Monta celebrates with Acie and Reggie after hitting the game-winning shot.
Boxscore | Preview/Game Thread
Indy Cornrows (recap) | SB Nation Bay Area
It's been nearly an hour after Monta Ellis (36 points, 16-for-28 from the field) crossed Brandon Rush from about 18 feet away and drilled a fading jumper with the clock stopping with 0.6 seconds left in the game, to give the Golden State Warriors an eventual 110-108 win over the Indiana Pacers, and I still don't see any video of Monta's shot anywhere on the national sites.
His heroic game-winning jumper (hit the jump for the highlight from CSN) is nowhere to be seen on NBA.com, ESPN, or Yahoo. I sure hope this does not portend his chances for the coaches' vote of the Western Conference All-Star non-starters.
Anyone know what kind of celebration David Lee was embarking on?
Yet another Warriors game started off with the opponent getting dunks and putback dunks, as (gulp) Josh McRoberts and Tyler Hansbrough started things off with beasty slams. Monta started off by dishing the ball (4 assists by halftime), and Dorell Wright stepped up to the challenge going mano y mano with Danny Granger, with 11 first-half points.
Paul George got an uncontested putback near the Q3 buzzer, but Acie Law got the inbound with 3 seconds left and heaved a 40-footer after crossing halfcourt, and the shot trickled in to put the Warriors down two heading into the 4th. But the Pacers took a 91-83 lead and with about three-fourths of the 4th quarter remaining, Brandan Wright was summoned into the game... (roll the suspenseful music)
I'll let my live-tweets from @nbalivetweet do the rest as we pick things up in the 4th quarter when B-Wright entered...
Pacers now up 91-83. Brandan Wright reverse LH layup via Acie Law.
Granger easily by Vladimir Radmanovich but B.Wright blocks Grangers stop and spin fade. Then Monta backrims a nice drive but B.Wright gets putback.
Monta jumper pull up 17' good. Pacers call timeout, up 91-89 on Warriors. Monta 30 pts 5 reb 4 ast, Dorell 21 pts 4 stl. Granger 25pts 9reb.
Nice observation by Barnett: Acie Law putting pressure up high on Darren Collison.
Mike Dunleavy scores off catch n fade in front of screen. Acie Law trey?! Wow.
#leaguepassalert Warriors 96, Pacers 95 Q4, 6:45. Brandan Wright coming alive. Monta 32, Granger 25.
Granger long j gives him 27 pts. Monta steal via B.Wright deflection. Crossover stepback Monta on Dunleavy is too hard off rim. Timeout.
There's the Jim O'Brien system at work. Pick n roll with Jeff Foster and Dunleavy leads to parting of red sea, foul. Foster makes both FTs.
Reggie Williams bricking tonite. Nice double swing pass rotation wasted. He was open. Warriors force shotclock violation.
Dorell had gotten a brief sub but he's back now. But not because he wasn't at table in time. Approaching 4:30.
Acie Law came ready to play today. Threads needle to D.Lee who got fouled, makes first misses second. Granger open trey L corner good.
Collison assist there. D.Lee straightaway J good. B.Wright rebounds Pacers miss. Monta turnover on pass to D.Lee at baseline falling out.
D.Lee foul on defensive rebound, Granger gets FTs on what's called shooting foul. Pacers 103, Warriors 99. Granger has 32. D.Lee R j good.
Collison L elbow j good. D.Lee gets feed L elbow from Monta, fouled by Foster. FTs coming up. Timeout. Pacers 105, Warriors 101, 2:41.
Wow, just checked the stats and Jeff Foster has 15 rebounds.
D.Lee hits both. Here we go.
Monta draws a charge on the Foster slip. The play that I wrote about in the preview today!
Monta short on the RH layup, D.Lee deflects and B.Wright picks it up, gets fouled. Side out. Monta faces up and scores a swish J from 18'.
Collison slides pivot foot after stopping on Stephen Curry R elbow. Turnover! D.Lee misses open J straight. Dunleavy trey no good. D.Lee boxes out.
Foster called for the over the back. Amazingly Barnett is arguing in Foster's favor, clearly a foul on Foster. D.Lee makes one of two.
Foster slips the high PNR on Dorell to free Granger on the dribble but Granger throws it away!
D.Lee offensive rebound off beautiful LH hesitation dribble but miss front rim by Monta. Curry RH drive off backboard good on Collison!
Timeout O'Brien. Warriors 108, Pacers 105, 0:21 left.
Collison drives RH after Granger clears out and Curry fouls him for an and-one!
Collison at 90% free throw shooting makes it. Warriors 108, Pacers 108, 18.1 ticks left. What is it with Curry and and-ones
Would be a safe bet if Stephen Curry leads the league in and-one fouls committed. SMH.
MONTA ELLIS DRILLS A CROSSOVER J LEFT SIDE ON BRANDON RUSH. 0:00.6 remaining, Warriors 110, Pacers 108.
