G19 vs Orlando

"there are no such thing as moral....

Orlando came into Saturday night's game looking like every bit of the powerhouse they are expected to be this year..The Warriors on the other hand come in trying to piece together an 8 man roster just to play the game itself..add to the list of unavailable dubs..Anthony Morrow who was away from the team (death in the famliy..The game opened up like you would have expected..the magic pouncing on them early.. with a barrage of three pointers..quite frankly.. I thought on this night the warriors would go down for the count at Orlando's first blow..I think the fact that everyone in Oracle probably thought the same thing.. helped..there was no panic when the game started 11 to 2 or when they hit 6 o f 7 from outside.. the warriors just kept playing and kept shooting..There were way to many whistles both ways.. only the foul trouble didn't change any thing for the warriors.. as they only had so many bodies..where as the Stan Van Gundy went by the book pulling his stars Howard and Carter..Randolph who was nursing a sprained ankle..probably only played because Morrow was out.. came in the second quarter and was an absolute game changer..his jumper was falling..he was all over the glass..and most importantly.. he was frustrating Howard.. drawing several fouls on him..in a little bit of a Rodmanesque type way..Who says old dog cant learn new tricks..as Nellie stuck with Randolph in the second half.. and was rewarded for it as AR continued his efficient.. under control.. energy effort..In the third more warriors stepped up to the plate as Radmanovic and monta both found there touch..By the fourth quarter the Warriors had stole the momentum and the lead..Down the stretch with the game on the line the Young Warriors were exactly that..young..and as soon as Orlando retook the lead they panicked..2 terrible! turnovers from Curry down the stretch sealed the deal..something that may becoming a problem for him..Like the header says.."there are no moral victories in sports"..there aren't.. but there is a difference in being disappointed and being let down..Im not at all disappointed in the team and the effort they gave.. I am let down by the way it ended.

G18 vs Houston

You got to know when..to say when..

Houston has won 7 in a row against the warriors..or maybe I should say the Warriors have lost 7 in a row to Houston..Most of these games have come down to the final 2 minutes of the game..Houston executes and the warriors have a hard time just getting the ball inbounds..While it seemed like Deja vu down the stretch last night..the real problem was how it got to that point..The first half went back and forth each team having there runs..Monta who was under the weather and a little out of rhythm..struggled but found ways to help.. while Radmanovic and Morrow were both feeling it from outside.. and it's a good thing they were because the rockets were having none of it inside.. turning away Monta and Maggette on several occasions..The third quarter was the highlight of the night.. where the dubs hung 38 on the stout Houston defense..Radmanovic and Morrow kept the oven on..and Monta and Watson were creating turnovers.. leading to a ton of transition threes..Hunter played most of the third..and was holding down the paint for warriors..cleaning the defensive glass and effecting a lot of shots around the basket..which also led to some transition buckets..but more importantly limited Houston's second chance points..The quarter ended with the Warriors up 6 with the momentum and crowd behind them..In steps Nellie in his first game back on the bench.. Scraping the line up that got the warriors the lead..Nellie couldn't help himself..throwing a line up of Curry,Watson,Ellis,Morrow and Maggette at center..in the first couple of minutes they got an easy layup or 2..bumped the lead up to 10..But by half way through the quarter it was obvious Maggete could not handle Landry.. he was having his way finishing and1's and getting second shots of the glass..All of a sudden the Rockets were back to bullying us around in the paint..as Hunter and Radmanovic watched from the bench..So things weren't working..dose Nellie change things up? Of course not! That would go against what he dose.. which is change it up when things ARE working..Finally with about 4 minutes left in the game..and with Maggete getting his 5th foul.. he puts Radmanovic back in.. but the damage had been done and the momentum had been stolen.. or should I say given to the Rockets..So a guy so close to the all time wins record.. cant even get out of his own way to win a game at this point in his career..whether it's over thinking..under thinking.. or the early signs of senilism.. it's time for him to call quits.

