Recap: Warriors 108, Bulls 114- You've Got to Be Kidding Me

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 8, 2008 12:32 AM PST in Recaps Comment 64 comments

The Horri-Bulls come to Oaktown minus their best players Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, and Kirk Hinrich and what do the Warriors do?

Preview/ Open Thread (370+ Comments)

If this were Pictionary, Nellie would be trying to draw horri-bull.

Final Boxscore

They pick up an inexcusable loss on national TV.

More Horri-Bull-ness after the jump.

No Bull
First of all props to the Chicago Bulls. Make no mistake though, this a pretty bad team and if they were in the West their season would already be over, but these guys played way above their heads tonight. Let's take a closer look:

Chris Duhon's always been a pretty steady and solid backup PG type (or starting with Ben Gordon off the bench), but he's the one who played like a snubbed All-Star tonight, not Baron Davis. He came out firing and even managed to intercept QB Matt Barnes twice which you rarely see. Monta might've had the highlights of the night, but Duhon won this matchup. That shouldn't be happening... ever.

Occupation: Warrior Killer
A former Warrior #1 overall pick tore the roof up off the Roaracle dome tonight and it wasn't #4. Joe Smith looked like a superstar out there with 27 points and 8 boards. He also went Corey Maggette on the Warriors going 13 for 14 from the charity stripe. Memo to Warriors: It's not 1996.

Joe wasn't ordinary tonight.
I've always thought Smith was a nice solid player, but what kept him from living up to the hype of being a #1 pick was his softness. Well if he's soft, what does that make the Warriors?

Hey since we're on this whole throwback tip around these parts, you think Mully can hook up Joe Smith too?
Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, the Knicks gift to the Bulls, also looked pretty good out there. Thomas was pretty savvy down the stretch and Noah brought the rebounding and hustle (plus some incredibly laughable free throw form).

Tyrus Thomas and Joe Smith have trouble seeing where the hoop is.
How do you let Ben Wallace score 10 points in 18 minutes?

The Bulls should feel proud of themselves for getting this win on the road minus 1/3 of their rotation. Blog-a-Bull's sure loving it.

The Webber Way
Tonight's biggest storyline of course was the return of Chris Webber. CWebb didn't play all that much, but here were a few positives:

A nice feed to Biedrins a couple of feet away from the bucket from the high post.
2 jumpers from the elbow.
A nice pass to a cutting Monta Ellis which is hopefully something for this team to build on. I would love to see CWebb and Monta work a little two man screen and pop game like the Sac days with Webber and Mike Bibby.
A steal off a pass from Warrior Killer Chris Duhon.

This could be the start of something beautiful.

Final line: 12:38 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 fouls

It's gonna take a little bit of time, but this looks to be a nice addition. Before people jump to irrational conclusions, I'll say this. Chris Webber was NOT the reason the Warriors lost what should've been a freebie at home tonight.

Keep the J's coming big man.

Warrior Worries
Win or lose I always like to spend some time in these world famous GSoM Recaps breaking down what the Warriors did well. However tonight I'm not going to waste your time and my time doing that on this winter Bay Area night. What's the point? This was just a dumb loss. There's no other way to put it.

Here's just a few of the many things that went wrong tonight:

I really don't have all that much a problem with the 28 three's the Warriors attempted tonight. They were for the most part really good looks. Unfortunately they just didn't go down. I'm not even kidding. A whopping 75% of them were blanks.
You always like to get off to a good start and finish games off strong. The Warriors did neither tonight and let the Bulls and Duhon run up 32 points against them in the opening period and 37 when it mattered the most.
The Warriors were really sloppy on D the entire night. They racked up a whopping 31 fouls. To his credit Mickael Pietrus was very active on D and you could tell he was trying, but he still fouled out in less than 12 minutes of play. Andris Biedrns and Al Harrington nearly fouled out as well.
I rarely question Nellie's coaching decisions. This man has more hoops knowledge in his pinky finger than 99.99999% of people out there including me (shocking isn't it?!). But I will question his substitution patterns near the end of this game particularly with Al Harrington. Al was pretty much the only Warrior with a reliable deep jumper tonight and Nellie seemed really averse to playing him at the most opportune moments down the stretch. Instead Nellie elected to go with Matt Barnes who wasn't in that scoring mode tonight. Very odd.

I'm sure people can fill in the rest of the negatives from this game in the comments, so I'll leave it at this. If the situations were flipped and the Warriors lost to the Bulls without Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, and Stephen Jackson, most of us would probably excuse the loss. Well let's be consistent here and not forget the situation the Bulls found themselves in tonight at the Roaracle.

This Warriors loss was inexcusable. Teams that want to be playing past mid-April win these ones. Teams that want to count lotto balls in May don't.

But Seriously... You've Got To Be Kidding Me
The Roaracle is supposed to be the best and most feared venue in the entire NBA. So why do the Warriors keep dropping silly losses at home? A few weeks back they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves by 1 and tonight they lost to a MIA bad Bulls team.

That's just inexcusable. It's also very stoppable- yes, I went there.

Sure Mickael Pietrus had 2 stunning swats plus a crazy jam, Baron Davis walked away with some nice numbers (22 points, 8 assists, and 4 steals- although his shooting was awful), Monta Ellis had 25 points on 11 for 12 shooting, and Al Harrington dropped 20 points in under 27 minutes.

MP2 throws it down with his eyes closed!

