Boxscore
It's over. A nine game losing skid against the Lakers ended tonight despite the best effort of the Referee's to continiue. Some of the calls were horrendous but some clutch plays by Baron Davis, the noise factor of a playoff worthy crowd and a huge tip in by Biedrins gave the Warriors a valuable victory before a huge upcoming five road trip. Had the Warriors lost tonight the consequences would have been awful but all these factors combined means Golden State are now in a good position to at least go 3-2 in their upcoming stretch. My points of the game
Bad callsI usually don't like making Referee related exuses but some of the calls were simply atrocious. Earlier in one of the quarters Jackson was called for a touch foul on Kobe right after Kobe had a injured groin one of the reasons for the Warriors oulling this out. There were also several bad calls on Davis for fouls on Kobe and overall just like in the Portland game it seemed Lakers were getting the majority of the love fom the refs. Unlike Portland however it's a testimony to this team they were able to overcome this and win the game. Perhaps when Davis was called for his 5th it was a testimony to Nelson he decided to ingore Hudson finally realising how worthless he is.
Davis: Despite the foul difficulty he literally deserves the most credit for pulling this out. With the Lakers ahead by 8 3.49 left he went on to do what all great clutch players do and thats go on a mini run by himself scoring the next 8 points by himself. The 3 point shot he hit with 16 seconds left was as good as you'll see because of the riskiness in that situation but the confidence he displayed was evident. His 22 points and 6 assists and 5 for 8 shooting from beyond the arc was an example of a true team leader.
Harrington: Probably the most active he's played in a Warrior unfiform not counting when guarding Yao of course.He demanded the ball down low ,made his shots in other words had the type of productive night that has been lacking of him so far this season. He had a big 22 and 8 posting up the type of stats he was capable off. He took the Lakers front court to school with his variety of hook moves. Once Nellie realised the mistake of starting Pietrus Harrington now has a valid case for starting at the 4 rather then Center.
Desire The Warriors just wanted it more tonight. You could tell instantly after a horrible first quarter where we shot a horrble 33 percent and Davis and Jackson shot 2-10 combined with Nellie's decision to put Mbenga and Pietrus on the floor at the same time that this was the most offensively challenged lineup in a while. ~The comeback started when Phil Jackson pulled Bynum and Don Nelson went with his go small policy starting Al and kelenna which made the game a 7 point defecit at the half. We wanted tonight so badly that the compusure was lost and silly technicals were given. It's a good thing that once Baron had the cnance he delivered.
Monta: There was a bad matchup tonight involving Monta lining up against Fisher. Since they were teamates back in 2005 Fisher appears to know Monta's tendencies and how to get into his head. There was a sequence on a 2 on 1 Fastbreak where Monta missed a wide open Kelenna and Harrington and settled for a pullup Brick. Another poccession Fisher stole the ball and fed Luke Walton for a breakaway dunk. Yes Monta is developing a higher floor vision and Basketball IQ as the season goes on and he had three steals himself one which led to an alley oop dunk. because of these accomplishments I can forgive him for those mistakes.
Kobe: It's funny to see what the Lakers SG had to say after a medicore 6-23 shooting night and missing all your 3 point attempts.
“C’mon. I’ve seen so much, man. I’ve seen like real rivalries. This regular season stuff … this is child’s play. This is like slap boxing
You didn't need to be a genius to recognise that once Kobe was pulled with 1.27 left to play because of a Groin injury that the Lakers even though they wanted to win don't think beating the Warriors is high on their tandem pole. Pulling your superstar SG when your ahead 104-103 with very little time proves it. If this was a San Antonio or Phoenix game no way is Kobe getitng pulled and then returning with a minute left. To be fair as i mentioned before the crowd was the loudest since the playoffs. It was the largest attendence (20,705)at a basketball game in the state of California and the noise and the delight the fans showed of the ending of the LA streak proved for the time being the Warriors regard this as a real Boxing match.
And lastly the miking of the players and coaches how did it go. One thing I forgot to mention is the amount of expletives thrown around by the coaches might make it akward for your average viewer and Nelson is no exception. Mind you unlike Jerry sloan who swore when the Jazz played the Suns he was a little more careful but this idea is pretty stupid. Does anyone really care what Baron davis has to say on the court. It's just a silly marketing technique that will never get off the ground or last long
1 comment:
that shot by baron with 16 secs left was a ridiculous shot to take, especially when they could have done away with a 2. But i guess thats what we ask BD to do in the 4th, win us games anyway he wants
Post a Comment