G17 vs Denver

It was..what we thought it would be

The always patronizing broadcast team for the warriors made it no secret..the warriors were not suppose to win in Denver..we are all use to the standard excuses they make when games start going bad..but Fitz took it to a new level..starting with the excuses the game before.."playing on the back end of a back to back, in Denver,pacific teams are 1 and 17" now he mentioned this 2 or 3 times during the Indiana game..and quit frankly it was disgusting! I know he is just the puppet pushing the propaganda..the warriors PR department should be ashamed of them selves..
The Warriors hung in the game an till about the 6 minute mark in the second quarter..the one real positive from the game was Radmanovic..who showed he deserves some more touches..he was able to create his own shot on several occasions..and can finish at the rim much better then he is given credit for..have we found our 2nd scorer..not a chance..but he deserves a some 1 on 1 clear outs given the match up.. another bright spot was seeing Morrow move with out the ball better.. he is learning to finish around the rim with an array of flip shots..Monta finally go a good rest once the game got blown open in the second half..much like the lakers.. Denver's length and athleticism can keep monta from getting all the way to the rim..Curry who continues to struggle with his shot (4 for 14)..did manage to limit hims self to just 1 turnover while dishing out 6 dimes..There is no doubt Curry has struggled..and there are whispers of disappointment..especially with his fellow draft class of guards having such early success..I am a little worried about his turnovers..as he loves to make flashy passes of the bounce and at times unnecessary no lookers..hopefully its a habit he can break and save for fast breaks..as for his poor shooting..The real concern was if he could get his own shot..and I think he has answered that.. he is getting good looks.. just not knocking them down..With the recent emergence of CJ Watson..it will be interesting to see the rotation upon nellies return.

Game 16

encore

In the second meeting of these teams in a matter of weeks..things would go a little different..Much to my surprise Monta started the game on 6 '8 230 lbs Danny Granger..who came into the game averaging 37 point a game when facing the warriors..I have to admit..tho I admired Monta taking on the challenge I though Granger would have his way..But it was clear early on that this was Monta's night..as he once again carried the team for the good part of the first half..while doing a more then admirable job on Granger when matched up..Indiana was able to keep the warriors at arms length with great bench play from Dunleavy and Dahntay Jones..As Monta's frustration was seemingly about to boil over..He needed someone else to step up and and start making plays or this game was going to slip away..Watson and Randolph answered the call..Both came in and immediately put a few buckets in.. taking some of the load off monta.. as he again had scored half of the teams points.. and were talking about the half winding down..Early in the third Randolph rolled an ankle and was done for the night.. after chipping in with a much needed 12 points in limited action..Monta with a chance to rest his shooting arm at half time.. went right back to work..only this time he had more help.. with Watson getting most of Curry's minutes in the second half..as he should have the way he was playing..As He and Monta terrorized the Indiana back court creating turn overs and getting the crowd involved for the first time in the game..To close the third Morrow got hot and gave the Dub's there first lead since early in the first quarter..They never looked back from there.. Monta and co pushed the lead two double digits right out of the gate in the fourth.. Midway through.. on some very suspect calls Monta for the second time in his career fouled out of a game..Have to say it was the first time I have ever seen a teams best player foul out at home on a charge call..But monta's damage was done.. finishing with a career high 45 points..In the final 6 minutes Maggette carried them home.. scoring 3 or 4 buckets in a row and killing any hope of a come back for Indiana..A game they should win..but none the less a good win..Monta again surprising me..Not the scoring out bursts that have become routine.. but taking on the challenge of guarding Granger.. to be fair it was a team effort on keeping him in check..but Monta was the catalyst..the 45 was great.. but if they want to continue to compete every night the warriors are going to have to find a way for more guys to chip offensively.

well..what did you expect?


