Since I’ve been home, I’ve gone to two Warriors games, the first versus the Suns (Friends and Family), and then their next home game versus the Celtics (Celtics without Paul Pierce). (Picture to the left is Mike, me, and Midland at the Suns game, pictures below are of me, sister, and Mike at the Celtics game).
Two great games, both Warriors victories!
This game was crazy fun, almost as good as the Warriors/Suns game I went to in 2005 where Amare went crazy on a rampage, but the Warriors prevailed with newly acquired Baron Davis.
Warriors were down big very early, Mike was his usual pessimistic self, but the Warriors climbed back in, stayed cool in the 4th, and came out with the win.
I’ve been fortunate to watch a good number of Warriors games from online downloads this year, so I had a decent feel of the team going in. The biggest issue so far was no Andris Biedrins or Ronnie Turiaf at Center for most of the year, so that was a huge issue in terms of defense, rebounding, and pick and roll options (Andris is a great finisher in the paint).
More thoughts:
- Stephen Curry is legit. You can see he can play. In the Celtics game, he got destroyed by Rondo early (that’s when they were down big), and he got replaced by CJ Watson and never came back in. I think Curry will be be more aggressive on offense as the year goes by, and that’s when he’ll come into his own. He can already pass and shoot, he just needs to make a more consistent impact on the game. This will also allow Monta to cut down on turnovers as Curry becomes more assertive and runs a true point. On defense, Curry will be ok in the long haul. He can get some steals already, and he’s not lazy, he just doesn’t have the experience or outstanding quickness. On the positive, he’s not short (I think he may be taller than Monta), and he rebounds (nearly 4 a game). He is the key to this team, in the sense that Monta is a star, but Curry is the key to get this team to reach that next step and be something real.
- Monta Ellis is amazing. In a way, he might seem like a ball hog, but they need to him shoot that much. When he’s not on the floor (and that’s rare), you can see that the Warriors cannot score. It’s like the 76’ers and Allen Iverson. This is where Curry has to become more of a floor leader. If he can control the offense, the Warriors will be fine.
- Anthony Randolph has no real offensive game. I want to see him play more though. He needs Curry (see above).
- Corey Maggette has been playing really well this year, as long as he doesn’t settle for jumpers.
- Tim Kawakami criticized Don Nelson recently, saying “The whole point of Nelson’s offense is to put at least four three-point shooters on the floor at once, to move the ball around, and hit the defense from all angles, especially from deep.” I don’t think that’s really true at all. This current Warriors team doesn’t shoot a lot of 3’s. It’s basically Morrow, Curry, and Watson. Radmanovic can shoot 3’s, but his offense is gone for whatever reason right now. Bell and Azubuike are out for the season, true, but the main reason he can’t put Randolph, Biedrins/Turiaf, Ellis, Maggette, Curry/Ellis on the floor together is because they cannot score. I mean, they really cannot score unless it’s Ellis, and he’s already playing 40+ minutes per game, and I think Nelson is trying to find ways so Ellis doesn’t need to have those 48 minute, 35 pt, 7 turnover games anymore. Again, Curry is the key. As good as Watson has been, I don’t think he’s a starter type.
- In the Warriors last game, they played well against the Lakers in LA. I think they’ll continue to get better now with both centers back. Biedrins will be huge for Curry and Monta on the pick and roll, really helping to cut down on turnovers, and both centers will be able to block a lot of shots on help defense as well as secure rebounds (finally). The Warriors will never be a great man defensive team, but their team defense, with the quickness and three excellent shot blockers in the post can be pretty good. I don’t feel like the Warriors are lazy at all, they just didn’t have the ability before, and that’s what I always hate when people say the Warriors don’t play defense.
By the way, you can find both these games online at places like http://ballers.ru/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6 and http://bt.davka.info/. Really useful for overseas expats like myself, NBA basketball torrents and direct downloads. For Davka, check out their forum too.
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