Final Boxscore
Back in the Bay
Last night we gave a standing O to Jason Richardson in his return game, but soon forgot him as the game progressed. It just wasn't JRich's night but it was still great to be out there and cheer for him during the intros. It went from "hey let's see what JRich still has" to "hey Marco shoot a 35 footer and see if it goes in". There were plenty of ridiculous things that went on in the Warriors win that puts them an amazing 10 games over .500, hit the jump to find out.
No defense against Monta
Ridiculousness #1: The Blowout
The Warriors continue to baffle and amaze me. Baffle me because throughout the past couple weeks they've played some soft teams and not been able to put them away in the end (or lose to them in the Minnesota case). Amaze me because they put a team away in the first quarter. Was there anyone in the arena who thought this would be close after the first quarter? It was only 32-23 but the Bobcats looked completely overmatched especially as the Warriors closed out the quarter with a strong finish with a couple three's and a few layups and BAM it was over.
It sure didn't help that the Bobcats don't play any kind of defense. I mean, except for Okafor challenging some shots in the middle, the rest of the team are like matadors out there. Ole! The Bobcats just had no answer for the Warriors. If it wasn't the fast break, it was the penetration in the lane. If it wasn't the mid-range game, it was the barrage of three pointers.
The start of the 2nd quarter was like they reached into the Bobcats' chests, pulled their hearts out and stomped on them. The game went from a 20-21 Bobcat lead with 2:54 left in the first to a 55-27 Warriors lead with 6:42 left in the 2nd. In roughly 8 minutes, the Warriors rolled off a 35-6 run. If that's not some form of ridiculousness, I don't know what is.
Ridiculosity #2: Brandan Wright's Monster Dunk
There was nothing that could have prepared you for the dunk. The Warriors were up 32 points, part of the arena had gone home, the Warrior reserves were playing the Bobcat reserves, overall just a blah time of the game unless you really wanted to see how the young Warriors would play against some Bobcat scrubs. Many of us at the arena were still paying attention. And we were rewarded...
Kelenna was pushing the ball up the court with BWright and CJ filling the lanes on the wings. Kelenna passes the ball to Wright on the left side of the floor and something crazy happened. He caught it, took one step and elevated. As he glided towards the rim, he shifted his body in mid air (in mid air!) to avoid the defender, cocked the ball in his left hand, and with his incredibly long arms, continued to fly towards the rim and flush the ball through the hoop. And 1.
Ridiculous Ridiculous #3: Baron and Jax Played 53 Minutes...Combined
Our two stars need their rest for the late season push to the playoffs and with both playing well below their season average of 39 minutes in this last game it looks like they'll get that much needed rest. Combine the previous 2 off days with the little amount of work in this game and this 5 day break from games, Jax and Boom should be getting the rest they need.
What the rest also did was allow the youngsters and 2nd team get some more playing time. BWright played 12 minutes, CJ got 17 minutes, Marco was in there for 14 minutes, and even POB played half a quarter. Although they only played the Bobcats end of the bench squad, the youngsters were able to keep the lead and make sure it never even got close. In fact, it felt like the crowd got more into it whenever Marco touched the ball than in the 2nd and 3rd quarter blowouts. Chants for Marco to shoot from long distance came out and he even obliged by making his only three point attempt of the night. Good times.
Ridiculoso #4: Mickael Pietrus to the Rescue?
Okay maybe he didn't save the day, but he ended the Bobcats hopes of any kind of comeback in the 3rd quarter. The lead went from around 25 all the way down to 15 with 6 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Then Air France put the Bobcats in their place. After a 3 pointer, 2 free throws, another 3 pointer and another 2 free throws, the Warriors had themselves a 10-0 run and a 25 point lead. Great to see him step it up just when the Bobcats made their little run.
Franco knows, GSoM is Unstoppable Baby!
The GSoM Night 3 shirt was a hit
Ridiculous #5: GSoM Night
Even in a sold out game, GSoM brought over 520 people to the game last night. Thank you to all of you who were able to make it! We got to meet so many of you while handing out the t-shirts. We had a great time doing that, just saying hi, chatting for a little bit, that was awesome. Honestly, that's one of the favorite parts of these nights for us. It's always cool to meet more Warrior fans, especially those who take part in our blogging hobby. Thank you so much to everyone who came out.
I also have to give a shout out to Chris Murphy for bringing everything together on this and really doing a stellar job (as always) of making sure everything went smoothly. Heck, he even got Franco Finn up to our section with a spot during a 3rd quarter timeout. He hyped up GSoM and the entire section got on the jumbotron! And a thank you to Dana Knops for holding it down at the t-shirt table making sure everything went smoothly.
All in all, another successful GSoM Night is in the books. We're 2-1 on GSoM Nights, looking to go 3-1 on GSoM Night 4 against the Rockets.
Brandan Wright
He gets the Warrior Wonder for no other reason than getting the entire crowd jumping to its feet and rocking the arena with the Warriors up 34 with his nasty one handed throw down. I still do wonder why he doesn't get more burn with the 1st or 2nd team. Not because of the dunk but because he runs the floor extremely well and is incredibly long. I still believe that if he was able to develop, he'd be useful off the bench in the last month to 2 months of the season. But I ain't Nellie, so BWright will probably continue to sit.