Perfection Baby! Here's to being in eighth place so far! Last night was an outstanding victory for the Warriors. I semi-called that we would win, but I have to be perfectly honest, I was shocked the whole time I was in the arena! We played beautifully even with a couple of our best players out, Baron Davis and Mickael Pietrus.
The night could not have gone any better. After losing the last three games to teams I felt we should have beat, we played the hottest team in the league and creamed them! What I'm most proud about is the team factor. No one really stood out beside Matt Barnes (but I'll get to him later). The passing from everyone was outstanding!
Top Five Reasons We Won and Should Be Proud of Our Performance:
1) I have to give Biedrins the first nod! What I've seen out of this kid all season has made me proud. The progression he has made from last year is amazing. Probably what I love the most about Biedrins is his great ability to catch the pass with his smooth hands. His hands make him great and he proved that tonight with 17 rebounds and 5 blocks to go along with his 14 points. Though the stats only showed 2 assists, Biedrins demonstrated he also has great eyes and was able to hit the open man. I can't wait to see where he goes from here.
I'll be the first to admit, I didn't think he would start at all this year!
2) JRich is back baby! He was nowhere near 100%, but if you saw last night's performance you would have even more hope that he'll be there soon. Though Dunleavy had a quiet night, he set up a magnificent no look pass to JRich who brought us to our feet with a thunderous dunk. That was just one of JRich's two highlight reels of night. Hopefully, we can see more of those type of plays from Jason Richardson in the near future.
Slowly but surely... back to form!
Then a quick break with the girls. Is that Garry St. Jean in the back?
3) There was a time a week ago I thought we played better when Murphy was out of the starting lineup, but he proved me wrong tonight. Not wowing any of us, Murph put up solid numbers with 15 points and 12 rebounds. His real contribution was on the defensive end tonight, which was key to our victory against AK47, Boozer, and Okur.
4) Ellis is still growing in front of our eyes. He didn't shoot the ball very well but his speed and playmaking ability set the tone for us. You could tell when he was going to score because he put his head down and played with confidence. When Monta drove to the basket he either made a gorgeous spin move for the lay-up or set up a sweet pass for the bucket.
5) Who is this Matt Barnes? I was confused why he started when they announced his name at the start, but after last night I'm a big fan. Barnes was essentially on fire scoring 24 points, 7 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. He left a little after the third quarter with a knee injury, but left his mark on the game and gave the Warriors a double digit lead. Whatever he threw up went in, whether it was a hook shot over Boozer or a three point shot with a hand in his face. What I liked most was his hustle play and passing. He gave us a huge spark and won the game.
Any more doubters out there?
Fantasy Junkie made the best observation about our zone defense (see the comments section of the preview for this game). I don't think the Jazz were ready for it. It basically shut down the lane and made the Jazz resort to outside shots. Best stat line of the year: Boozer, Okur, AK47 all with 4 points a piece.
Warrior Wonder: BARNES BABY. He scored 17 points in the third quarter which equaled the amount of points the Jazz scored in total that quarter. He was off the hook ending with 24 in only three quarters.