Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Golden State: 96 San Antonio 84

Yo man get your hands off my ball Photo-Sf Gate

Okay for the first time in a while I'm proud to have been proved wrong as the Warriors for the time being ended a 2 losing streak against a Duncan less Spurs who were out of sync and stuggled to match our Fastbreak offense. In fact had Matt Bonner not resumed his normal role of being a Warrior killer this game could have been more ugly from a San Antonio point of view.

Boxscore

Defense:You couldn't get much better defensively tonight then Golden state. Ok not playing duncan was a big plus but I was surprised to see how out of sync the Spurs were Offensively. You wouldn't know Ginobilli came off consecutive 37 point nights against the Mavs and Jazz such was the stellar performance of Jackson on him. Manu only got 13 points San Antonio committed a horrendous 21 turnovers and never looked like threatning Golden State. We even had 18 points off Turnovers

Matt Bonner: Where did Matt Bonner came from. I know in last years blowut games in San Antonio he had big games but tonight he had a big game 25 and 17 and looked more like the adequate backup for Duncan. However when Ginobilli and Parkwer both shot a combined 9-28 the worries started to ease a little. without Duncan to bank in his usual 10 Footer the scoring options became more limited and it became more obvious that without Duncan the Spurs don't have what it takes to win just yet. Everytime Parker dribbled up the court Davis swarmed him on Defense forcing five turnovers and exhibiting the same type of closet D he displayed against Kobe.

Note to Brent Barry do not stay in front that easily


Matt Barnes and Kelenna :
Regular readers of this blog how much a Matt Barnes fan I am. Tonight when Davis and Jackson didn't set the world alight offensively Barnes stepped in and gave us a huge lift with 16 points. It's funny but from last season the main change I noticed Barnes has become more hesitant passing up on a lot of 3 pointers but maybe he feels even in Nellieball a unselfish player is a virtue. The 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks also nicely filled up the stat sheet. Exact same dues to Kelenna who hopefully Kosta can take some learning from. Every once a while during this game you could tell the sellout crowd needed a lift and Kelenna provided it. His passing and shooting remind one of a younger J-Rich except he's more productive on D.

Coaching: Nelson and Popovich are two of the top 4 coaches in the League coaches who have the intelligence to see a play before it happens. So tonight it is refreshing to see with 4 minutes left the Smallball policy that unglued us in LA didn't come undone tonight. Mickael Pietrus comes in for Andris Biedrins, shifting Matt Barnes to center, MP to power forward, Jackson to 3, Azubuike to 2, and Baron to 1 meaning despite the samller then thou lineup still fought for the Boards which helped Golden State to victory. For once Nellie outsmarted one of the elite

Biedrins: How refreshing to see a Center come off the bench and do all the little things he's paid to do. He only played 18 minutes but had 14 and 7 expectedly dominating Oberto and Elson which is nice to see coming off a bad performance in LA this is all I asked of him. It's been a while since Golden State had a low post threat since Jamison but Biedrins is basically it. I do wish he would posterize someone once in a while however

Parker and Monta Ellis: Matchup that was the most anticpated never happenned much like the Biedrins and shawn Marrion earlier this year never materlized partly because Mona's drives are becoming easier to read. He doesn't have the variety of Offensive moves I wish he was capable off but hopefully it will come to him. He's been quiet the last two games maybe he's waiting for something special in Portland tonight


Video Highlights

Grdgez

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