Warriors vs. Hawks November 2nd (FSN) 7:30 PST

Just got back from the game.The eintire team was out of rhythm at the start. Tip off was like a half hour late because of the season opening breakdance and drumset. Pretty cool stuff, but I think it threw everyone off. Davis struggled against the press until Murphy realized he could go get the ball and score at will. Dunleavy and Baron looked awful. They unveiled a new scoreboard and lighted ad banners around the arena, very eye catching.
Speaking of eye catching... the Warrior girls have made a significant roster upgrade as well Bring your binocluars from now on.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that this was game 1, but here's what I saw.
The good:
The rookies filled in really well. Pietrus, Fisher, and Murphy all looked solid. I think Pietrus could be 6th man of the year this year. He brings great energy off the bench and can fit into either the 2 or 3. Also, Monty made the right move to the small lineup and lit a fire under the right players.

The Bad:
Struggle finding an identity early. Turnover jitters (2 backcourt vioations in 1 game?) Davis leaving the game to not return. And Pietrus needs to take care of himself before attacking the rim so wrecklessly. He's gonna get himself hurt (but I love the heart)

The Ugly:
Free throws, free throws, free throws. It's a set shot that never moves. How hard can it be? Biedrins proved that if Pietrus is the point a minute guy, he's the foul a minute guy. Dunleavy threw the ball away over and over again. This was even more disheartening than the bad shots. I expect him to bounce back next game though.

 

Thanks for the updates Cohan, REREM.

 

Gotta love it when he does his battle cry

 

I'm glad to see that the team kept its composure and just took over in the 4th. To see the team excel when bdiddy went out was a confidence booster for some of the 2nd team. Can't wait to play a true playoff contender. Curious to see how our guys react.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Todd$haw:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm glad to see that the team kept its composure and just took over in the 4th. To see the team excel when bdiddy went out was a confidence booster for some of the 2nd team. Can't wait to play a true playoff contender. Curious to see how our guys react.</div>

I think everybody knew we were going to win and come out blasting in the 4th. I think the coaching staff did a great job figuring out how they could beat an unconventional lineup. I mean Murphy was scoring a point per minute like Pietrus, but with 9 boards and perfect shooting. How do you bench that guy when he doesn't seem like the problem at all? Well, Al Harrington if you remember was setting the tone in the first half dishing assists, snagging offensive boards, and scoring. Something wasn't right. A SF/PF who is strong and athletic has that advantage over Murphy. Then the power forward Zaur Pachulia who is playing center, got 9 offensive boards over our guys who couldn't put a body on anyone to save their lives. Well Foyle has that problem with establishing positioning early and holding his ground in the post. He just gives way too easily and probably has to do a lot of hustling to make up for the fact Murphy is a lousy help defender. Both Murphy and Foyle are pretty slow in transition and I don't remember Foyle being this slow (must be knees hurting) To Murphy's credit he did take a foul to save a basket rather than let the easy layups go in, but nontheless the hawks were running on us and still getting to the hoop way too easily. I loved that dunk he did on John Edwards. He's got more spring in his hop this year so we should see some spectacular dunks out of Murphy this year as well as some well shot three pointers. He's still got great hands.

So anyway, Monty and the coaches going smaller was pretty smart because they know our defense sucks and we needed to play the passing lanes and put more setup guys on the floor. If you think about Dunleavy's value on defense he's a good help defender and he can play the point at power forward. Then you've got Taft who is intimidating and he's a smart defender that can run back on D and play open court ball. Pietrus and Richardson are just athletic freaks that can feed off each other and are also great in the open court. Fisher can set people up on a mismatch like when Tryonn Lue was trying to guard Dunleavy and he can almost always sink the shots off of passes from everyone else if his feet are set and he's got a good look at the rim.

The Hawks btw were a bunch of flagrant foulers there.

 

as a hawks fan, i knew it was over at halftime. whenever we have a lead a halftime, we'll blow it. good to see that hasn't changed

 

I am very impressed with this win for several reasons...

1. Previous Warriors teams would have given up and not won with the way we played the first half and especially after losing a player like Davis.
2. The bench played the way we expected them to play all preseason long. I hope they end up playing like the bench mob did for Sac a few years ago.