But I don't think any single Warrior really brought it consistently tonight on both sides of the ball and deserves the honors. However there was one constant tonight and that was Andris Biedrins' amazing rebounding effort tonight. Biedrins inhaled an eye popping 18 boards with 9 of them coming on the offensive end. Just call him Windex. Nice work Andris!

To: Andris

Compliments of the GSoM Crew.

Say it with me now- FREE ARTEST 2.0!

CWebb points up north to Sac where help from a Tru Warier lies.

Photos: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

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Comments

NOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm really dumbfounded on how we could have lost that game!?

It makes no sense, you already pointed it out but GOD DAMN, what happened to Nellie's coaching decisions...

Why did we give up so early, and how come we could not make any lay ups or anything!?

Al Harrington was solid tonight, especially near the end, Boom Dizzle killllllled us in the first...

I always got love for the blue and gold, hell i bleed the colors but damn tonight, on national tv, and to say i was going to get fired for almost choking out my co-worker for changing the channel when the game started.

I'm really sad to see us lose tonight to a LAME-BULLS...

and did anyone notice how they kept panning into the Bulls bench to see them laughing and giggling.

God that pissed me off the most!

by itzlilgx23 on Feb 8, 2008 12:39 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Argh...

The lack of consistency in the warriors is making me sick. This was a HOME game against an under 500 team. No excuse.

by sunghan on Feb 8, 2008 1:16 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Looks like...

The Warriors are going to need more help.

I cringe at the idea of having to face the Lakers and Suns now. Although maybe it was just a case of us just sucking from outside. It'll happen. But from what i saw, C-Webb wasn't ready yet, and AB was our best post defender. Matt Barnes subbing for AB? WTF? I don't know who is going to handle the front courts of LA and PHX now...We'll get manhandled.

Warriors, Stupidest franchise in the league.

by kenntoe on Feb 8, 2008 1:27 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Well...

I agree that CWebb didn't look ready, but who the hell can be ready to play at warrior tempo on their debut night. I'd like to see CWebb get more minutes and hopefully he'll start to get the hang of things again.

by sunghan on Feb 8, 2008 1:56 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

just plain Bull-shhh!!!!

Aahh, the Warriors, they never fail to add more sting to their losses. Anyway, my thoughts about the game.

CWEBB - I saw my biggest fear about having Webber tonight. His defense. Yes, he was out of condition as he was huffing and puffing while running on both ends of the floor but really, what bothered me is that he's ridiculously slow even at half-court. If you get Ben Wallace putting moves on you, then there's a problem right there. Hopefully, conditioning have something to do with it. In his defense though, he did pretty decent offensively besides some shots he should have made.

FEEDING THE HOT HAND - I looked at the play-by-play of the 4th and saw that Monta, who had 25 pts on 11 of 12 shooting, shot the ball just 3 times and made all of them. His last two buckets were during the last 40 seconds of the game when it was pretty much decided. In comparison, Baron shot 8-24 from the field and 2-10 in Brick City. I know he's our superstar, I know he's trying to get in the game. But did he really need to jack 24 shots when other players were having great games? Also, TEN 3pters?!?!?! I'm pretty sure at least 3 of those were contested and/or ill-advised.

On the contrary, Tyrus Thomas had a couple of baskets down the stretch and next thing you know he's taking all the shots for the Bulls. Maybe we ought to try that out and keep telling Monta to shoot or penetrate until he piles up the misses.

WHERE'S BUIKE & WATSON??? - Unless they were injured or something, there was no reason why they didn't get any court time especially when Baron and Sjax weren't having a good night. Neither MP or Barnes had a good night offensively either. Can anybody tell me why they didn't get playing time?

by lightz0ut on Feb 8, 2008 2:28 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Buike and Watson

I def agree. When BD kept throwing up bricks, I was hoping that Nellie would change something and give Watson a little burn, who could hopefully hit a couple jumpers and get some dimes. Not the case. Buike also could've provided some offensive energy. The whole game, I was hoping that these two could come off the bench, but they were glued to their seats. WHY?

by fryan on Feb 8, 2008 10:23 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I have noticed

For the 2nd time now. And I know I haven't watched all the nationally televised games, but the last game I watched that was nationally televised, which I think was against the Bulls. Nelson did not play Watson or Kelenna. Did they have any other nationally televised games? Again I am not sure, but if so I'd be anxious to see if either of them played. I wonder if that played into Nelson's thought process.

by jpgarfunkle on Feb 8, 2008 9:02 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

we lost because

the officials would NOT give us a break

48 fts for the bulls
21 fts for us

thats the game changer

by djchuckdeez on Feb 8, 2008 2:38 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

come on..

blaming it on the refs is the easy way out. We shot 19 more 3 pointers than they did, while they continuously played aggressive and went to the basket. Also, you have to factor in the 10 free throws they shot at the end because we were intentionally fouling them.

by BD4mvp on Feb 8, 2008 2:04 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

true but....

there were some calls that were just ridiculous. AB was given a foul where he wasn't even close to the supposed fouled player. I agree though that the defense was just horrible, horrible and inexcusable. Play like that justifies the smack Barkley says about the Warriors.

by blkdiemend on Feb 9, 2008 4:14 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Highlight of the game

Reggie Miller giving Monta props for his midrange J saying he could be better than Rip Hamilton already. Very encouraging to hear that from the best 3 point shooter of all time. Definitely exciting to think if he can go 11-12 25 pts as the 3rd option the kind of numbers he could put up as a primary scorer.

by MikeJ11 on Feb 8, 2008 3:08 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Me and my bros were screaming and pulling are hair out every time Air "NOT" France touched the ball.... -_-;;;;

by aznwarrior44 on Feb 8, 2008 3:29 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

yeah...

but i bet you jumped off your ass when you saw the dunk and blocks....

i think the focus for the loss should be put towards the starters rather the the 7th/8th man on the bench(aka the low man on the totem pole).

