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With about 7 minutes left in the 3rd the Warriors were down by only 1, yet they managed to get blown out by almost 20 points at home in the season opener on Christmas Day. How?
JUMP to find out!
Game Shots
- If you're going to be a bad team, then at least be entertaining- especially at home. This game was ugly. Maybe it's the lockout, maybe it's poor coaching (let's face it Vinny Del Negro and Mark Jackson are two of the worst coaches in the NBA), but this was not a pretty game. On offense the Warriors just stunk up the joint with 39% FG and 23.8% 3pt. Nellieball this ain't.
- Chris Paul looked rather pedestrian in the first half and only shot 1 for 6. The second half was a different story however. It was like he flipped a switch and decided to become CP3. Down the stretch in the 4th Paul was just clutch. He was taking and making big shots off the dribble seemingly at ease. He wound up with 20 points, 9 dimes, and 2 picks. Surprisingly I don't recall him running the pick and roll with Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan, but I'm sure that will change.
- You don't see many nights when the Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry look this bad. They shot a combined 8 for 31 and had 9 turnovers. Curry looked especially out of sync. I wonder if it was a mistake to even play him tonight given his ankle issues.
- Andris Biedrins had a fantastic outing. It has been quite some time since he brought so much energy on defense and finished so well. He was a force in the paint with 3 swats and was a perfect 5 for 5 around the bucket. Biedrins outplayed and out-hustled the Clips big man the Warriors wanted to desperately dump him for. Keep boosting that trade value Biedrins!
- Do Griffin and DeAndre Jordan know how to box out?
- Coach Jackson tried a hack-a-DeAndre in the 3rd. I don't think it did much. If Del Negro was smart he would have countered with a hack-a-Biedrins, but again we're not exactly talking about the NBA coaching elite here.
- If Caron Butler stays healthy, credit the Clippers with a great signing. I really liked his all-around game tonight with 11 points, 10 boards, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
- It really looked like Chauncey Billups was trying to give the Clips a reason to ship him out. He came out firing blanks and took a lot of ball-hog-type shots.
- Brandon Rush looked very solid tonight. I can't believe he's listed as a shooting guard. He's a very big 6'6 225 pounds. Shoot, he could probably play center for Nellie! He could wind up being a very nice offseason acquisition.
- Kwame Brown is one big dude. He looked much bigger than DeAndre Jordan out there!
- Brian Cook is still in the league?!
- The Warriors looked bad tonight, but it's only one game after a long NBA lockout for Coach Jackson's team. Even if they won big tonight I'd say the same thing. Let's take a wait and see approach...
The first award of 2k11-2k12 goes to David Lee. Lee had a crafty 21 points (10-19 FG) and brought the hustle on the glass with 12 rebounds. He outplayed superstar-in-the-making Blake Griffin.