Monday, December 17, 2007

Golden State: 125 Memphis:117

Okay I can understand the logic about the Warriors and games like this would have been lost last yera. But this is a new year we don't have DunMuprhy and the charming soft D anymore and tonight the Warriors had 3 good quarters 1 bad in a 125-117 victory over Memphis. And i mean no defense. This is probably the worst defensive team in the League so it was inevitable the Warriors would score a ton but could they stop the perimeter shooting of Mike Miller or Rudy Gay. That was the question?



Boxscore

Reliability: Tonight the Warriors showed they can close out games on the road. If this was played in Oakland I hjave no doubt the Warriors win more convincingly but often playing on the road with a large lead can unfold pressure in different ways. There was none of that tonight except in the 4th quarter when the Grizzlies actuallky played Defense and made some shots. It was never going to be a big comeback (Gasol out hurts that much) but this is a team that hustles until the end irrespective of their 7-17 record at least tries.

Warrior Killer: There weren't that many Warrior Killers tonight like I anticpated. Miller had his usual 20 and Rudy Gay had 32 ( Still cursing POB was picked behind him) and my anticpation of Damon Stoudemire filling the role never happenned he had 8. There were times when I honestly thought Stromelle Swift was due for a big night he was playing exactly like Paul Millsap does against the Warriors. Thanfully after a timeoyut Barnes and Harrington played better Defense on him and it worked. Al Jefferson remains a bigger test but for now we can be satisfied that for once Swift remained powerless.

Stephen Jackson: It's hard to believe when he was a Pacer fans were actually booing him for his 20 points per night after the infamous Auburn Hills brawl but tonight he showed just how amazing a teamate he is. You know when you have people like Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich prasing you then thats when you look good. His Offensive game has appeared to have improved even more. He also helped on the boards with 12 leading all Warriors. At this rate our struggles will be solved.

Biedrins: Nelson should have givien more PT tonight. He grabbed 12 and 7 in an extremely limited 13 minutes but on the other hand I''m not complaining going by his recent injury past and coming off international duty for Latvia this Summer he's bound to be tired. Going up against Darko or Swift none of these proved any problems for Beans. Other then tonight I think his Free throw Shooting has improved as well. In a game like this big men don't need to produce it's all about how your rookie's play and a part of me was dissapointed that Brandon Wright earned a big fat DNP on the boxscore.




Kelenna Azbuike: Coming off a Kneee injury he showed no signs of being rusty. To be honest I'm going to make a bold statement by saying he's better then Monta was last year both offensively and defensively. I mean I'll take 6-6 from the field off the bench, a big three to stop a Griz run and a nice offensive rebound which helped lock up the win anyday. He's the main reason why we're playing better on the road better then last year.

Gameplan: Our gameplan when things start to go wrong is puzzling. When Kyle Lowry started playing like Jerry West and Memphis started hitting a high percentage of shots the Warriors never wavered from their own and thats take a stupid amount of 3's. Only with 4 minutes left and the Grizzlies dramtatially cutting the deficit did the insdie game flourish mostly due to Kelenna. Hopefully against the Wolves in the unlikely even the game is close we'll we see more inside game then. Otherwhise.....

Monta Like the 3's he's a true puzzlement to this team. coming off a horrible game in Detroit he then proceeds to dominate the Rudy Gays and Damon Stoudemire's of this world. He also got a few highlight Dunks and Layups. nice to see Baron Davis coming off a 2 point game then posting up 23. Competivness has never been so strong.

We're 14-11. I'm not complaning because there are road games being won that this team were incapable of winning last season. Being a fan you can't ask much more. Playing the timberwolves you can't ask for much more. Good times



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