In the preview for tonight's game I noted that if the Warriors were going to win tonight in Denver they needed to bust out a bottle of Windex after they lost the battle on the boards 34 to 54 this past Wednesday at home. Well, the Warriors did bust out the Windex tonight, collecting the same amount of rebounds at the Nuggets, but they forgot to take out the garbage.
Box Score (Don't let it fool you though!)
Well at least someone was luvin' this Warriors' outing.
This throwback wasn't fresh
Tonight's game was eerily similar to last season.
There were the injuries. Baron Davis was out. Ike Diogu was sidelined. Mickael Pietrus had to leave the game after the 1st half because of a stomach flu.
There was the heart and soul. The only Warrior who came to play tonight on both sides of the ball was Jason Richardson with 18-4-4 when the game mattered. JRich or die trying.
There was very little else. It was the "Same Song" (RIP 2Pac). Poor defense, poor free throw shooting (62.5%), and too many unforced turnovers.
Injuries aren't an excuse
Sure Boom Dizzle and Ike were out and LL Cool P was under the weather, but every NBA team faces injuries with last year's Pistons' starting 5 the exception. Remember the Nuggets played tonight without Kenyon Martin and Nene.
Monta Ellis exposed
Former Warrior great Earl Boykins and the rest of the Nuggets read the scouting report on Monta. They forced him to go left. They got the refs to call carrying. They did their homework.
At least Monta got another poster jam.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
Defense wins championships and regular season games too
The Warriors gave up a whopping 140 points. For most the game it looked like they weren't even trying to stop the Nuggets from scoring. In the 1st quarter I was a little worried that former Warrior fashion great Eduardo Najera was going to go off for 40 points. It boils down to effort and playing smart. Tonight the Warriors as a team did neither- a deadly combination.
On defense it looked like Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, and Andris Biedrins were on some kind of Turkey hangover from the holiday. Uh, thanks?
Were they playing zone? Were they playing man to man defense? For most of the game I honestly couldn't tell. It was that bad. Whatever they were doing let's hope they don't do it again.
Thank god she wasn't playing tonight! She would've dropped 45 on the Warriors' interior.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Warriors' 26 turnovers also didn't help their case on the defensive end. I'll let Coach Don Nelson take this one:
Andris Biedrins was very impressive and very unimpressive at the same time
This was easily the most impressive offensive showing of Biedrins' young NBA career as he scored 31 points. Biedrins showed us a few nice fakes and shakes down low to accompany his trademark gaudy high field goal percentage.
He also showed us his worst defensive effort of the season. Biedrins did a little Steve Nash impersonation tonight- only playing offense and pretending defense is only one of those things you read about. Throw in his 6 turnovers, the silliest being his assist to Carmelo Anthony to close out a quarter, and you could reasonably argue that his amazing offensive output was negated. Sad, but true. It was a Glenn Robinson type outing for Andris tonight.
I'm pretty shocked. Andris always, always, always brings it on the defensive end. I'll just call it a fluke and move on.
The 1st 3 Quarters count too fellas
Don't let the box score fool you. The Warriors have a long way to go if they're going to sniff .500. Troy Murphy hardly had any impact on the game. Mike Dunleavy's 14-6-6 were meaningless and mostly came in garbage time. Murphy and Dunleavy didn't look focused or prepared for the majority of tonight's game.
Normally, when a player pulls down 31 points (on 14 for 17 field goals no less) and 10 rebounds, they've pretty much dominated the game. That was far from the case tonight for Biedrins.
Big ups to the Nuggets
They dominated the Warriors on the glass in Oakland and destroyed the Dubs in Denver.
Melo dropped 30
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
JR Smith poured in 31
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Najera rained game with 40 points! Haha, just kidding. Coach George Karl wanted to keep his super star rested for the Nuggets' next game, so he limited Najera's minutes tonight.
(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
Like Scarface- "Never Seen a Man Cry"... after blowing out another squad!
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Seriously though, Warriors Nation hopes Reggie Evans is cool after that elbow to his head. Also, shout out to The Nugg Doctor. Make sure to check out his cool logo.
Warrior Wonder
Earl Boykins for his 17 points and 10 dimes off the bench.
Hey, he's a warrior even though he isn't a Warrior anymore!
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Don't worry it only gets easier for the Warriors! Saturday night the Dubs square off against the Utah Jazz who currently hold the league's worst record at 1-12. Then, on Monday night the Warriors host the perennial lottery bound San Antonio Snores. After these 2 games pencil in the Warriors for another nice 5 game winning streak!
* Warning: It's late and I might have made a few mistakes in that last paragraph. See how many you can spot.