PLAYOFF RECAP: Warriors 101, Jazz 115- Happy Mother's Day?

by Atma Brother ONE on May 14, 2007 12:02 AM PDT in Recaps

If I told you this loss didn't hurt, I'd be lying. Since it's Mother's Day and my mom taught me never to lie I won't.

This hurts.

I am stunned. I really didn't think it was possible. Did the Warriors just lose a playoff game at home?

We're not used to this.

This Utah Jazz team deserves all the credit in the world. They might play painfully slow, ugly, dirty, and very physical, but tonight they handled business in the NBA's toughest arena. A lot of things went wrong for the Warriors, but props to the Jazz for having great composure down the stretch and winning big in a very hostile environment. That's quite an accomplishment. I didn't think they could do it. Very, very impressive.

What went wrong for the Warriors
There's really not much to analyze as the many Warrior negatives were fairly obvious if you watched the game, but here goes:

Shooting blanks: After catching fire on Friday the Warriors went ice cold tonight. They basically shot themselves out of the game. Their free throw shooting or lack thereof was completely unacceptable. You don't win in the playoffs missing 13 free throws and shooting under 62%. You don't win in the playoffs missing a whopping 27 3-pointers and hitting less than 31% from downtown at home. The most frustrating part of tonight was that the Warriors did not take it to the hole even when they were in the bonus, which brings me to my next point--
No Points in the Paint: The Warriors settled for jumpers when they weren't hitting them and it proved costly. Sure, most of them were open looks, but you don't get points for taking open shots, you only get points when they go in. The Warriors were abused in the paint with only 32 points to the Jazz 50. Carlos Boozer and the Jazz exposed the Warriors' soft and undersized interior big time tonight.
No BoomRich: Baron Davis and Jason Richardson form one of the NBA's best backcourts. They're strong, athletic, tough, good shooters, have nice post up games, can defend, and have heart. But tonight they didn't show up and brought none of their worldly talents to the game. They were outplayed by the inferior Utah backcourt at home. Unbelievable. My biggest worry is that the NBA will come down on them hard with either a heavy fine or even a suspension for what transpired at the end of the game. I didn't get a good look at either BD's bump with Derek Fisher or JRich's foul on Mehmet Okur from my seat in the nosebleeds aka The People's Section, so I'll hold off from commenting on those events until I catch the replays. In any event, both these guys are good folks. I hope the NBA doesn't make a mistake and punish them as if they were dirty players. Now guys like Bruce Bowen, well that's a different story...
Bring Back Dennis Rodman: 'Cause the Warriors sure could've used the worm. Once again the Dubs were abused on the glass, collecting only 36 boards to the Jazz's 52. I can't say I'm really surprised. This has been a major pain point for the Warriors pretty much this entire season. Memo to Chris Mullin: bring in a rebounder/ enforcer this offseason. This team desperately needs to help on the glass.
Too Much Booze: Carlos Boozer is a BEAST.... Carlos Boozer is a BEAST.... Carlos Boozer is a BEAST.... (I'm worried I'm going to have nightmares all night long.)
4th Quarter Meltdown: This whole series the Dubs have pretty much choked down the stretch. Unfortunately things weren't any different tonight. In the 4th quarter the Warriors surrendered 40 points to the Jazz and only put up 23 points. They fell apart at the seams especially during the final 6 minutes of the game. It was painful to watch all those missed free throws and easily surrendered baskets when it mattered the most.
No Energy: The Roaracle Arena crowd tried their best to pump up them up, but it didn't really feel like the fellas had that much energy, intensity, hunger, or desire tonight. I honestly have no idea why. It was odd.

One of the few Warriors who showed up tonight.

Nothing to Lose
Tonight the Warriors played like they had something to lose. They simply didn't have that edge or that shock the world mentality that brought them so much success against the Mavs in the 1st round. On Tuesday night I fully expect to see that mentality return. It's win or go home, but after the crazy season the Warriors have had this year, they've got nothing to lose.

From my piece 10 Reasons to Throw Up That Playoff W! for The W Column on FSN Bay Area before the 1st round series with Dallas started:

The Warriors have nothing to lose.
While the Mavs have everything to lose, the Warriors have absolutely nothing to lose. As a wise man once told me, "If you have nothing to lose, how can you possibly lose?"

Let's hope the fellas bring that same mentality and recklessness to Utah on Tuesday night. They need to get their swagger back or else they'll be gone fishing.

Tonight's prestigious award goes out to all the moms out there- Happy Mother's Day!

At GSoM We Believe Moms are Unstoppable Baby!