We're Golden!

by Krossover on Feb 8, 2008 1:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

what a waste

of 2 hours of my life i will never get back!!! very disappointing loss. maybe the worst loss of the season!

win or lose... playoffs or lottery... i gotta luv them dubz! GSW 4 Life!!!

by gogomaplata on Feb 8, 2008 4:42 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

C'MON NOW...

I was at the game and as bad as it was, I don't agree that that was the worse loss of the season! Remember the loss to MINNY after a 3-1 road trip? Now that was disappointing and probably the worse loss to the worse team in the league! Shoot, I'd even have to say that INDY game where we were up by 14 was pretty bad, but that was at the end of a back-to-back.

I have to attribute this loss to being off for too long. They probably did get rest, but they totally lost their rhythymn! Hopefully they get it back before the All-Star break and take it all the way into and through the Playoffs!

IMO, I still think we need another BIG or player that can be an impact! Although, I like the acquisition of WEBBER, I don't think he'll be that much of an impact and definitely not the saviour or answer to our low-post issue!

"S.C. gooooo hooooome!!!"

by scottiepimppen on Feb 8, 2008 1:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

terrible

we are in trouble. We don't know how to play like a winning team. Why can we never play as good as our record? Ridiculous. We need to make some changes.

CJ Watson. From San Andreas to the Bay!

by tadams1080 on Feb 8, 2008 6:36 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

asdf

Boys need to work on their lay-ups. Besides Biedrins, nobody could finish around the basket.

by WilliamVanLandingham on Feb 8, 2008 6:40 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I stayed up till 1:30...

...here in New York to watch that dissapointment. I don't think it's the worst loss of the season, and the way this team responds to bad losses, I anticipate a romp over Sacramento on Saturday. The Dubs clearly play to the level of their competition, so I guess it's a good thing they're in the Western Conference, where most of the good teams are! I agree you can't pin this loss on Webber - I would put it on the Tri-Captains and Nelly. Also, I know it's been said, but why on earth wasn't Monta getting the ball in the 4th? He was the hot hand. By the way that dunk of his to end the half is tied with B-Wright's dunk as Warrior play of the year so far, it was beautiful. Actually, I'll still give it to Brandon, since his came in a win over a good team, instead of a loss to a bad team.

by Hoopachoo on Feb 8, 2008 6:56 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Horrible lost

On the last 2 min of the game instead of Al Harrington replacing Beadrins they put Matt Barnes. Harrington got the hot hand the whole night. I know he got 5 fouls what are nellie thinking we gonna go to overtime.

by mykelala01 on Feb 8, 2008 7:46 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

We need to have a sit down with Nellie

someone needs to sit down with this man, explain that A) he has LENGTH on his bench (i.e. wright, POB and even Kosta). I know the whole young, raw and inexperienced bull, but if you constantly get KILLED due to your lack of size and how easy the opposing team can just shoot over you (i.e. last night against the bulls!) the well.... use your length...you don't have to play them 20 min. a game! just little points here and there when you feel the game slipping and you need some stops! NOT THAT HARD!
next B)Explain to BARON and the rest of the crew that if they do not feel like playing then give the rock up to who wants to! This was another game I see Baron from tip, just seem like he WAS NOT INTERESTED. Look at his body language, really didn't attack, had no POP in his step, he just called for the ball and tried a few back downs, then up goes a jumper. REALLY LOOK AT THE BODY LANGUAGE, the games he kills, he is all over the place. A lot of the players just seem to have the Pietrus Effect: play Airhead basketball, to concerned about being Cool or something. THIS IS A GRIT AND GRIND TEAM! that how they win.
Finally, C) Monta needs to be told to stop playing like a second class citizen. What I mean by that is he was playing great last night, BUT....He didn't take over the game like he COULD have. Seriously, how many touches was he getting in the 4th? He reverted back to Baron, SJax and Harrington. That is Nellies job to see the hot man, notice Monta is the one that can rack up 15 points himself and TELL him to be selfish and go back to high school mode and dominate. I PLEDGE that every time he does that, Warriors come away with a FAT "W"! It's as obvious as we need ARTEST (had to put that in). Monta needs to step up to Upper Class and become the true ball hog he is destined to be (that is a good thing too...Jordan, Kobe, Lebron...they don't give up the ball when they know they got it going, and neither should Monta. Again Nellies job, and if he needs some help, maybe a few of us can go to a damn practice and spark some insight, PASSION, fire and anger into there minds, because they just don't seem to get it. They MADE the playoffs by ONE game last year. They should KNOW every game counts, but you hear them saying quotes like "we will move on.." They should be PISSED and go on a 10 game winning streak, they need to anyway.

by ineemoney21 on Feb 8, 2008 8:05 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I really agree with your point B.

I noticed it as well from the get-go. Not sure what his problem was but it effected the entire team. Maybe getting traded? LOL...

by flaaron on Feb 8, 2008 8:13 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Soooo Right

Nellie continues to play BD and Jack over 80 minutes a game (85 last night), even when they're sleepwalking thru most of it. (BD had about five strong minutes last night; Jack, maybe two.) He says only those that can "play" will get PT, but he sticks with his main guys -- even when, like last night, they're stinking out the joint. (A combined 17-43 and 4-18 on threes -- and their offense was actually better than their D, given that Duhon just ate BD up and Jack never got closer than about five feet to his guy, unless he was fouling.)

