Boxscore
For once the average Warriors fan saw Nellie use a combination of diferent rotations as he figured out the best way to stop a Kings team that prevented the Warriors from breaking the game open largely because of Kevin Martins ability to get to the Line whenever he wanted and Francisco Garcia having one of his career nights. Once he found Davis, Biedrins, Croshere, Pietrus, and Watson as the lineup they were foruntately enough to end the resillent Kings and their refusal to give up.
Beans is an automatic double double these days Frontline and Backcourt What was extremely positive was the ability of The Biedrins / Croshere / Pietrus frontcourt to matchup well against Shelden Williams, Mikki Moore and Spencer Hawes. Neither of these three are offensively gifted but all have contributed heavily to Warriors losses in the past. Biedrins was particulary active on the glass, Croshere despite taking unwarranted playing time from Brandon Wright hustled on every play and Pietrus came up big in several key moments especially that block on Williams.
The Backcourt also attacked the rim much more so then normal even though Sacramento's defense will be nowhere near Denver's on Thursday when Camby, Martin, and Nene come to town but for once Nelson decided to exploit allowing Monta and Baron to drive all the time. Even Jackson who's played horrible the last couple of games had 9 Free throw attempts with 20 points. Keep finsing ways to contribute for the next 4 games thats the key.
Al Harrington TMT was actually big tonight. His FG stats are okayish but his hustle for rebounding and was very active defensively with 5 steals. He's not the person who has take over his team when one of the big 3 is struggling although it obviously would help. He just has to carry his load.
Mikael Pietrus Even though this is in all probability his last season with the Warriors Pietrus was basically a crowd changer tonight. From being the usual unenthuiastic bunch we've seen the last couple of games the noise in the Oracle Arena quickly changed two of the prettiest, much emphatic blocks you’ll see all year to the three point shooting and put-back slamming offense we’ve come to expect let them to make some noise. If Jackson does a bad job on Carmelo on Thursday expect Pietrus to come in and take him. I've all the confidence he'll do a good job.
CJ Watson Even with the season winding down backups still like to make their case for more playing time. CJ Watson did that very well playing great defense against Kevin Martin, had one turnover in 18 minutes but his obvious weakness is at the charity stripe where he shot 3-6 making the game closer then it should have been but he looks like a steady PG giving Baron rest. Baron played 42 minutes but had we someone like Gary Payton backing him up then I worry Boom Dizzle could have played the whole game.
Matt Barnes Barnes didn't play?. Granted his performances haven't been up to scratch like last years but it would make another great story of Warriors’ redemption, the team could certainly use another productive body on the bench. POB playing for the first time in a while was largely ineffective picking up 2 fouls in a minute.
Rejection at it's finest
So basically the Warriors did their job but unfortunately for us, so did the Nuggets. As predicted, Denver mopped the floor with the Clippers leaving us still tied record-wise for the 8th spot in the west and sitting in 9th after all tiebreaker applications. The Warriors will have a lot to think about as they prepare to face the beast on Thursday night in what is...
Biggest game of the year
Thursday decides who gets the 8th seed literally. After delivering a demoralizingly poor performance against the Mavs last week, it’s time for the Warriors to seize the moment. Well-worn excuses and silver linings won’t get you to the promised land.
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