OMG what did Barnett have for dinner? He's suggesting a pass back to inbounder for a trey with only 0.6 left. LOL
Dorell Wright breaks up a nice lob attempt to Hansbrough mano y mano under the hoop. Warriors win 110-108.
Monta Ellis 36 pts on 16-for-28 from the field, 5 reb, 6 ast.
Other Highlights:
- Roy Hibbert out with upper respiratory infection, and B-Wright's flashes: Not that an opponent missing a game is a highlight, but yes, I'm suggesting a casual effect. With Hibbert out, B-Wright was the more mobile big man than the Hansbrough-Foster tandem, and he got to the ball on many occasion. B-Wright earned the clutch minutes down the stretch. Hats off. Let's hope he can build on this. Btw, Lou Amundson left the game in the first half with a left ankle sprain.
- Acie Law's quality minutes: He was hitting treys tonight! And dishing! And not losing the ball. That's what you want from your backup point, plain and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. Nice game.
- Dorell's O: Dorell played the whole first half and then some. He only got a brief break in the 4th. That's Smart having confidence in him. Maybe Smart knew it was a big-time matchup too. There were also plays where Dorell didn't settle for the trey. Once he was so, so, so open but he passed up a shot that was open for as long as maybe 2 seconds, before taking a nice long step towards the hoop, making a swing pass which eventually ended with a three-pointer. Another time, he stopped on a fastbreak at the free throw line elbow and didn't force it, although he did give up his dribble (not his strong point, of course). Jim Barnett wasn't happy with the play, but I was. He didn't do his lame Dwyane Wade-inspired fake-and-draw-contact and, most importantly, he didn't turn it over and eventually passed it to the point guard. This shows me that Dorell is starting to think out there rather than just play on instinct (and shoot every open trey).
- Dorell's D on Granger: Granted, Granger scored 32 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and collected 6 assists, but Dorell wasn't guarding him the whole time. In fact, when Dunleavy and Granger were on the floor at the same time, Dorell was often covering Dunleavy. Granger actually had a nice blocked shot on Dorell on a fastbreak. But Dorell also poked the ball out from Granger's post up. All in all, a pretty decent game by Dorell on the defensive end. Sure, Dorell isn't at that level where he can be a stopper, but let's remember that Granger was an All-Star in 2009.
- Granger: Just a really versatile player. He was on tonight, hitting threes and getting to the rim. Always in control as far as body language is concerned. However, he did tally 7 turnovers.
- O'Brien's chess-piece moving: Neither Solomon Jones, TJ Ford, or James Posey saw any action. I'm puzzled by this. Especially with Hibbert out, how can "Solo", the better offensive player amongst Foster and Hansbrough, have zero minutes? Posey would seem well-suited for the fast pace, as far as gunnin' is concerned. And Ford is faster than AJ Price, but then again Price had a +20. In any case, definitely a highlight for the Warriors as none of these weapons were utilized by the Pacers.
- Mike Dunleavy: The Oracle crowd, not surprisingly, booed him and he missed a critical trey attempt off back iron late in the game (whew!).
- Steph's and-one foul shows is roller-coaster style again: Another defensive gaffe by Steph. First, he takes Collison off dribble right side lane and banks in a shot that puts the Warriors up 108-105 with 23.1 ticks left. Then out of the timeout, Collison takes Steph off dribble right side lane and Collison converts the layup, but Steph fouls him after Collison's already past him and about to make the bucket. This is turning into a disease!
- Reggie Williams shooting blanks: 'Nuff said. Zero spark tonight.
- Ekpe Udoh: Not enough playing time. Did box out well on one play.
- Post-game reaction on Monta's buzzer-beater: Little to none outside of the Bay Area and Indianapolis (Indy Corn Rows at that). I also noticed that the Warriors will play the Phoenix Suns on Feb 7th and 10th. That might be a good time for Monta to bust out a couple strong games with perennial All-Star Steve Nash also on the floor.
- Jim Barnett: Just an off night for the ol' fella. First, on a rebound of a Pacers miss, David Lee was manhandled and, as Fitz put it, nearly put in a headlock by Foster. The whole time, Barnett is thinking Foster had nowhere else to fall and was entitled to do that. "What else was he supposed to do?" Fitz's jaw must have dropped. It was like role reversal, only reversed. Freaky Friday or whatever that movie was where the mom and the daughter switched bodies. You know, the homer play-by-play guy and the even-keeled color guy, switched, except he's no longer a homer, he's rooting for the visiting team. I don't know.
- Jim Barnett, part two: So with 0.6 seconds left after Monta's jumper, Barnett suggests that the Pacers run a play where they pass back to the inbounder for a three-pointer. Dude, in oh-point-six seconds? LMFAO! What in blazes did he have for dinner?!