Game 12

The next step

In what was the the Warriors best game of the year..Monta Ellis had a coming out party..it what was the best game of his career..first and for most he was matched up against a guy who many consider a top 10 player in the league in Brandon Roy..a 6 6' 220 lbs do it all guard and perennial allstar..In years past I don't think nellie would have even attempted to put monta on the much bigger guard.. but with jax gone and monta being "the big money guy" he drew the assignment..Monta was game from the start pushing Roy out of his sweet spots on the elbow and mid block..using his quick hands to make him terminate his dribble earlier then he wanted..Offensively he had everything going.. even hit a 3 off the dribble something I can't remember ever seeing him do..we all know about the mid range game and how he gets to the cup like few others..but something that I think may go a bit unnoticed is his improved ball handling..It's only natural..handling the ball more this year then ever before he has picked up a few new tricks with the rock..maybe from his young back court mate..Monta is the type of player that sees something and can immediately put it in his tool box..But back to his defense.. his ball hawking led to a career high 6 steals..and more importantly most all of them led to transition points.. all while frustrating the allstar Roy..His improved decision making on the break got everybody involved whether it was Curry and Morrow from outside or getting AR a much needed dunk.. from there with Oracle behind him the Blazers didn't stand a chance..I know I know it's one game! But you cant help but be excited about what you saw from the "head leader" (sorry had to do it lol) it looks like he is taking that step and becoming a complete basketball player..

ON another positive note.. it looks like the Warriors may have finally found there "beef" in NBDL call up Chris Hunter a 6 11' 250 lbs 25 year old who played at Michigan..played about 15 minutes and really impacted the game with his size.. keeping Oden from getting to deep in the paint and made a few basketball plays..It will be very nice to have someone who can hold there ground against the heavyweights in the league.