Two Solid Victories

Well the Warriors came away with two great away victories today and yesterday by beating the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets. Both games came down to the wire but in completely different circumstances for the Warriors. In the Dallas game, which the Warriors won 111-109, the Warriors had to battle back from down 14 and they finally caught up in the last 2 minutes of the game. Against the Rockets the Warriors almost gave up the game in the last couple of minutes, but they still held on and got revenge for the loss they got to the Rockets earlier in the season. I am not going elaborate any more on these games right now. I am a little bit tired and the New Year is here in less then an hour so I have to get ready for that. Anyway, look forward to the Warriors versus the Grizzlies on the 3rd and everyone have a happy new year.

One Game Over .500

Well the Warriors put an end to their 5 game losing streak by beating the Boston Celtics 111-109. This game marked Ike Diogu’s first game as a starter for the Warriors and it was doubly beneficial. For one, it brought Diogu’s scoring in the game to begin with to help to eliminate the poor starts the Warriors have been having, but it actually seemed to spark Adonal Foyle as well. He came off the bench and had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 5 blocks. That is the type of production that the Warriors need from Foyle. It must just work for him to have the energy coming off the bench as well as not having to match up with the starting center. Jason Richardson had a fantastic game scoring 36 points to lead all scorers. This isn’t a fantastic win by any stretch. It was a grind it out win against a team they should beat and revenge for the loss they already suffered against the Celtics this season. This was also the Warriors making sure once again that they are atleast even in the season series against the Celtics. Out of all the finished series only Detroit won the series, so that is a good start for the Warriors. Not only was this a nice win to see the Warriros get since it kept them from falling below .500, which they haven’t done all season, but it was a win that was witnessed by the Greatest Quarter back of all-time. Joe Montana.

Up next is a HUGE test for the Warriors. On Friday the Warriors take on the Dallas Mavericks who own a tied for the best record in the Western Conference with the San Antonio Spurs. How the Warriors do in that game will tell a lot about how good this team really is.

Better Play But .500 Record

Well, the Warriors blew a great opportunity and now they are a .500 ball club. Record = 14-14. The Warriors were in this game the whole time, but made the mistakes in the fourth quarter that killed their opportunity to win. The Warriors were hovering around the same score as the Nuggets the whole game then in the fourth quarter they let that stupid F***ing midget Earl Boykins and all 5’5” of him score about 7 points in a row and something around 12 points in the quarter thereby costing the Warriors the game. How do you let a 5’5” abuse you like that? It was painful to watch. Anyway, the Warriors got double-doubles from Baron Davis (16 points, 11 assists) and Jason Richardson (26 points, 12 rebounds) in the loss. The Nuggets were led by Carmelo Anthony. The Warriors have a NEED TO WIN game on Wednesday to look forward to know. They are playing the Boston Celtics in Oakland and they have to get revenge for the beating they got last week in Boston. Also a side note to keep in mind. I have heard that the Ron Artest sweepstakes are coming to a close soon and the Warriors are one of four teams in the running. I think the Warriors need something right now to spark this team, and if they don’t get Artest they should definitely look into getting someone.

OPTIMISM!!!!!

Well the Warriors didn’t get the win today, but they did find the energy and grittiness that they have been missing the past 3 games. The Warriors fell to the Detroit Pistons 85-97 today, but this was a game that showed promise in a couple of areas. Like I mentioned before, the Warriors played a lot better today. The effort they gave today would have beat Boston, New Jersey and Philadelphia, it is just too bad that they had to put up the good effort against the best team in the NBA. They should gain confidence from their play today and we will hope to see it continue the day after Christmas when they play the Denver Nuggets. The REAL bright spot of this game though was Ike Diogu. He finally got some decent minutes again and what did he do? He put up 27 points, leading the Warriors in scoring and only falling a point shy of the 28 points that Detroit’s Richard Hamilton scored. Diogu showed an array of moves that seemed to scream to every Warrior fan “FOYLE SHOULD NOT BE STARTING ANYMORE!!!” Sorry about that, but it is clear that Foyle’s unproductive minutes offensively and defensively cannot be acceptable anymore. The Warriors need to have that inside scoring punch that only Diogu seems to have on this team. The other bright spot that came most likely because of the production of Diogu was in that the Warriors only shot 11 three pointers the entire game. This is coming from the team that averages about 27 a game. This is a great sign to me. Granted the Warriors only scored 85 points, but it was also against one of the best defensive teams in the league, so you can expect bigger scoring from the team against the rest of the league. The rest of the Warriors didn’t really have great games. Troy Murphy had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Baron Davis 14 points and 10 assists, and Jason Richardson had 14 points and 9 rebounds. The scoring was all below their season averages, but attribute that too the emergence of their Beast Ike Diogu and that this was the Detroit Pistons. Well that is it for now, but I am optimistic about the Warriors play again and I have three words to Coach Montgomery “UNLEASH THE BEAST!!!!!”

