Great game! (For the Kings.)
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SB Nation: Sactown Royalty | Bay Area
Don't let the homers lead you to believe otherwise- the Warriors are a bad team. But the Kings are much worse. Much worse. There is NO EXCUSE for how poorly the Warriors played tonight.
Jump for the 67th recap of the season!
I have somehow lucked into recaping some of the ugliest and most painful Warriors games of the season. Flip back:
- Recap #46: Charlotte Bobcats 121, Golden State Warriors 113 - Painful.
- Recap #52: Golden State Warriors 88, Phoenix Suns 112- Driving us bonkers!
- Recap #57: Atlanta Hawks 95, Golden State Warriors 79 - Dubs got issues
Here's what was painful and ugly about this game from the Dubs side of things (props to the Kings for a fantastic performance by the way):
- Warrior Killer: Marcus Thornton with 42 points.
- Warrior Killer: Samuel Dalembert looked like Wilt Chamberlain out there with 27 points, 16 boards, and 2 swats.
- Andris Biedrins might very well be the worst player on the Warriors roster (hey at least Jeremy Lin can claim solid D). He is the worst starting center in the entire league. Tonight he had a classic Mike Dunleavy line with more fouls (4) than points (0), rebounds (0), assists (0), blocks (0), and free throw attempts (0) COMBINED. Aren't you glad the Chris Mullin won the bidding against no one for Biedrins' "services" back in the summer of '08? Good thing he's on the Warriors books for 3 more seasons at a cool $9 million per. (I think Biedrins will be picking up his player option in 2013-2014 for $9 million). Again for all you Don Nelson haters out there who screamed at how the coaching legend was holding this unskilled center with questionable work ethic and passion for the game of basketball back, Biedrins PEAKED under Nellie. When I see Coach Keith Smart inanely gifting Biedrins an undeserved starting spot and playing time and curiously running plays for him, I wonder if the coach just wants a pink slip.
- Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Acie Law, and Reggie Williams got abused by the King guards. Marcus Thornton torched them for a career high scoring night. Beno Udrih nearly notched a double-double. Luther Head had 10-4-5 off the bench in 23 minutes. Most alarming, Ellis and Curry were sloppy and turnover prone. 6 for 16 shooting from Monta and 1 assist in 24 minutes from Curry aren't going to get it done... ever.
- DeMarcus Cousins might be a headcase and a very mistaken-prone rookie, but he easily suckered Biedrins into a bunch of silly fouls and walked away with 15-9-4 with 3 steals. Cousins is exceptionally talented. If he can get his head on straight, watch out.
- Jason Thompson is 10x the player Anthony Randolph is. (From the archives Polling GSoM: Which rookie forward will have the better sophomore campaign?-- Ooops.)
If you didn't get a chance to watch tonight's game, I'm happy for you. I really am.
23 points in under 22 minutes? +25 in a blowout loss to a very bad basketball team? I sure hope Al Thornton exclaimed "Unstoppable Baby!" to the Kings' bench at some point tonight.
Final thought, it will be incredibly sad to see the Kings leave Sacramento. Those are good fans. Those are good hoops people. Hope things work out for Sac.