Ahhhh. Nothing like a good ol' fashioned mollywhoppin' to prepare our boys for the biggest game the Bay Area has seen in 12 years!
Yes. It was a disappointment to not see a close to this incredibly tense playoff race tonight. Through our good efforts and a loss of the Clippers, I would be writing a very different game recap right now. Chances are, 90% wouldn't even be about the beat down we all just witnessed!
But alas, the Clippers did not fall to a surprisingly armed Phoenix Suns tonight. Fighting off this loss combined with the Warriors destruction of a half loaded Mavs team means that our postseason hope rest in the balance of our final game of the regular season tomorrow in Portland. And you know what?
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Okay seriously. That's gotta be some kind of foul... If anything it's just plain foul.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Despite the fact that the Mavs rested Dirk tonight, the Warriors played an exceptional game. With a solid shooting night from the field, free throw line as well as beyond the arc, it's easy to see how the Warriors were able to string together four offensively aggressive quarters tonight. What we shouldn't take for granted however, was the oft missing defensive efforts!
Tonight the Oracle was treated to a brand of Warriors basketball that stole, swatted, and rebounded ALL GAME. I don't care if that was Dallas' version of their B team or not; we shut them down today from the first quarter until the last second ticked off of the clock in the fourth.
The Mavs could have played Dirk tonight. At the rate that we were going, he would have simply been another victim of our dishing and dunking. Nothing was going to stop us tonight. Not with what is at stake. And I'll tell you one more thing. If the Warriors, god willing, make it to the Promised Land and end up toe to toe with Dallas, Avery and his boys had better be seriously concerned. Because the only thing more dangerous than a team with a record like the Mavs is a team like the Warriors. A group of ballers that have nothing to lose and everything to gain in the postseason.
"No way! I've been waiting your whole life for this too!"
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
I can't predict the future. I can't say what is truly going to happen tomorrow. Like the rest of Warriors Nation, I have my own predictions, my own hopes, and my own dreams of what will go down. But no matter what happens tomorrow, know this:
The Warriors were a playoff team tonight. And it felt good.
First off, let it be noted that we had seven (that's right seven) players in double digits tonight. Let tonight's Warrior Wonder not take away from the monumental efforts that the Dubs put forth as a whole tonight. That being said, Matty Barnes is the man of the hour. Logging a double-double by crashing the glass as well as dropping 19 points tonight, Barnsie also dropped a stealthy 5 dimes tonight.
Clutch off of the bench tonight!
(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
Other props go to JRich, TMNT, Beans and Powell for their swats tonight (among other things), Pietrus for his sniper-like shooting tonight, Baron for some ridiculously nasty inside dishes, and lastly that dude who apparently sank a three-pointer for a new ride during a time-out tonight. I've never even seen someone hit rim on those giveaways!
Tomorrow is another day. I can't wait to see what it brings.