he will. Last year he had a few of these pockets of MIA games.
DJ Banger is HUGE!
I wouldn't make to much out of BWright's 9 boards in 13min of garbage time against the likes of Brian Scalabrine. He wasn't a great rebounder in college either, so I'd hold off extrapolating those numbers and thinking he could do that against real NBA competition. By the way the Celts' bench up front is woefully thin.
In garbage time Belinelli and POB did nothing to impress me.

The Dubs are a sorry 3-7 after an even split of home and away games. You can make excuses and say Jax was suspended or that they've missed Al, MP2, and Barnes for a few games, but truth be told this team is fairly injury prone and will miss games. The "worst" part about this 3-7 start is that BD has yet to miss a game this season- how bad will it be when we get his annual 20 game absence?

This is just a bad team right now that doesn't have a shot at making the 8th seed unless:

They bring in another near All-Star player this season
The Hornets
The Clips stink up the joint
The Lakers make some dumb trade for Kobe

This Warriors team unfortunately has yet to beat a quality opponent.

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 22, 2007 10:02 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Unless the Hornets

have an injury bug like last season.

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 22, 2007 10:04 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hornets

They already have. Paul missed a few games with his foot/ankle; Chandler is out with something.

24 > 23

AIM: Jetforze

by OptionZero on Nov 22, 2007 1:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Minor ouchies

Chandler slightly hyperextended his knee, CP3 sprained his ankle. Neither would have been held out if it had been the playoffs. I think their spot in the postseason is more set in stone than Houston's.

The Clips will fall out of it soon. I'd say it's down to Houston, the Lakers and us for the final two spots. I can't say I love our chances in that mix.

by Sleepy Freud on Nov 22, 2007 2:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Responding to AB1

Agreed on much of what you have to say. I'll add my 2 cents onto each bullet:

Posters on this board need to be careful about the level of expectations hoisted upon Azubuike. The guy has shown flashes of controlled excellence, but his experience is still basically nil. And once the rest of the teams in the league get enough footage, they can scout him better to neutralize his abilities. It's how he reacts to this advanced scouting that determines his NBA worth. I believe the main concern among scouts is that when Kaz drives to the hoop, does he look to finish every time?
Monta was the only player that looked like he had fresh legs. Any chance he becomes the back-to-back specialist (perhaps starting him on all back ends)?
Beans was bad with a couple of dumb fouls, but Nellie never really got him back into the flow of the game. Coaching error IMO b/c he had the definite quickness advantage over Perkins. I expect good games the next two.
DJ Banger is enormous. KG had to turn it into 4th gear on one play, and DJ bothered Kevin into a miss on another.
I couldn't care less about Wright's stats. Stats are only meaningful when looked at over a large sample, so looking at them now does more harm than good. I thought he looked poised, determined, and fresh coming off the bench. I thought he should have gotten in during the 2nd quarter, especially when no one could make a shot. Though he's not super tall, Wright is very, very long (and not like IKE!!) and this clearly bothered many of the C's, including Garnett. Over time, he will be able to score both inside and out. He is freakishly athletic. In the past, I've criticized Mullin and Co. for their handling of the J-Rich trade and the lack of any real lottery talent workouts/scouting prior to the draft. But based on very early results, I think Wright is a top 5 player from this draft (which is saying a lot). And looking at the W's past 5-6 drafts, perhaps the strategy of 'Let Charlotte Draft Whatever Big Man Chad Ford Likes' was the best strategy all along.
Belinelli was awful. He was consistently getting beat on D (a serious issue), and his shots kept rimming out, though most were right on line. I though Prof. Hollinger's PER projection of Marco before this season had to be low, but he's starting to look like a sage. I wouldn't read too much into POB's performance. He was decent for the few minutes he got when AB was in foul trouble. And the W's were trying to force feed Marco so much in garbage time that O'Bryant never got the ball. I maintain, however, that Nellie needs to start trusting POB and Wright earlier in games.

by UncleCliffy on Nov 22, 2007 12:05 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

On Kaz

I should add/ clarify- he's still having a great season. Hands down Most Improved Player in my view right now. He's making me look good for that preseason pick.

But asking Kelenna to replace JRich and his 20-6-4 and lights out 3pt shooting during that 16-5 stretch last season and playoffs or asking him to replace Jason's leadership, intensity, and chemistry with his teammates is just unfair. Azubuike shouldn't be held to that high standard less than a year removed from his DLeague stint.

I think it was Fitz who wisely said to look at how Kaz does after the first 10 games of the season because that's when other teams will have the scouting report on him.

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 22, 2007 12:50 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

bring back richardson

He would have fit right in with his 4-14 FG performance last night.

24 > 23

AIM: Jetforze

by OptionZero on Nov 22, 2007 1:15 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hmmmm....

OZ, there is a big difference between quality of player and quality of player in proportion to percent of cap used.

Maybe J-Rich would have gone 4-14 last night. But I saw a lot of open looks against the Boston zone, and maybe Jason would have had one of his big shooting nights. Or maybe he would have started hot and kept the W's in the game while the rest of the team was scuffling, and then disappeared in the 2nd half when other players started to shoot better. Who knows. Don't try to guess.

On that note, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

by UncleCliffy on Nov 22, 2007 2:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

guess

So, you're telling ME not to guess, but you guess Richardson could have had a hot shooting night?

It's thanksgiving, so I won't say what I really wanna say about that sort of backwards, ignorant, shortsighted, and idealistic thinking.

Azubuike is perfectly capable of hitting all those open shots, just as capable or moreso as Richardson is. He just didn't. Neither did Baron; neither did Jack; neither did Pietrus. Boo hoo.

Even if we were to say both players were equally adept at their particular games, I would happily take the one making $800k and capped at the MLE for his next 2 years salary.

Thanks for the memories, J-rich, haha at all the people still pining for him, and enjoy the bricks, Charlotte fans.

24 > 23

WE NEED A BACKUP POINT GUARD

AIM: Jetforze

by OptionZero on Nov 22, 2007 4:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Through 11 games

He's taken only 24 FTs, making 13 of them. That's completely unacceptable for your primary scorer. Legit scorers like Kobe and Wade can make 13 FTs in a half. He's also shooting 40.7% from the floor, and still has more turnovers than assists.

Despite his recent swoon, Kelenna is still outperforming JRich, at 1/20th the cost. If anyone needs a little perspective, it's the people writing off Kelenna after one poor game.

by Sleepy Freud on Nov 22, 2007 3:03 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

yao...

your post shows the lack of optimism and reminds me of how little girls act when things aren't going right. so the warriors got off to a slow start...there were so many reasons for that and so many reasons why they could dig out of it. now they're back in the middle of things and you're a happy lil girl again... please...

as for buke. i agree, he has always looked promising. however, his small contract and option don't.

by ktweezee on Nov 26, 2007 8:33 AM PST reply actions 0 recs