Warriors (W-L): 27-19
Hornets (W-L): 32-12
TV: FSN Bay Area
Radio: KNBR 1050
Time: 5:00 pm PST
When people say "everything is bigger in Texas," they weren't lying.
Yao Ming looked as dominant as Ghengis Khan (or fill in another historic or contemporary Chinese icon or symbol of your choice...) among our small-ball Warriors.
Things won't get any easier tonight in New Orleans where it looks like it will get even bigger.
The Warriors take on the red-hot New Orleans Hornets, who currently sit atop the Western Conference at very impressive 32-12. Is it me, or is it a little funny how these two teams ended up benefitting from that lopsided trade a few years ago that landed us our recent all-star and Team USA participant, Baron Davis? The tank job that the Hornets participated in gave way to a great lottery pick in the form of Chris Paul, which many have said is already an elite point guard deserving of MVP honors only 3 years deep in the league. The slew of questionable off-season signings by Hornet's management that only Chris Mullin seems capable of has turned out to be tightly fitting jigsaw puzzle (with the exception of Bobby Jackson perhaps...a player I used to love when he was healthy).
This jigsaw puzzle has been a nightmare for the Warriors this season. Peja Stojakovic has seemed to regain some of his all-star form, averaging over 19 points a game in the last 7 games. The dude can still drain the three when given the space; knowing how porous the Warriors perimeter defense is, we can expect Peja to drop several from downtown. Though Tyson Chandler offensive ineptness might make Biedrins look like Kevin Mchale on the block, his sheer size and athleticism means that the Warriors are going to have to make it a team effort to box him out or to cover him. There were way too many second chance points created by Chandler's hustle on the offensive end (and not to mention alleyoops). When the shot goes up, we can't leave it up to Biedrins to shore up rebounds against a team that also features David West on the block.
Our Warriors tend to do a good job off demoralizing losses against teams they should beat. Though Nelson's choice of using extreme mismatches might be quite a novelty, having some size down in the paint doesn't look like it would hurt... unless our young bigs are really THAT bad, as Atma suggested in the recap to the last game. Maybe its time to activate Chris Webber as soon as possible.
Predictions:
* Warriors by 1
* Kosta Perovic gets off the bench for fouling purposes
* Biedrins lights up the Hornets like he did the first time they played
* Baron gets much needed rest and is able to make those easily missed layups that we saw yesterday.
* Tyson Chandler has 9 offensive rebounds
* Stojakovic only makes 2 3pt shots, but Marcus Vinicius makes up for it.
Make sure to drop your predictions in the comments as well!