Not Good. Three Losses in a Row

Well the Warriors are now on a three game losing streak as they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers 100-111 today. Things have not been pretty for the Warriors on this road trip as they are losing by double digit points and allowing a good deal over 100 points each game they lost. The Warriors were led by Jason Richardson’s 24 points, but once again only he, Troy Murphy (22) and Baron Davis (16) really contributed. Mike Dunleavy was the only other player to score in double digits, with 11 points. The Warriors also gave up a season high for points allowed to one player when Allen Iverson scored 38 against them. The Warriors don’t seem to have the defensive effort they had earlier this season and they aren’t getting any points near the basket and that is the key to their struggles. I have also figured out a reason for some of our difficulties. It looks as though Adonal Foyle isn’t the player he used to be. I think there are a few things catching up with Adonal right now. Foyle is 30 years old now and he has had some problems with his knees in the past. I think he has had 2 surgeries on them, but I am not sure about that, and now he has to play against players taller and more athletic then him. I don’t think he has what it takes to be a starter in this league. Samuel Dalembert made Foyle look silly in the first quarter as he made the 76ers first 4 shots and was 5 for 5 I believe when he got into foul trouble. This was all with Foyle guarding him. If it weren’t for the foul trouble Dalembert might have done some serious damage. I think the Warriors need to start Andris Biedrins now and use Foyle off the bench, plus they need to start suiting up Taft for when Foyle doesn’t give them anything off the bench. These three losses just prove that the Warriors need to change things up and this is my recommendation. The only other answer is to make a trade. Things need to be shaken up some because this Warriors team is falling out of the playoffs as we speak and they can’t afford to try to play catch up. The only problem is the Warriors still have one more game on the road trip and that is against Detroit, the team with the best record in the NBA. The Warriors did play them to the wire earlier this year, but that was in Oakland and Detroit is a very tough team to play in Detroit, but I am still hoping the Warriors can take it. A win there could really help to reawaken the Warriors up and build the confidence back up going into their two day Christmas break. Let’s keep our finger crossed for the Warriors on Friday and also for Mullin to work some magic to get this team better.

Blah and a Christmas Wish

I really don’t enjoy doing these posts when the Warriors lose games that I know they should have won. If that doesn’t give away the outcome then let me say the Warriors lost today to the Boston Celtics 98-109. It was disappointing losing this game because they should have been fired up after the New Jersey game and Boston is just an average team at best. The Warriors did a good job slowing down Boston’s superstar Paul Pierce, but in return they just let everybody on Boston do something and it was too much for the Warriors to take. The Warriors only got production out of Jason Richardson (23 points), Baron Davis (24 points) and Troy Murphy (27 points). You might include Derek Fisher on that list, but 12 points from him doesn’t make up for everyone else and that is just an average contribution anyway. The Warriors now are 1-2 on the road trip and face Philadelphia on Wednesday, and they just snuck about .500 so it is only going to get harder for them now.

