A 9 game winning streak helped by a Guard playing at an elite leve. Didn't matter. The warriors dismantling of the Hornets last night proved that for one night they can play up to a good teams standard and eventually play better. Chris Paul,David West and Tyson Chandler all had big games but down the stretch Golden State just made bigger plays no mean feat when two MVP Guards, two upcoming players Monta and West and two defensive minded Centers going at it.
Boxscore
There were times where I can see once again why I said the signing of Chris Webber makes sense. West despite the Warriors playing team oriented Defense still went off for 23 pts, 14 rbs, and 5 blocks. There were times when it looked too easy for him but I gurantee that a post knee surgery Webber would have defended West better then most of the Warriors tonight. Despite West having a near career night Tyson Chandler was contained in contrast to the last meeting in Oakland where him and Paul really streched our Defense throwing Alley opps galore. This time everytime Chandler went up for an offensive Rebound four Warriors converged and got the all important Board was grabbed.
Much more impressive though was Biedrins. He didn't play spectacular in Houston but his productivness tonight was scarry. Despite not playing frequently he more then played good Defense on Jannero Pargo and Chris Paul and made some big Defensive stops when required. The last few games Biedrins has looked much hungrier working harder for second chance opportunities on the offensive glass. Perhaps he feels the Webber signing could cut into his minutes.
Not just defensively but offensively did this team excel. No shots were forced, No players drove into the lane only to have their shot needlessy blocked which seemed to happen all too frequently in Houston. Baron ignored taking on Paul one by one realizing he's an excellent defender. More or less the offense was clam a rare sight when one winesses Nellieball. What the team did so well was look up the court for easy Baskets and finally, by consistently attacking the rim, the team spaced the court to find open, in-rhythm three pointers. What impressed me the most was seeing this team push the tempo increasingly with getting easy baskets thanks to Monta’s speed and the dead-eye passing of Davis, Barnes, and Jackson. Webber's addition will hopefully improve things even more.
Davis ignored the boobirds see the Hornets trade and put up a MVP performance hitting crucial 3's including one before halftime which streched the lead to four points, Monta dropped 16 point, 9 board, 7 assist performance and most people didn't know it he's playing that well, Barnes after his Houston disaster made a nice few easy baskets, Jackson and Harrington got out of their shooting slumps but rather then praise Captain Jacks 26 points his defense on Chandler and West were what all great Captains do.
Once again though despite this big win the Warriors have to build on it and what better way to do it then with a realtively soft February schedule. Next up is J-Rich's return. Suffice to say the only soft part of that night will be the emotions
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