The Lakers are not only the best team in the NBA.. they are the biggest..with basically three 7ft allstar players..Odom being a long 6 11.. then throw in the premier wing defender and tough guy in the league in Ron Artest.. who is built more like a defensive end then a small forward..oh yah then there is a guy named Kobe..I think you get the point.. this team is as stacked as it gets..They immediately took advantage of there size taking turns posting up our dwarfed front court..They also came out with an intensity that I think surprised the young dub's..It was actually a sign of respect..knowing full well what advantage the Oracle crowd can give the Warrior..they went for the throat early..It was pretty academic..being overwhelmed at pretty much every position..the lakers length kept monta out of the paint all night..leading to the whole team settling for perimeter shots..Curry took a career high in shots..it showed again the kid is beyond his years on the court..with monta not able to get to the hoop.. he realized they needed him to score..he made a few baskets keeping them in the game going into the half..The second half looked like a Laker open gym..as they took turns getting there numbers..only thing interesting was a little confrontation between Gasol and Randolph..I had no problem with AR.. Gasol was discreetly rubbing in the beating after every dunk..and I like the fact AR got mad.. tho I think Smart should have kept him in there so he could take his whooping..As bad a loss as it was and at home.. I don't think it will hurt the things they have been building on of late..Tho they would never say it.. the Warriors know they are not ready to compete with the Lakers..and really who is?

Game 14

Gassed

on the back end of a back to back the warriors faced the stifling Spurs in San Antonio..All teams lean on there best player to an extent.. but what the warriors have asked of Monta Ellis the last three games has been too much..despite Ellis being an energizer bunny..He finally ran out of juice midway through the third Wednesday night ..In what was still a very impressive effort Ellis again carried the team scoring 28 points in the first half.. 18 in the first quarter alone..The game was pretty much going the same way it was in Dallas..only this time Monta didn't get the late game support he got the night before..Maggette came in and helped with the scoring load in the second..just enough to keep them close..but the younger warriors mainly Morrow and curry who were both coming off career highs in minutes.. just didn't seem to have it.. turning the ball over far to much and coming up short on most of there shots.. which was a sure sign there legs had betrayed them..Once monta ran out of gas the spurs started to pick away at the wary warriors..The lead ballooned to 22 mid way through the fourth.. but Curry and Morrow showed what little fight they had left in them and got it back down to a respectable number.. Given the circumstance I think they have to feel pretty damn good about them selves on this Texas two step..One thing is clear..Monta Ellis is an elite scorer.

Game 13

Daaaang!

The Warriors came in to Dallas 15 point dogs facing a team that has won 5 in a row..Oh yeah not only was the rotation down to 6 players..the Don is back in the Bay area with pneumonia.. in steps assistant coach and air apparent Keith Smart.. who seems to have a great rapport with the young warriors.. coaching most of them in summer league.. and well he didn't have any choice but to use them..They came out of the gate very tentative.. almost to worried about getting there teammates involved.. this led to passing up shots they should have taken..which led to turnovers.. Im talking 5 or 6 in the first 5 minutes of the game..what kept them in it was there ability to create some turnovers of there own..with Dallas threating to bust the game open..Monta took control of the offense and started to get to the hoop in his normal aggressive fashion..and that seemed to wake everybody up and got them back to run and gun ball..Morrow who played all 48 minutes for the first time in his career.. showed a new found hunger crashing the boards and creating for others..It's good to see that he's not content just being a lights out shooter and he knows he's got to do more to stay on the floor..He matched Dirk's hot shooting in the second..along with Radmanovic..who showed a scrappyness around the hoop and guarding Dirk..while still contributing on the offensive end..In the third Monta took the team on his shoulders some how getting to the rim on a defense that was shading and waiting for him there..it made no difference..as Monta kept getting to the cup finishing with contact and several and1's..In the forth Dallas looked to pull away.. as Monta was starting to gas from the beating he had been taking every time he touched the ball..In desperate need of someone to step up Stephen Curry had his biggest quarter of his young career.. hitting a huge transition 3 that got them over the hump and gave them the lead for the first time since the second quarter..He had 11 points in the forth and every one of them bigger then the last..finishing with a career high 18.. The Unsung hero late in the game was Randolph..who some how seemed to challenge every jump shot the mavs took.. a lot of these were defensive rotations where he had to run out late on what you would think were open shots..his lanky flailing frame..flying full speed was with out a doubt disrupting these would be makes from good shooters..Monta and his young troops stepped up..stepped up big in big D..its just 2 games.. but warriors fans is it time to get excited?