With the showing the Warriors have put out the last couple of games I think they are trying to tell President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin that he needs to make a trade. I am of the impression that if you are going to have a starting lineup that includes Adonal Foyle (no offense and only defense), then you have to have 4 solid starters. Mike Dunleavy is not that starter and so the Warriors need to find the small forward that would be (Ron Artest maybe). Prime example of this idea is the Detroit Pistons. Ben Wallace is a great defensive player, but very limited offensively, but the other 4 starters (Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince) are very capable solid players, and much better defensively then the Warriors starters as well. So this is me begging the Warriors to make my Christmas wish come true and get the Warriors the starting small forward that will be consistent and if possible an upgrade at center so we can get some rebounds. Is that too much to ask?

Ugly to the Infinite Power

I am going to make this post short because I don’t want to relive this horrible game. The Warriors lost to the New Jersey Nets 90-118. The Warriors were out of this game about halfway through the first quarter. The Nets started off shooting perfectly for a long stretch and the Warriors tried to get into it. They fought back to tie the game at 17 or so, after being down by 10 early, but New Jersey went on another run after that that pretty much lasted until the end of the game. The fourth quarter was essentially garbage time for both teams, but it was nice to see Diogu, Miles, Monta Ellis and Zarko get some prolonged minutes at the end. The Warriors don’t get to dwell on this too long as they head to Boston tomorrow for game three of the five game road trip. The Warriors need to win this game just to right themselves after this loss. They shouldn’t have trouble getting ready for this game though. They should be plenty pissed after today’s beatdown.

Road Trip Starts With a Win

The Warriors played their first game of their 5 game road trip tonight and beat the Toronto Raptors (again) 108-98. This finished the Warrior’s season series versus the Raptors with the Warriors winning both games. This was a game of 3 point shooting as both teams shot better then 50% from behind the line (Warriors 58% and Raptors 53%). Both teams had 5 players scoring in double figures, the difference was the Warriors had 4 players score 20 or more (Baron Davis-20, Jason Richardson-23, Troy Murphy-20, and Derek Fisher-21) and Toronto only had 1 player (Chris Bosh-27). It was very much a back and forth game, which is exciting for the average fan (I prefer a little more defense, but that is just me). Things are not great for the Raptors right now, but they have a young core and we all know sometimes it is just one trade that can change everything around (See Warriors last year with Baron Davis). Hopefully this game washes the bad taste out of the Warriors’ mouths from the Houston debacle in overtime and helps them to at least win 4 out of the 5 games on this road trip. That shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for them since the remaining teams on the road trip are New Jersey (10-12), Boston (9-13), Philadelphia (12-12) and Detroit (17-3). Out of those teams only Detroit is the elite team, everyone else is .500 or worse. So going 4-1 on the road trip is very doable. So keep an eye on the Warriors after this road trip they could be back in first place again in the west since after today’s win they moved to within ½ game of the first place L.A. Clippers. It begins Sunday afternoon versus the New Jersey Nets (who have already lost to the Warriors this year).

This is going to be a short double update because I am not feeling great right now.

Well the Warriors came out on both sides of the game in the past two games, both in overtime. The Warriors were part of their first and second overtime games this season on back to back nights, always a tough thing for a team. On Tuesday night against the Seattle Supersonics the Warriors won 110-107 in overtime with Baron Davis hitting a 3 pointer with .4 seconds left in the game. Ray Allen had a big game, scoring 35 points in Seattle’s loss. The Warriors were lead by 26 from Derek Fisher off the bench.

In the second game in two nights the Warriors lost 111-105 in overtime to the Houston Rockets. This was a game that the Warriors should have won. With a little over 5 seconds left in the 4th quarter the Warriors were up by 3 points and they should have chosen to foul making the Rockets shoot 2 free throws and not let them tie. They didn’t do that and Houston tied with a three pointer. The momentum was just about gone by then and the Warriors lost in the first overtime. The Warriors were led by 28 from Jason Richardson and 27 points and 13 assists from Baron Davis, unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Houston was led by Yao Ming with 30 points and 16 rebounds.