For all those that say the Bench ain't ready, how could playing BW, KAZ and Watson have NOT helped last night? (The Bench three -- except for Al's momentary streakiness -- were simply horrible, collecting a single assist among them. We know about MP, but is this the real Matt Barnes?) Who knows? The kids might have actually injected some life into this sleepwalking bunch.

And how could Nellie have allowed BD and Jack to keep on chucking up clangers when Monta was hitting 90%? Nellie seems to be talking one thing, but doing another. He needs to limit BD and Jack to 36 minutes each -- so that they'll stop pacing themselves so much, and play full out like they did last year. Where's the tight man D? Why can't they step in on drives to the hole? Where are the flailing arms? At times last night, it seemed like AB was the ONLY guy trying on D (and he wasn't finishing on offense).

These guys are going in the wrong direction -- becoming less and less like the team that excited us so much last year. They're not nearly as fast -- and they play fast only in spurts. They don't defend -- and they can't even play position or help out (other than AB). BD has become wildly inconsistent. Jack has gone to pacing himself ALL THE TIME. Onlyt Monta continues to shine consistently -- and even then, BD and Jack inexcusably ignore him.

This is simply horrible team play -- and Nellie has to shoulder much of the responsibility. I still love his philosophy. I just don't see it being carried out on the floor -- and I don't see him doing anything about it. Stubbornness CAN be a strength, but stubbornness for its own sake, in the face of increasingly clear reality, is just stupid. And the W's -- from Nellie on down -- played an inexcusably STUPID game last night.

by johnl on Feb 8, 2008 11:41 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

so right...

johnl i couldn't agree with you more... it's frustrating because sometime's a coach's own "ego" won't let him adapt, change, or acknowledge that he's wrong...

by workz22 on Feb 8, 2008 2:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe Nelson learned something last night

the Bulls went to Tyrus Thomas, who is on the end of their bench, for a spark, and he came up huge. If no one else is doing any good, what harm is there going to the bench for Nellie?

by belilaugh on Feb 8, 2008 6:35 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

unfortunately he won't

if he would have learned anything it would have been in the portland game where the starters dug a huge hole and the bench brought them back. he didn't change then, he won't change now

by AJC3317 on Feb 8, 2008 8:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

pietrus must go

You said it best a few weeks ago: if Nellie can be celebrated for his "genius", he can also be blamed. Nellie gets the blame last night. What baffles me is Nellie refuses to actually play our best players at the end of the game. This happened during the Minny game when CJ Watson played the last 10 minutes of the game alongside Baron and Monta. Minny abuses us in the paint and we all know the result...humiliation at home (again). Nellie's a mismatch guru, but bending us over on defense to get the offensive matchup you want is just not smart.

As inexcusable as last night's loss was, the real crime was playing Pietrus during crunch time. I'm going to venture to say playing Pietrus at all is pretty suspect. Troy Hudson has more value than Pietrus at this point. Nellie needs to walk across to the Coliseum and get some advice from Billy Beane: poor offense does not make up for above average defense. And saying Pietrus plays above average D is generous...his D is over-rated. The guy averages almost 3 fouls in 17 minutes. For a little perspective, Bruce Bowen, the league's best, 2 fouls in 30. The bottom line is Pietrus is a bonehead. His dedication to shooting 3's is evidence of that. Yes, his dunk was thunderous, but was it worth the layup he smoked (didn't even draw glass), the technical he drew, or the 3 he bricked in crunch time that could've changed the game? And Tyrus Thomas completely dominated him in the post, so there goes the strong defensive impact.

Matt Barnes...I like the guy. He does a lot of really good things for us. Is he one of our best 5 players? No. Should he have replaced Bieds in the 4th quarter? No. Why Nellie even took Bieds out is irritating. Tyrus Thomas and Joe Smith looked like Barkley and Malone on the same team, so Nellie decides to take out our best defender, the guy who shut down David West when it looked like West might single-handedly beat us on our best night. Again, not smart basketball.

Even more irritating is leaving Harrington, who is one of our 5 best, on the bench when he essentially carried us for the 4th. Harrington said he wanted to do more, and he did...he looked great. Let's reward him by benching him. Even Reggie Miller called Nellie out on this one!

If there is one silver lining to this embarassment, it's that I see where C Webb is going to help. There are times, typically during one of SJax's flurries of terrible shots and/or ridiculous turnovers, when we just can't buy a bucket. And if Baron struggles like last night, we're just stagnant on offense. Webb can hit that elbow jumper, which is huge since we tend to just brick 3's during these dry spells. Maybe more importantly, he can direct traffic, getting the ball to high-percentage threats (Monta) and out of the hands of low-percentage turnover machines (SJax). Webb can also D up, which brings me back to last night. In crunch time, we needed buckets and we needed to stop Tyrus Thomas. Webb played 13 minutes, none in the 4th. Probably would've been nice to play him during those last 5 minutes. He couldn't have been any worse than Pietrus.

by givemontatheball on Feb 8, 2008 8:14 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

People bagging on Pietrus are ignorant

How about Pietrus' 3 steals and 2 blocks 3 boards and only one turnover in 23 minute? He's played an undersized power forward for 2 years now and asked to guard the best offensive swingman nightly. Look you ironheads, Nellie plays him beacause he hustles and runs baseline to baseline. He's not great but he's not the problem.