Does it seem like we play our best with a small lineup? Isnt that what happened last year? I would have no problem of a regular line up with Dunleavy at PF and Taft at C, while Davis, Jrich and Pietrus man the backcourt.

All in all a great win. I fell asleep in my car listening to the game after we had secured the game.

 

I was impressed with Taft's minutes. He moves his feet real well and stays with the play in front of him. He runs well, good leaper and best of all he looks like an athlete. He does things and looks smooth doing it. When he gets used to the NBA game and learns to use that big body of his we are gonna be a better team. He played with composure and did not bite on fakes, he waited and as a result he changed quite a few shots and blocked three in limited minutes. The game was aggravating but we got the win!

Bring it on Utah!~

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Montay:</div><div class="quote_post">I was impressed with Taft's minutes. He moves his feet real well and stays with the play in front of him. He runs well, good leaper and best of all he looks like an athlete. He does things and looks smooth doing it. When he gets used to the NBA game and learns to use that big body of his we are gonna be a better team. He played with composure and did not bite on fakes, he waited and as a result he changed quite a few shots and blocked three in limited minutes. The game was aggravating but we got the win!

Bring it on Utah!~</div>

I would love for him to challenge Foyle for the starting C spot! He just reminds me of Amare with the way he is so big, strong and aggressive!

 

Utha game may be very crucial, because not only they looked pretty good, they will be a good measure stick to our club, especially if we miss Davis in that game...

 

Foyle looked awful. He is a ten year veteran and is completely clueless. Monty subbed a 2nd rounder in favor of him, that's embarrasing for a 10 year vet. Monty clearly doesn't like playing him and I can see why, he can't put a body on anyone...ever!

Taft looked real good. Big strong kid and looks more NBA ready than Biedrins. Needs to lose some bodyfat but rose up pretty well for the slam. He actually boxes out...

Biedrins should just play backup 4 right now. He's got the lateral quickness to keep up but he doesn't have much of an offensive game. He's not ready to play center but keeping him on the bench isn't the answer either.

Murphy was perfect from the floor. He's a terrible help defender but that's who he is. At least the guy can gobble rebounds.

Pietrus and Fisher shut up the haters.(including me) Good job guys.

 

Taft is our x-factor down the line. He has the skills and talent to be our best rookie or young player for that matter. He went from lottery to 2nd round based on his work ethic and maturity. But if someone can light a fire under his a$$ then he can be real good. Hopefully he can keep improving, I wanna see more of his arsenal as the year goes on. He has a lefty and righty hook already.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting upsidedownside7:</div><div class="quote_post">

Taft looked real good. Big strong kid and looks more NBA ready than Biedrins. Needs to lose some bodyfat but rose up pretty well for the slam. He actually boxes out...
</div>

He has more body fat now because of his back injury in the season. He gained 10 lbs during that time, so that will explain the body fat. It'll go away soon enough. I thought he was a great post defender, changing shots without getting much fouls.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting lessthanjake:</div><div class="quote_post">as a hawks fan, i knew it was over at halftime. whenever we have a lead a halftime, we'll blow it. good to see that hasn't changed</div>

I think the Hawks will develop some game time closers eventually. That comes with experience and playing together for a while.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jzblaze:</div><div class="quote_post">Taft is our x-factor down the line. He has the skills and talent to be our best rookie or young player for that matter. He went from lottery to 2nd round based on his work ethic and maturity. But if someone can light a fire under his a$$ then he can be real good. Hopefully he can keep improving, I wanna see more of his arsenal as the year goes on. He has a lefty and righty hook already.</div>

He was considered first overall at one point due to his technical skills and nba ready body, but in the NBA, everybody is like that more or less. Guys who can't score with either hand near the basket are pretty useless post players, so a once highly rated big man should have that already.

For the guys who are looking to admire something about Dunleavy's game is that he can score with either hand. He just doesn't play inside very much as he is a mediocre finisher in traffic and has no post game to speak of. He couldn't even post up Tyronn Lue if the other guys gave him the ball. But I guess he wouldn't need to with a 9 inch height advantage + wingspan advantage.