Sadly when Golden State opened their campaign yesterday I don't think fans thought it would become a mirrage of the playoffs last year or even on opening night last season against the Lakers. Once again it was a case of being outrebounded,outdefended missing Free Throws and just getting owned by the Jazz. We basically saw the same Golden State unit as last year. Once again without Jackson we had nobody to guard Boozer who powered his way in for 32 points and 15 rebounds matching up pretty well against Pietrus. As usual the reliance on Baron Davis going by his injury record is scary despite getting 26 and 10 assisists it should be interesting to see how long he'll play against the Clippers. He showed he was back and the only expectation I have is to stay healthy otherwhise if this is evident this team is going nowhere without him.
Other then Baron Davis a few other players stood out. Mikael Pietrus who earned a lot of critiscm over the summer for repeatedly stepping out of bounds causing silly Tunrovers had a career night going 6-8 from the Field with 17 points and hitting a lot of shot from the top of the key. For one night only maybe he showed he was a legitimate starter at the PF spot. As well as that Keleena who had 11 and showed we're not missing j-Rich, Marco who hit two threes and proved for Nellies case he was worthy of going in earlier and not making the mistakes our other guys would have done. The one positive fans can defintelty take is we won't miss J-Rich as badly as the media pointed out.
Apart from all the postives there were a lot of negatives tonigh. Troy Hudson who's suppossed to be a decent backup PG played horrendous shooting 1-7. He's the type of guard a la Chauncey Billups who has a shoot first mentality and despite his instant offense in case there's the rare night baron Davis is struggling he's simply not the lockdown Defender we need on this team. Monta Ellis was the same he was much more assertive then I've ever seen him yet but it was obvious the injury he sustained in Training camp hurt him a lot. The Rebounding and Free Throws once gain were a killer with 12 missed something that cannot happen against the Clippers. As Nelson said.
They had their way with us," coach Don Nelson said. "They're big and strong at all five positions, and they bullied us around. ... We played one good quarter, and that was the end of us. We missed Jackson for sure, but I don't know if he was a game-breaker."
It was the same with Biedrins inside. He was just abused by Boozer inside who was far quicker and stronger and had some easy layups. Not the beginning Andris wanted but it wasn't helped about the Offense which just had a lack of sync. When Hudson matched up against Deron Williams last season you could see how good Deron was. Time by time he blew by for an easy Layup and always got his players involved. Thats not too say I would take him over B-Diddy but there are times when I wished we had that type of a two Guard combo. It was puzzling to find Croshere and POB not playing often both would have erased the 56 to 37 Rebound deficit with just 7 offensive rebounds compared to Utah's 16 for the Warriors. It was puzzling to find the fact Nellie put these guys in the 4th when perhaps the 3rd quarter would have been a better time. I'm sure sooner rather then later these guys will get more of a contribution.
Overall I hope we can find our sync for our next game against the LA Clippers in a few days time otherwhise it could be a long season
No comments:
Post a Comment