Meanwhile everybody just loves Matt Barnes but his shooting percentage is down and he was throwing the ball over the place last night. Barnes: zero steals, zero blocks, 2 turnovers and somehow it's all on Pietrus...? Last year I heard everybody here rave about Barnes "floor game" on a night when had 7 turnovers. You people are suckers for image, and see what you want to see. Quite playin' the gangsta game and start watching the game.

by Dubmanny on Feb 8, 2008 5:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

r u serious?

he is one of the biggest problems. u forgot to mention his 6 fouls, his 1-5 shooting(the only one was his dunk which all the credit should go to baron cause he set it all up). His damn fouls keep our tempo more slower and slower. who was the best offensive swingman yesturday he was guarding to get his 6 fouls? Sefolosha? hell no. We need him out now.

by GSwarrior on Feb 8, 2008 6:00 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Pietrus

His negatives may outweigh his positives, but if anything, his D is UNDER-rated. He moves his feet better than on D than anyone on the team and his instincts on D are top notch. The bone-head stuff and super-limited offence overshadow his defensive prowess. On a more defensive oriented team, his D would actually be more apparrent because he would only have to stop and force his opponents in a specific structure.

On offense, i cant understand why he just floats around the perimeter waiting to shoot that corner 3. He's one of the better athletes on the team and should be looking for more slashing opportunities and dive-cuts. He's mistakenly got in his head that he's a 3pt shooter and that's all he pretty much wants to do now.

I pray i never have to use a gun again.

by ssmokinjoe on Feb 8, 2008 9:52 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

do you actually cheer when pietrus gets in?

You must be crazy. If you think those stats are indicative of a solid game in 23 minutes you must be crazy (he averaged more fouls per minute than any one of those stats you just listed). If you think that hustle and running the baseline are reasons to play in the NBA you must be crazy.
But you can't blame Pietrus for being Pietrus. He didn't put himself in the game. It's on Nellie.

As for Matt Barnes, he shouldn't have been in the game during crunch time, but he has more value than Pietrus. Yes, his numbers are down. His 3P% is atrocious. But, he does average 5 boards and 2.7 assists in about 24 minutes against Pietrus' 2.8 and 0.6 in 17. I'd say Barnes is better for our team game solely based on those stats. The rest of their stats are similar, though Barnes scores and turns the ball over more. You pointed out he throws the ball all over the place, and it's true, he's too careless with his passes. BUT he's still better than Pietrus.

by givemontatheball on Feb 9, 2008 7:19 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Warriors were tired from Webber boot camp

I'm not sure why no-one is talking about this, but Warriors had a chance to pull this one out in the last four minutes. I think we even took the lead at one point (or at least were only down by 1). No defense on the inside and Air France missing a 3 off a dish from BD on the left side. That could have been the momentum swing, but it did not go down.
And, Monta was getting abused while on defense. Did you see how many times he hit the floor playing D in the fourth quarter?
It shows that he had tired legs. The 4th quarter is usually GSW time, and against the baby bulls they had nothing. The five day break was too much for the Dubs. It might have been better if they had actually had some time off. I can't wait for the all-star break.

!!Spree for three!!

by peteb24 on Feb 8, 2008 8:37 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I think it's the other way around

I've hardly ever seen a team look sluggish from too much practice. Sometimes they'll look a little burned out on the second game of a back to back or at the end of a 5 games in a week stretch. I think that in this case the lack of gametime for a week killed us. Our first step was off, and everybody had a hard time getting fired up. Jack got hot when he thought he was getting fouled, but he didn't do anything about it except get T'd up...he just tried driving 2 or 3 more times and then gave up. The Warriors are best when they play angry, but with just chilling in the gym for a week, they lost some of the fire that makes them who they are. Let's hope this loss is followed by a good old Sactown beatdown.

then we will fight in the shade.

by Swamp Thing on Feb 8, 2008 9:03 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yup I agree

Last night Warriors was out of their timing. Its like when you got back from a long vacation and you don't feel like working.

by mykelala01 on Feb 8, 2008 10:24 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

okay okay but WHY?

why were the warriors out of their rhythm? why did baron and jax miss every shot in the first half?

i DO blame webber. i understand he'll get better and that this game wasn't representative, but our boys bent over backward to get him the first two looks (which he missed) and then feel their way through the first part of the game to see how this albatross hanging around their necks was going to change them.

there was no fire tonight, no rhythm, because everyone was trying to work on the webber experiment instead of play basketball. it's probably an unavoidable conclusion, precisely because they're trying to integrate a limping forward past his prime into the fastest team in the nba. and sure, down the road, webber will be helpful when teams FORCE us into the half court sets. but starting him gave these obvious results.

sure we've had slow starts all season, but we were never able to shake this one. we got off on the wrong foot and sacrificed this game to integrating new players with the old. i hope nellie feels like it's worth it. i don't.

this all became excruciatingly clear when al came back after webber's first dismal 4 minutes and showed why he's still our starting pf.

yet on this board i just hear whining about pietrus, barnes, and others 'not doing their jobs.' they are congenitally incapable of doing their jobs if a game starts with this little intensity and focus. i hope webber integrates soon, but please don't start him, especially against the BULLS. he's our insurance sitting there on the bench for when san antonio and utah force us to play their game.

by Ormolov on Feb 8, 2008 10:53 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

otherwise

we really have a great team. we're super deep now and we have the warriors personnel we always dreamed about. we don't need tyrus and we don't need artest. we got this thing called chemistry that we ain't had for years and years and years and adding even more question marks to it are unnecessary. i love this team the way it's composed. i hope we keep a hold of everyone (even POB and marco) through this season and next. go dubs!

by Ormolov on Feb 8, 2008 11:00 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't agree...

