Why not? The W's are due for something different -- like a win. Sure thing: look for Baron to get into players tonight if they don't hold their own. He needs either some help from the cast or else a week's vacation. Daring prediction: Dare I say it? Look for Dunleavy to follow up back-to-back good performances with, yes, an even better show tonight. Guys with talent but indifference can be sketchy: one game they play great because of their talent, but the next game they get abused because of their lack of desire. Believe it or not (and I've been pretty critical of MDJ) Dunleavy's been playing with something lately that has a little staying power: anger and desire. ... I know, that may sound funny, but take a look tonight: it appears he's finally -- at least partially -- gotten determined enough the try to silence the critics. And it's not because of peer pressure now; it seems to be out of genuine hunger. He's probably a little tired, a little banged up, and little hungry, and you know what frankly sometimes that's what it takes for a guy to shed his passivity and say "screw it" I'm pissed. Remember that attempted dunk on Zo last night? He almost cracked a smile when he went to the bench. But he didn't.
Awful a lot of 1v1, no defense, no energy, and not so surprisingly, we are getting killed at 1st quarter... again...
The Suns have no D inside,...yet the W's are acting like Mutumbo is lurking. Meanwhile we are volleyball-rebounding. It's a miracle the W's are not in a DEEP hole. I did like the cut Zark made,and Dun seeing it.
And, NOBODY can hit from outside today. I mean, till 44-34, the ONLY outside jumper we hit was Dunleavy's 15 ft jumper. Attack from inside today...
At least we fought back hard. Dunleavy played great two straight nights in a row, and Davis also contributed as well. It seems like Fisher's cold spell infected Richardson as well. Both are ice cold. Monta needs more playing time, and also needs to be more comfortable. We blew so many lay ups. Wonder if we can play inside-outside game with Diogu against Suns...
The way J-Rich is playing the last couple of games makes me think that Kobe will go for 60 on J-Rich on saturday.
Wow -- the Warriors have been just plain absent for most of the night -- just getting owned by Phoenix in the paint and out. That short burst of life in the 2nd quarter was about as close as GS has gotten to showing up tonight. Not "showing up" once in a while is, I guess excusable. But "not showing up" for a few weeks is absolutely unbelievable. this team has gone from energetic and exciting to lazy, standing around and just plain boring.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Duckmyster:</div><div class="quote_post">The way J-Rich is playing the last couple of games makes me think that Kobe will go for 60 on J-Rich on saturday.</div> Hell yeah, and JRich will be too busy telling reporters he wants to be an "all-star" that he won't have time to actually guard Kobe. What's happened?
We could be one of the worst coached teams in the league, I'm not kidding. No movement and nobody knew where to be on the floor. Disguisting.
Thanks for doing the thread, AlleyOop. The Warriors are really slumping and it's hard to figure why exactly that is. Is it fatigue? Is it injuries? Is it the coaching? Or is it we just lack the talent to win consistently? After all we are a perimeter based team with questionable off-the-ball movement, inside scoring, and all around defense. We also lack rebounding and toughness.
Yeah, I also have no idea where it went. Energy just isn't there for some reason, and that cause defense collapse. Not that we played with fire under Monty, but it wasn't this bad. It feels like either Warriors are ready to give up the season or they are really trying hard to get Monty fired or something. Maybe, it's the absence of Pietrus. But then, Pietrus only averaged 20 mins to begin with, and if it is indeed because of Pietrus, what do we plan to do when we can't afford to keep him? Richardson had two bad nights in a row and Fisher is having a slump for 10+ games. I didn't think this team is constructed to be a contender, but we are playing like this team isn't even ready to be a pretender...
Heh, my pleasure Custodian, I just followed suit -- yeah, I dunno, but I've got an uneasy feeling in my gut that there is some static building within the Warriors vibe. Remember when the players started to get agitated with Muss? They started to show the same kind of body language that JRich has been showing: inconsistent energy and indifference. Now, this year it's a bit different because with Mario Elie in the mix there's a glue to keep it together, but still... Adding all the elements together -- The high expectations for the playoffs, JRich's All-Star aspirations being completely deflated, the absolute implosion of any production at the center spot and the subsequent patchwork with Ike and Andris, Baron not being able to beat the entire world on his own and not getting any help, and then all the trade speculation and rumors, you add these together with a coach who is not a veteran and not a proven winner in the NBA, and well, it's a shaky situation. It's not the type of rich soil in which healthy plants can establish strong roots.
This sucks. Our team needs a major shake up and I dont think even Artest will provide that at this point. Monty needs to do something or else he could lose his job... What is the coach's job? How has Monty fulfilled his duties? Not very well if you ask me. I dont even know if Mario Ellie is who we need. I think we need someone like a Larry Brown or something like that. This team reminds me of when Monty was stubbornly forcing his offense on the team until the Baron Davis trade. Once we traded for Davis and he did not know the offense, Monty admitted to dumbing down the offense and just letting them play. The result was we played phenominally. I think he is forcing an offensive system that is not producing and the players are losing confidence in him and his system...
I gotta run with Philsmith's comments a week ago. It's not really the coach's fault these players aren't playing smart ball, but it's a matter of whether this coach is the right fit for this current roster or whether this roster needs to change. Monty's lineups are illogical, but I agree with one thing that he likes to see in a team. Well executed plays, creating for others using screens, made free throws, midrange shots, backdoor cuts, picks, nicely made passes, rebounding, help defense, and a true inside/outside game. I've been saying since the season ended last year, I just think we lack the pieces to play the style that a true playoff team would play which is an true inside/outside game or a consistent running game. We either have rookies still learning how to adjust to the NBA or we don't have enough strength or size inside to get away with playing all perimeter. We need huge rebounding for all that. I think what was different about last year, was that we had Pietrus and Dunleavy, Zarko playing their best ball and running before defenses got set. Now with Pietrus out and Dunleavy struggling on 3's, it's been tough. Also Fisher at point guard is terrible when he's trying to control the game. Also, we're wasting too much effort on defense. Good help defense comes from a good starting 5. I'm not sure that concept works when 2 or 3 of your starting 5 are questionable defenders.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kensaku:</div><div class="quote_post">What system?</div> There's a system, the players just don't run with it. Monty's style is backdoor plays and a little bit like the Princeton offense and sort of what the Pistons do with Rip Hamilton on midrange jump shots or long twos. It's basically inside/outside ball movement mixed with the 18 foot jump shot off the catch against a defender's "no-man's land". We try to run screens or picks, but a few guys get outmuscled or sometimes get called for the offensive foul trying to cheat a little. If a play is called for a perimeter guy he wants to dump into the big guy inside and the big guy sets the perimeter guy moving off the ball. Well most of our perimeter guys don't move off the ball or move fast enough or our big guys don't play inside to create spacing for the outside guy to take the shot or they don't set very good screens. I think there is our trouble. We have Murphy and Foyle and Diogu is just a rook learning a foreign system. The system won't work with our guys, but it could work if we find the right people and we don't switch coaches constantly. Let's put it this way, Larry Brown and a lot of nba coaches have had some batty ass lineups too, but it's a matter of finding the right pieces to the puzzle. We need to upgrade Murphy and Foyle and not by doing it with Diogu at center. The man is a pure power forward. We don't even have a center taller than 6'11 that weighs at least 260 lbs that can block shots, rebound, and pass. Could be Biedrins but he ain't ready for a while. We also need to get stronger, faster, and we need more guys who can set other players up by creating. We also need to defend and score the ball because we can't expect to win when players are so one dimensional and they are starting for us.