* Photos: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images, Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Also see: PLAYOFF OPEN THREAD: Game #4- Warriors vs Jazz - 10 in a Row?

2007 NBA Playoffs Round 2: Warriors vs Jazz

Game 1: Preview | Recap | Post Game Links
Game 2: Preview | Recap | Post Game Links
Game 3: Preview | Recap | Post Game Links

0 recs | Comment 27 comments

Story-email Email | Print |

Comments

Terrible.

Absolutely terrible. PLEASE WIN MORE!?!?!?!?

With his past behind him, Adonal looks toward the future, wherever it may be....

by Zorgon on May 14, 2007 12:09 AM PDT 0 recs

One word.

FUGLY!

by callahan on May 14, 2007 12:15 AM PDT 0 recs

man

The worst part is knowing that there could only be 1 more game left in the season! I will be sad if we lose but I will always believe.

by DaAzNJRiCh on May 14, 2007 12:19 AM PDT 0 recs

Some tips on defending Boozer....

hehe...from the powers of YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcSoL9iCM90

Actually a pretty good vid clip....maybe Nellie and Dubs can take a look at it as well!

by warriorsfan4life on May 14, 2007 12:36 AM PDT 0 recs

wow

this sucks. jax thought he was baron today and hogged the ball. j rich almost never took it to the hole and freethrows killed us or so it seemed.

can we string 3 wins in a row? long shot. but i still believe.

by nykeedunks on May 14, 2007 12:54 AM PDT 0 recs

I know

Tha Warriors r comin back. I think that J-Rich is gonna come out on blazin tha next games. I think he really woke up after wat that little girl Okur did. Hey if that doesnt happen maybe tha warriors will take off on their racist fans. Because their fans r makin us white people look bad. Oh and Fisher will realize that he is garbage.

I love 2 tell tha truth, but I'm such a Good Liar

by JRichIsStillAGodButBiedrinsIsABeast on May 14, 2007 1:07 AM PDT 0 recs

Carlos Boozer is a BEAST

by stedanko on May 14, 2007 3:03 AM PDT 0 recs

ugh

"Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing..." Last night's game was reminiscent of the midseason Warriors. Ew.

by Caught Backcourt on May 14, 2007 7:50 AM PDT 0 recs

Chill off of Baron

According to Fisher:

"Boom is tough and hard-nosed, but he wasn't out there trying to hurt anyone, especially me," said Fisher, referring to one of Baron's nicknames, Boom Dizzle. Even before they were teammates at Golden State, Fisher (a former Laker) and Davis (a former Bruin) developed a friendship through summer pickup games at UCLA. "This time of year, you can't expect anything different."

So it wasn't an elbow, he ran into Baron and Baron stopped a little, worst case, a small fine, not a suspension worthy play in the playoffs. Let's not jump on the Stu Jackson bandwagon and bash our players just yet.

If War brings peace Dubz wit' it den!

by gsdubz on May 14, 2007 7:52 AM PDT 0 recs

probably the most

frustrating moment this postseason.

I'm just going to copy and paste what I said in the Diary about Baron's elbow:
Derek Fisher, that guy needs a Golden Globe award. Sure Baron landed a soft elbow... but Derek was "sprawled" all over the ground grabbing his head as if he just got clobbered. Theres nothing more irritating than some chump over-exaggerating a foul. Baron will probably get suspended because Derek made it look like Baron f*cked him up.

And Jrich, Jrich is the man. It was the refs' fault for swallowing their whistles. The Warriors were trying to foul the entire possession but I guess the refs wanted the game to end. It was their fault. And I agree with Doug Collins, Okur, your team was just by 12 or 13, there was no point in trying to dunk it. Just pull up for the jumpshot and hurry along with the game already. Jrich wouldn't let anyone disrespect us in our house because he's a WARRIOR.

Marv Albert: "I ain't trippin'!"

by ZombieWarrior on May 14, 2007 9:13 AM PDT 0 recs

Well

Had a feeling that Jerry Sloan wasn't gonna allow us to dominate them like game 3. He/they must've had a lot of work in the film room and practice floor. Seemed like their defense had a choke hold on us all night. Even when the Ws had the lead, it felt so contested...in contrast to the way the buckets were falling for the Jazz.

