Warriors (W-L): 30-20
Wizards (W-L): 24-26
Time: 7:30pm PST
TV:FSN Bay Area
Radio: KNBR 680
Wow, this is a like Warriors reunion month. First, Jason Richardson makes his way back to Oakland, then the Warriors sign a former #1 draft pick who was banished a long time ago, then the Warriors played against their former #1 draft pick, and now two more popular former Warriors come to town, Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison. It's unfortunate we won't see Agent 0 tonight because he's always a joy to watch, but nevertheless, we'll still get a chance to watch Antawn's shotput shot and reminisce about his back to back 51's.
Jump!
Is this Jamison from years ago or Jamison (free agent) next year?
Is this Gilbert from years ago or Gilbert (free agent) next year?
This offseason, wouldn't it be crazy if the Mullin decided to go out and sign Jamison and Arenas, both potential free agents, to bring them back to the Bay?
Back to reality...
The Wizards are, to understate this, struggling. They have lost 7 in a row and 8 of their last 9. But it's okay, they haven't really changed their playoff position as the 6th seed in the East. No really, how do you go from 24-19 and to 24-26 and remain as the 6th seed? Here we are as Warrior fans worried that our team won't make the playoffs if we are 10 games above .500. Meanwhile, in the alternate basketball universe, the Eastern Conference, the current 6th-8th seeds are under .500. It just makes me believe that if the Heat got super hot and finished 24-9 they would have a shot at the playoffs. A team with 9 wins right now, still with a chance to make the playoffs.
But I digress. The Wizards just aren't playing well and it certainly doesn't help to have Caron Butler out the last 3 games and 6 of the last 8.
The Warriors on the other hand have been winning quite a few games, 7-3 in their last 10, 11-5 since January 7.
Recently, we've seen the emergence of one of our young stars. He's been going absolutely nuts and is literally carrying the scoring load on this team. He gets so many easy buckets in transition with his speed and can create his own shot. He's led the team in scoring the past 3 games and in 5 of the last 8 games. He's led the team in rebounding in 2 of the last 4 games. To say I'm impressed is a gross understatement. I'm amazed and astonished by his recent streak of hotness. Check out the quotes from the Kings game:
"That guy is incredible, he is an amazing player. They were blitzing the screen and roll and taking him (Monta) out of that so we really had to get him the ball by other means. He has the ability to smell out openings when they were zoning and he makes great cuts and then they fouled him. But it wasn't an easy night, we weren't able to gear our offense to set him up and he still comes up with 34 points. The turning point in the game for us was when we started to post up their smaller guards and drew double teams and that kind of got us rolling a little bit when it was quite a struggle. When Baron has a game like this we normally don't win it, so Monta had to have a big game and he did."
He was great. He really stepped it up, especially when B.D. (Baron) got his sixth foul and we needed somebody to step it up. Monta did a tremendous job on the offensive end and that's why we won, because of him.
Monta is the MVP. He's been playing incredible, shooting at an unbelievable percentage and when you're playing like that he doesn't want to miss any days, any practices, anything...he wants to keep that going definitely.
With BD not playing in his All-Star caliber form of late, someone had to step up to keep this team afloat, and Monta has done that. I'm not sure Monta can keep up this torrid shooting streak, but if he can continue to hit the boards (around 5 per game) and keep the assists up (around 4), we're seeing the emergence of a young star.
Tonight will be no different. He's going to tear it up, nobody on the Wizards can keep up with him on the break and nobody can stay in front of him. Let the hot hand roll tonight!
I can already here the 3's raining down from the arc - I just hope I hear the swishes.
Predictions
- Warriors win by 5
- What's wrong with Baron? Nothing tonight. He puts together his best performance of Feb.
- Monta stays red hot and shoots "only" 80% from the field
- Jamison scores 30