...that they bent over backwards to get him the first two shots. The first shot was the transition layup he missed, but that was just a flip out on a steal, that's kind of what you would expect in that situation.

by Zack Vank on Feb 8, 2008 2:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Webber was not the problem

There have been at least 7 or 8 games this year, prior to signing Webber, that we could not hit the water if we fell out of a boat and our team was down 12+ points in the 1st quarter (rockets just not long ago). Too many people had off nights even the coach.
This one hurt, but fortunately this is the NBA and there are 82 games.
For us to be only 5 games out of first place in the west with 33 games to play and one of the best road records in the NBA, I like our chances.
We've been doing something this year that we have not seen for a long time and that is WIN games when we dont have our best stuff. Thats going to make a big difference down the stretch.
One thing I dont understand is why we are not winning games at home.

Proud Sponsor Of: The San Jose Giants Baseball Team 2008 is gonna be big! http://www.greenlightjerky.com

by GreenLightJerky on Feb 8, 2008 3:04 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah but...

the fact of the matter is that it should have never been down to that. If we did what we were suppose to do, defend the post, defend the perimeter, take Chris D seriously before letting him score 15 point in the first and a number of other things, we should have dominated them by 10 or more for most of the game. I was expecting an outcome like the Bobcats game the previous Friday but instead, we're playing catch up the entire time.

by blkdiemend on Feb 9, 2008 4:27 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

what do you guys think?

I was definitely extremely frustrated with the loss, but when a team relies on the J as much as the dubs, then sometimes they'll go cold a put up a stinker. I thought that some of the things about the dubs play, i.e., AB dropping a few good passes, including a pretty bounce pass from BD, barnes blowing a layup down the stretch, and both jack and BD being really, really off all night, are sort of uncommon, and so for them to all coincide makes it sort of a "perfect storm" for a dubs loss. Like Nellie said, they've managed to pull a few of these type of games out, but eventually the odds catch up with you.

I like the idea of getting artest, especially with the state of our D, bit I don't want to give up Al or B Wright. Not only that, but I don't think that ron ron helps us in a game like last night, where we need buckets down the stretch, because he's just as liable to huck up some bad J's as BD and Jack. Hopefuflly C Webb can help with this down the stretch. I want to be patient here, although I know it's pretty tough when 50 wins might not get the dubs in the playoffs.

by s fingers on Feb 8, 2008 9:43 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

sorry-this is what I meant to ask:

So, does anybody else fell like the national media is sort of against the warriors? I mean, Barkley always has been against us, but on the TNT broadcast last night, I felt like fratello and reggie were giving a lot of credit to Chicago compared w/ Golden State. Add that to BD's ridiculous all star snub and the generally bad light that Jack is portrayed in, and in my opinion, it seems that the dubs get a raw deal in the press. Did you hear kenny and chuck's reaction at halftime when ernie johnson informed them that the dubs have the best record in the league after the first 7 games? Complete silence, except for barkley to make a half-hearted attempt to credit Jack and say that he should be an all star.

What's the deal-are the dubs too "thuggish", or "ghetto"? Is it the headbands? Is it the fact that they take a lot of 3's and don't play the kind of D that everybody else does?

by s fingers on Feb 8, 2008 9:53 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

yep

"Did you hear kenny and chuck's reaction at halftime when ernie johnson informed them that the dubs have the best record in the league after the first 7 games? Complete silence"

I was having the same feeling at that point. Ridiculous...you could tell they had NO IDEA that the W's had that record past the first 7 games. And even in the face of FACTS they refused to concede any props to the team for having a good season thus far...Chuckles even mentioned Portland as being "Good". Well, chuck last time I checked the W's have a better record. I can't wait for Portland to fall back to earth (which they will) so that peeps just get off their jock a bit.

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

by OaktownFunk on Feb 8, 2008 10:50 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

well

chuck also thinks the blazers aren't making the play offs either. he thinks the warriors are good, just too little (he often calls them a "good lil' team".

by the evil monkey on Feb 8, 2008 9:09 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It's an East Coast Bias,

The NBA, is headquartered in New Jersey, the bulk of their operations and media are based out on the East Coast. People fail to show the Dubs love, because they can never stay-up late enough to watch them. By the time a warrior game ends on the east coast, its about 12-1AM. An East coast watcher probablly don't get to see the way we see the warriors on a daily basis, so they don't get to see how well we match up with the other western conference contenders.

It's also consistency, the Warriors are gonna have to start winning and continue to do so, for the NBA to show any trust in them.

Most of the popular West Coast teams such as the Lakers, and the Suns, have been consistent for the past 5-10 years. Tt is a safer pick for the NBA, even though we managed to beat the suns every time we met, and are even against the lakers.

Give it some time, the warriors need to take this under-dog role and perenial 8th best team in the West to stride and really start showing people what they really are; A team that's Fun, Exciting, Competitve, and Winner in one of the toughest conference's the league has ever have.