One little NBA side note I would like to mention. The enigmatic Ron Artest (the man who last season was suspended the whole season for attacking a fan in Detroit and causing a riot) has forced the Indiana Pacers to trade him. Now teams all around the league are trying to make the deal to land him. Although he is crazy he is very good and one of the best defenders in the league, so in my opinion he is worth the trouble. I would love to see him become a Warrior if the price is right. I wouldn’t want to give up too much because the team is doing well right now and he does have his issues. So we should see within the next week which team lands the Ron Artest Sweepstakes.

The Black Hole Named Fisher

The Warriors lost tonight to the Detroit Pistons 106-103 in a game that the Warriors should have won. The Warriors were led by 36 points by Jason Richardson and Baron Davis’ 14 assists. The problem for the Warriors in the game though was Derek Fisher. He started off well shooting perfectly, 3-3 from the field and 4-4 from the line. But then around the second half sometime Fisher turned on his black hole power. All of a sudden he shoots quick shots that are well guarded and the ball doesn’t move around. There were about 5 of these possessions. Suddenly the Warriors go from up by 6 to down by 2. Derek Fisher finished the game missing his next 7 shots after making the first 3 shots he took. Regardless of that the Warriors were hanging tough until the last second. The Warriors were also on the short end of some dubious non-calls and bad calls, which hurt as well. There were also missed dunks by Foyle and Baron earlier in the game that give the Warriors the 4 points they would need for the win. But the topper on the game that angered me very much at the end was Fisher took the 3 pointer at the end of the game to try to tie. I don’t really mind this if he has too, but there was 7 seconds when the ball was inbounded to him, then he dribbles it up court and shoots with like 3 seconds left on the clock and he is like 10 feet behind the 3 point line. I wanted to strangle him. Well, that makes the Warriors 2-7 now to teams that are have a better then .500 record, not good for a team trying to get to the playoffs, and it takes the Warriors on their first losing streak of the season. On Tuesday the Warriors will match up against the Seattle Supersonics. This is a game that they Warriors HAVE to win now. So we will see what happens.

8 in a Row!!!!... For the Suns

Well the Golden State Warriors couldn’t continue the win streak tonight against the Phoenix Suns. The final score was 118-110. It was, in my opinion, the battle of the two best point guards in the league, Baron Davis vs. Steve Nash. I have to give the edge to Steve Nash since he scored 28 points, 14 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Baron Davis had 28 points, 4 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. It was a really fun game to watch. Unfortunately the Warriors didn’t’ have Troy Murphy available because of fever and flu. This cost the Warriors some rebounding, and that is what cost them the game in the last 3 minutes or so. They gave up offensive rebounds that allowed the Suns to get a second chance to score and they did. It was a tough loss for the Warriors, but they should bounce back from it. The Warriors are looking at an even more difficult test on Friday versus the Detroit Pistons who own the best record in the NBA. The Warriors need to get this win just for confidence reasons. They haven’t played well against any of the teams they played this year that were in the playoffs this year. Beating the Warriors could set them in motion for a strong surge through the tough competition they will face in December. A loss could set in motion a losing streak. Let’s hope for the former.

5 in a Row at the Block Party!!!

Well the Warriors won their fifth in a row 107-100 over the Charlotte Bobcats. It was a battle the whole way with the Bobcats making up for their poor shooting by getting to shoot a lot of free throws, and I mean A LOT. They made 43 of 52 free throws. Baron Davis (21 points and 14 assists), Troy Murphy (18 points and 12 rebounds) and Adonal Foyle (12 points and 12 rebounds) had double-doubles for the Warriors. Jason Richardson led all scorers with 22 points. The sub-plot of this game though was the block party that was held. The bobcats beat the Warriors 10 blocks to 8 in the game with Emeka Okafor winning the individual battle against Adonal Foyle in that category 6 to 5. Now for the first time all year the Warriors have more then one day off before their next game, in fact they have four days off. They don’t play again until Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns. This gives the Warriors a chance to work on a few things before they meet up for the second time this season against the Suns. Hopefully the time off allows the Warriors to get rest and get better to see if they can extend the streak to 6 in a row. The Warriors are now at 12-6 on the season and officially are in first place in the Pacific division with a ½ game lead over the Los Angeles Clippers. Enjoy the rest folks. I may not post another blog until the ext game.