Tonight I have seen the light. The Lord has shown me the way, and that way was ONE. ONE for teamwork, ONE for passion, ONE for the most unbelievable dunk I've ever seen live! My voice is completely gone, and though we lost the game at the very end, I believe this was a victorious game for our hearts and confidence. Tonight, we had the chance to see one of our young players turn into a man.
Imagine how good we will be when this guy is at 100% health!
First Half:
Taking on the Phoenix Suns without Baron Davis was a tough challenge, but from the start the Warriors showed something I haven't seen in a long time, HUSTLE. Leading off with a fantastic first half, Mike Dunleavy was all over the place. Hitting sweet jumpers and diving for the ball, Dunleavy led the way by doing all the little things to get the job done. He finished the night with 16 points and 5 assists, but the most important stat not shown were the 5 charges he took which helped us in so many ways. Biedrins shut down the lane and Pietrus blocked almost anything that was thrown up while Ellis stole the ball every 5 minutes. By the end of the first half the Warriors were up by 5 though they should have secured at least a 9 point lead.
Second Half:
We have to give credit to the Phoenix Suns. They showed us what it is to be an elite team in the league. But amidst the draining of three's from Barbosa and Bell, our little Monta Ellis became a man. With consecutive 31-point nights, Monta has made a believer out of me and the 18,000 other Warriors fans at the game. Halfway through the fourth, Dunleavy sent a sweet pass to Ellis who took it halfway down the court, elevated from just inside the free throw line and completely posterized Barbosa with a ferocious dunk. It seemed as though the fans gave Ellis a 10 minute standing ovation. The jumbo-tron replayed the dunk at least 30 times and every single time the stadium rocked louder and louder chanting "MON-TA! MON-TA!" In the end, it just wasn't enough. With Ellis sitting out because of a severe cramp, Nash took advantage and hit the winning three.
I think we'll see this dunk all year!
Not a religious man but a spiritual man and since Thanksgiving is coming up, here are my top ten Thank You's for tonight's game:
10) I'm thankful I had the chance to see this game in person.
09) I'm thankful we have Nellie as our coach. I'm a believer now!
08) I'm thankful fans finally showed Dunleavy some support and he had a great game!
07) I'm thankful Biedrins is better then I could possibly have imagined. He showed some sweet offense moves tonight against Amare. I was shocked.
06) I'm thankful Nash cut his hair. Seriously.
05) I'm thankful the Cabo Wabo band didn't play tonight. They are bad luck and awful!
04) I'm thankful Pietrus is finally getting his shooting touch. I think he'll live up to what we all envisioned.
03) I'm thankful the Warriors played so well despite not having their best player on the floor (Baron).
02) I'm thankful you are reading this recap!
01) I'm thankful we live in a world with fantastic technology to replay Monta's dunk on Barbosa over and over and over and over ...
Thanks to nes1us for hooking up the video.
Warrior Wonder: Watch the video.