It's startling how so many people watch basketball, yet so few actually play it.

by 3 The Hard Way on Feb 8, 2008 11:12 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think a lot of people

a skeptical of the Warriors because they don't play the game the right way plus they have the attitude thing

ON nights like last night I almost have to agree

by Zig on Feb 8, 2008 11:54 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

sad

sad that this loss had to happen on what was supposed to be a great night and a gimme...yeah who knows what c-webb will do for the team...my guess is not much for at least a month assuming he doesn't sustain an injury from an elongated period of extreme atrophy...that said i agree with some other posters...why does nellie not play andris more? his shooting was off but 18 rebounds...come on...and he was great from the line so give him the ball & let him get fouled or at least clean up his own miss...as for not having al in the game for those final plays....no idea the logic...just no idea

beyond that...if they can't win at home...how will this month that is suppose to be easy wins mixed with rest and freebies do anything but knock them out of playoff contention...

what the hell can they get for pietrus? do they still have any money left over to use?

sorry...i'm babbling because i'm genuinely worried...thanks for listening haha

We Know.

by saraluvsbaron on Feb 8, 2008 10:22 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Interior Defense

It is what it is, The Warriors are soft in the paint, They can't play half-court D.

I was at the game, and every time Tyrus Thomas was one on one against Matt Barnes, it was a clear mis-match.

Whenever the bulls gave the ball to one of their PF's the warriors gave them too much space. Instead of closing in and playing hip to hip Defense, the bulls PF were given room to dribble and work the post.

It was so obvious, I was literally screaming at barnes to get closer to his man.

The warriors should of switched up, and put Jackson on the bulls PF, the same way he played Dirk in the Playoff's last year, that way we force them to pass out, and beat us on the 3-point line.

The bulls were without their top 2 3-point threats in Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich. It was a total embarassment to lose this game, all because of simple mis-matches.

If the warriors don't win on Saturday, their going to drop to 10th place in the conference, and scrapping towards No-Man's Land heading into their toughest schedule of opponents in March and April.

I "Still Believe" though

One dub one love.

It's startling how so many people watch basketball, yet so few actually play it.

by 3 The Hard Way on Feb 8, 2008 10:59 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

hrmm

I don't think we'll be making the playoffs this season. Given the strength of schedule coming up in March and April and our inconsistent play, I just don't see how we get in.

by ViveAirFrance on Feb 8, 2008 11:10 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Pietrus and CWebb

2 thoughts about last night's game:

I think Pietrus played so much because Mullin and Nellie wanted to showcase him to another GM for trade purposes.
I'm going to say it now after watching last night's game, and I may be wrong, but I do think Webber was a significant reason why we lost. I don't think he adds significant value to the Warriors, and I think he has disrupted the flow of the team (look at how few points we scored to start the game! With Al in there from the get-go we may have better been able to establish a rhythm.) Just like I don't think we should be risking PT to the young guys because every game counts for the playoffs, I just don't think CWebb adds enough value to make it worth the trouble. UNLESS we are going to trade Al for Artest, I say dump Cwebb immediately (it's a sunk cost at this point) and go back to what we were doing before.

by Bucky on Feb 8, 2008 12:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

you could be right, but you assertion...

...about him having something to do with our slow start endangers your credibility. you watched any other warriors games this year? seen us look good in the first quarter of many? let's not arbitrarily contectualize something that's been happening regardless of the variables.

Fitz did finally manage to say something on the radio that didn't sound like fingernails across a chalkboard yesterday, in address this very concept. the starters feel too entitled. they come out flat every game, and there's no repurcussion. the games we've lost recently, we've consistently beat those teams for the last 3 quarters, losing only because the 1st quarter deficit we created could not be overcome by the other 3. if the starters want to keep sleep-walking through the first, let them watch from the bench. better to have the young guys, worst case scenario, rack up the same exact deficit in a way that has an associated benefit (energy, experience, entertainment) than see our starters mail it in nightly.

by 321 IN n OUT on Feb 9, 2008 8:55 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

reason buike or cj didn't get any pt

it was a nationally televised game. 2 weeks ago when they played the nets, neither of them played a second. unfortunately for us, this time our top guns weren't playing their best but nellie was just too stubborn to realize. Well guess what nellie, we STILL after baron and jax logged heavy minutes, and they didn't come thru in the end. I think if Pietrus plays decent/well throughout the game, Nellie goes to him at the end of the game. Just look at that Spurs game that went into OT.

art by jnazaire 07

by disguy on Feb 8, 2008 12:46 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

fyi

in the nets game cj didn't play, but kelenna played close to 16 minutes...

also, in the OT game against the spurs, pietrus made that bonehead move where parker got to tie the game with the corner 3... nelson replaced him with buike in OT. pietrus and kelenna both had pretty similar PT in that game.

if you want to check the boxscores, the dates for the games were...

spurs game 1/7/08

nets game 1/24/08

by starry night on Feb 8, 2008 3:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

WAKE UP!

I'm sick of hearing about the five day rest the Warriors had as an excuse for their play. It's not like they hadn't played basketball during those 5 days. I really don't want to question the Warriors' heart, because I know they have it, but they can't just wait around for the stretch to make their run this season. This is the stretch, we need EVERY game to be a win, there can be no slip ups. The Warriors looked like they didn't want it last night, and that sickens me. I'm not saying they don't have heart, because that would just be wrong, but they can't just choose games to coast in and choose games to fight. They need to play every team like they were the Hornets. If I was Don Nelson and I had the videotape of the Phoenix Suns game earlier this season, I would force the players to watch this game. That was without question the best I have seen the Warriors play this season.