Like the saying goes..it's a series now that an away team has won one. I'm excited to see how our guys respond tomorrow...see what Nellie's pumpin into their heads. This team has had its back to the wall all season. I'm confident they'll respond.

by ViveAirFrance on May 14, 2007 9:14 AM PDT 0 recs

dry heave.

i just finished the ace ventura finkel-is-einhorn fetal shower move. i don't count this team out. i wrote elsewhere that they need to forget the zebras and go out and play. 5 on 5. then, tip-off 7pm wednesday.

by justin on May 14, 2007 9:44 AM PDT 0 recs

Oh well. . . .

Several points:

First and foremost, I'm sure people are sick of my repeating this mantra over the past two months, but. . .Do you think the W's need a bangin' four? (Varejao's my choice: Go get him, Mully.)
Where was Nellie last night? He seemed almost out-of-it, just sitting silently and watching the Jazz dictate the game.
As much as we love him, JRich might just be toast after this season: the W's REALLY needed a good game from him last night, and he was absolutely terrible -- and actually much worse on defense than on offense. (He should be able to handle Fisher, but he got eaten alive.)
Pietrus is the most athletic guy on the team, but he still has absolutely no clue about playing man defense. His guys were just cutting past him at will, because he's always out of position.
I remember Monta. Didn't he used to be the uptempo guy who could drive the hole? All we've seen this series is the pull up jumper. It's good, but not nearly enough.
Big Al. Three board: nuff said.
Finally, back to my oft-repeated wail: Fourth quarter FT's -- they're gonna kill us.

OK. That said, I ain't jumping off the bus. Though BD can now be defensed (he can't move laterally, so have a big come out and meet him when he starts the drive), he can still post up (it was working, but they stopped running it), and he's the only guy with whom one feels safe when the ball's in his hands. He'll play better. As will Jack -- who was just too out-of-control last night. He just needs to pass more when he's doubled. And we absolutely must get back to swing the ball around again -- no more pounding, one-on-one. ('Member that beatiful series of passes leading to Barnes open three in the first half? More of that, please.) Defensively, they must swarm Boozer -- and trust that the Jazz just won't hit open jumpers. Let's get at 'em -- one more time.

by johnl on May 14, 2007 9:55 AM PDT 0 recs

this is probably my

2i6192673591623921354th time repeating this, but yeah I agree with you about a banger at the 4, we need someone to F people up in the post. aka a Paul Millsaup or someone like that.

Marv Albert: "I ain't trippin'!"

by ZombieWarrior on May 14, 2007 10:04 AM PDT up 0 recs

Yep

I like Varejao. But Millsap has really been something, and if he were available -- which I'm sure he won't be -- I'd take hime, too.

by johnl on May 14, 2007 1:43 PM PDT up 0 recs

Still a game until the last few minutes

The missed free throws, or as I like to call them "physical challenges," probably hurt the most. If they hit just a few more FTs at critical moments the game stays close instead of slipping away. Then they could've gambled less on D and tried a couple more times to get in the lane on offense, and the last minute and a half don't turn into a complete meltdown.

by Tender Rony on May 14, 2007 10:29 AM PDT 0 recs

It's not over until it's over!

I will hope a pray for the Warriors to make some more history in this series!

by manutefor3 on May 14, 2007 10:40 AM PDT 0 recs

Execution vs. Caos always wins!

I'm very happy for the fun that the Warriors have provided this season. Monta Ellis will be a great up and coming player and Baron Davis has been fantastic....however, and this is no offense to the city of San Francisco, Oakland, or anyone else in the Bay Area.....THIS LOVEFEST WILL COME TO AN END TUESDAY AT ENERGY SOLUTIONS ARENA!!! WE BELIEVE TOO!!! Jazz fans have been waiting for our time to shine once again and are ready for one more well executed, grind-it-out, gutsy, all-heart win to close out the series.
Thanks for playing this year Warriors....the Jazz are Western Conference Championship Series bound!!!

by ExecutionWins on May 14, 2007 11:36 AM PDT 0 recs

Suspension?

I hope they don't suspend Baron. Hopefully the league interviews DFish and he tells them he was acting. Looked like Baron barely touched him. That said, what a stupid move by BDizzle. The Warriors are still in the series, but it's all over if the league hands down a suspension.

by GoNellieGo on May 14, 2007 11:36 AM PDT 0 recs

Monte

I don't know if Monte has small hands or what the problem is, but right now it is too easy to knock the ball away. Ellis needs to focus on ball handling this summer.

by GoNellieGo on May 14, 2007 11:39 AM PDT 0 recs

Really!

And with both hands, too. Nellie's convinced him that his NBA future MUST be at point, so I expect we'll see some real improvement in this over the course of the summer.

by johnl on May 14, 2007 1:45 PM PDT up 0 recs

Better than Rodman

We need a Larry Smith or Clifford Ray back on the team. All the benefits of Rodman, yet less than half the calories.

by achiappanza on May 14, 2007 12:08 PM PDT 0 recs

not over yet...

We have been counted out all season long

before the season a long-shot to make it
at the all-star break nobody bet a cent on us
before the Mavs series, 98% of the population expected us to win at most one game
now everybody counts us out as well...

So what? We haven't gotten blown out at SLC, we handed them those home wins. Jazz will believe they're through and if we concentrate, we might regain momentum winning game 5, game 6 at the Oracle another win and in game 7 it's all about nerves.

After all those miracles throughout the season - I still believe in the WCF!
Let's go Warriors!!!

by BlauGelb on May 14, 2007 12:49 PM PDT 0 recs

OK...no more guarantees from me...

Maybe it jinxed them, maybe it didn't. I missed the futile 4th quarter of the game since I was having dinner at a restaurant for Mother's Day, so maybe it was good I didn't see the WArriors meltdown. What happened to B-Diddy? He just didn't seem his usual self. And J-Rich aka the Rock, since he has been one of the most consistent Warriors throughout the playoffs, was held to 7 points? And I'm not gonan even talk about the missed free throws. Just on all-around bad 1 quarter of play. Lack of focus and assertiveness. But you know what, fellas, they may be down but not out. And even if they get booted from the playoffs after Game 5 or Game 6, we will all hold our heads up high. The Dubs will have accomplished what they set out to do: make the playoffs, win a series and put them square in the center of the basketball map. And like I was tellin my boys: you kinda don't want the Warriors to have too much success this season, because next year they will be expected to go even farther. I'd rather have progression than regression. So next year, they make the conference finals...and who knows-- if they add a few key pieces to the puzzle like a more punishing big man who can guard the Boozers and Howards of the league, we can talk FINALS in 3-4 years. WE BELIEVE.

We Believe!!!

by crossphaded on May 14, 2007 4:34 PM PDT 0 recs

talk about knocking the wind out of our sails.....

7 comments?

wow, how sad. as a community, i've never seen us so deflated. never this quiet, even during the dunleavy/montgomery/murphy days. in fact, never felt this sad in about 13 years. goes to show what expectations can do.

my keys to the loss:

UTAH. give them credit. they managed the entire pace of the game. rested their players properly for that inevitable fourth quarter. answered every 7-0 run wth a 7-0 run of their own. did not take any bad shots. they were very disciplined and when our legs got tired, they pulled away. i feel that we were the better team during the first 3 games, but the better team clearly won in game 4. and Derek Fisher was the man, showed how experience and veteran leadership can be so valuable.
the crowd. sure the warriors didn't give us much to cheer about, but the suddenly famous "hostile" crowd of the bay area was a no show on Sunday. we needed to be there for our boys, especially when they were tired, especially when utah was playing well. and we weren't. i know my mom and brother and i were screaming our lungs out. i feel that the three of us were louder than the fans in the oracle last night. what a damn shame. i guess we were all pretty tense.
fatigue. maybe the 8 man rotation was finally catching up to us. it would have been nice to have foyle steal a few minutes during the third quarter, or jasikevicius or azibuke help give our tired guards a rest. it's been costing us in eachc of our three losses. utah knows if they just hang in there during the 4th, they'll beat us to th finish line.
we sucked. we shot as if it was february 2007. guess you can't have 'em all. this feeling of frustration is something i haven't felt since february, and it's a constant reminder of how nothing in the nba is easy.

Do I feel that we can take game 5? Honestly, no. We don't have the momentum. We're tired. We're deflated. Utah feels as if they've figured us out. We have no answer for their inside game. (damn, i'm sure Dallas is taking notes right now).

The only thought that gives me comfort is that I felt like this after the Washington meltdown, the Portland massacre, the Spurs atrocity, and the last of the four Laker chokes. We won impressively after each game, and each timme, I DID NOT expect it. I'm hoping the Warriors will pull of something unexpected again in game 5. game 5 will lead to a game 6 victory. and anything can happen in game 7.

Will it happen? no. But i so badly want to be proven wrong. I'm not ready for baseball season just yet.

Where the !@#$ are you now, Billy Owens????

by Manute4Three on May 14, 2007 5:51 PM PDT 0 recs

Will it happen?

"no. But i so badly want to be proven wrong. I'm not ready for baseball season just yet"

One thing I've learned from this team is expect the unexpected. We might think they are done but they might go on to the finals! If they can go into Utah and shut that crowd up we at least can say "good season guys" at one more home game.