Also, after this game I have decided that trading Monta Ellis is simply not an option. I want this kid for years to come, even if that means not getting Artest this year. I love that he doesn't settle for shots like Davis and Jackson will settle for 3s and fades, like Harrington settles for 3s, like Biedrins settles for shooting the ball the instant he comes in contact with it. When he shoots the midrange shot he sets the D up for when he attacks the rim, and then when he attacks the rim the ohter Warriors follow suit.

by belilaugh on Feb 8, 2008 1:24 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

technically

harrington doesn't "settle" for 3's, he's forced, by Nellie, to take them. nellie limits him to shoot or swing.

by the evil monkey on Feb 8, 2008 9:41 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

technically, it's the only shot Harrington can

consistently make other than a free-throw.

you like his midrange shot, where he looks like some invisible force is pushing him out of square every time, or his "strong" moves to the basket?

by 321 IN n OUT on Feb 9, 2008 8:58 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't know

the first couple games of the season I remember the announcers talking about how he slimmed down, and sure enough, he was making very nice spin moves in the post. I liked that Al Harrington better, he was scoring like 30 a game back then.

by belilaugh on Feb 9, 2008 1:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

through December 31st...

Al had exactly one game where he scored 30 (38), a game in which he hit 6 3-pointers. he scored more than 22 points only two other times in that "early" part of the season. if you'll recall how many times he "spun" and missed the finish, or had his shot blocked, then i think you'll be making progress. he has no midrange game, and is horrible around the rim on most occasions.

by 321 IN n OUT on Feb 10, 2008 12:49 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

stephen jackson

really needs to stop bitching. he thinks because he didn't get one debateable call in one instance, that he is entitled to a whistle just out of sheer curtousy if he misses the shot. dude needs to stop being a little bitch and just play the game, that last one where he got swatted, then got the ball wrestled out of his hands was a pathetic display when he pretty much pouted at the ref and threw a tantrum. oh, and chris webber should not be a starter on the team, he should be a specialist that nellie puts in when the pace is lowered. his presence in the beginning slowed everything down immensely. I feel like if our team is playing lackadaisical and not taking the other guys seriously, nellie needs to make a point by subbing guy's asses out quickly, and putting someone in there who isn't going to take this game for granted. i honestly think brandan wright should have gotten at least 12 minutes in the first half alongside biedrins, we know he is going to bring everything he's got, because every minute he gets is an opportunity, he takes nothing for granted. and then i thought azuibuki should have gotten major minutes because you know he's going to try and drop in a load of points.

by bigbenny11 on Feb 8, 2008 1:59 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

haha

i've been pointing out all along how stephen jackson act's the equivalent of a 8 yr. old child on the court... he somehow equates a turnover on his part to an automatic foul call that the official should call... one thing i'll give him tho, is that he's consistent... he loses the ball in the same type of turnover style, (spin move, crossover)every single game a couple of times, followed by yelling at the ref and not running back on defense...

by workz22 on Feb 8, 2008 2:17 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

the game

W's hadn't played in a week (seemed like a month) and were rusty
C-Webb shouldn't have started, but whatever.
the refs were downright awful.

Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious.

by Kobe on Feb 8, 2008 2:14 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

When Baron has a bad game

We lose. Its really that simple. Jax is a great player but he cannot carry a team on his own. Baron looked a step slow and sluggish today. I think the mileage is starting to catch up to him. THey must really be trying to move Pietrus because we would have been far better served if the Bukester was in there. All in all, a typical warriors loss. They are in it to the very end. Next game they need to try and play some D and they should be fine. I liked what I saw from Webber in terms of his halfcourt presence. We will get some mileage out of him yet...just don't pass him the ball on a long outlet and expect him to finish in any way shape or form. He looked like me out there. OUCH.

by garin423 on Feb 8, 2008 3:15 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

big coaching error

biggest error was signing webber. GOOD GOD HIS OLD. YEAH HIS GONNA HELP ON THE BOARDS AND ASSISTS HUH. did a damn good job the other nite not. brandon wright woulda had better numbers if he played 13 minutes. and why didnt monta and harrington get involved in the 4th. the 2 best scorers that nite its ridiculous. ND WEN IS NELSON GONNA REALIZE HARRINGTON IS NOT A CENTER HIS A SMALL FORWARD PLAYIN PF. AND DID EVERYONE C TYRUS THOMAS, BLOCKED SHOTS REBOUNDS POINTS WHEN HE DIDNT IT. I EITHER WANT TO SEE THE WARRIORS TRADE FOR HIM OR START PLAYIN WRIGHT, POB OR KOSTA

by gswLLBatman on Feb 8, 2008 11:28 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

What can you do?

The warriors got unlucky bounces from the rim and there's nothing you can do when a team's 5th best player goes bonkers. But Boom-Dizzle and Sjack should've gone to the rim harder to get some free throws and get their shooting back. Biggest upset was that Harrington should have got more run, if not for his play for the dunk face. The face he put on after Pietrus's dunk was amazing, does anyone have access to that cuz i need a new background for my computer.

by Fulanito on Feb 9, 2008 12:23 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

seriously?

what can you do? how about play some damn defense. u pass of a team's "fifth best player going bonkers" like it's some everyday thing, when in reality it should never happen if there was even a shred of defense being played

by AJC3317 on Feb 9, 2008 3:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

FIRST TIME COMMENT! YEE YEE!

HellO GSoMers! I have been following this blog since about last year and I LOVE IT! I finally decided to join and this is mY First comment. It is kind of a waste b/c it's not about the game exactly but DID ANYONE SEE MR. FAB BEHIND THE BULLS BENCH ON T.V?? HAHA that's all! GO WARRIORS! YEE!

by OH mY JOSH415 on Feb 10, 2008 12:25 AM PST reply actions 0 recs