Warriors vs. Lakers @ L.A., Jan. 27, 7:30PM FSN

I agree, the officiating was terrible, but after watching several Warrior games, it's clear Montgomery is not the right fit for this team. Not having the only playmaker left on your roster to start the 4th quarter was just stupid. The decision to bench Davis to start the 4th opened the door, and Kobe barged his way right through. You never have your best player on the bench to begin the final period, especially when you have all the momentum in the game.

This team is constructed in complete contrast to any team Montgomery coached at Stanford. The Warriors are loaded with athletes and quickness, but Montgomery is not taking advantage of the strengths. I honestly believe he's overwhelmed at the NBA level, and he got his butt handed to him in the X's & O's department last night by Phil Jackson.

How do you not have everyone fully aware of the foul situation down the stretch? Baron Davis had 5 fouls, and had to foul out, because no one else on the Warriors ran to intentionally foul. I saw Baron walk off the court furious and saying I couldn't foul, I have no fouls left.

Then I watched the Warriors not foul any of the poor Laker foul shooters even though the ball was in there hands. Chris Mihm, Lamar Odom, and Kwame all touched the ball on one of the possessions, and the Warriors just watched and then fouled the wrong guy, Kobe Bryant when he finally got free. It's like the coaching staff is not filling in the banks for their players and keeping them focused. The second Odom, Kwame, or Mihm touched that ball he should have been grabbed and sent to shoot FTs.

Monty still hasn't figured out Derek Fisher is not a playmaker. Fisher is a shooting guard in a point guards body. On one play he drove to the basket and instead of taking a high % layup, he kicked it out, leading to a missed perimeter shot. The difference between him and Baron in that situation is Baron shoots the layup or dunks the ball.

After Dunleavy got injured, Monty should have been prepared to play Baron the rest of the way. He got some nice production out of Monta Ellis, but he should not have been in the game down the stretch. Rookies are going to make rookie mistakes and like CR2 said, Monta made quite a few of them.

At Stanford Monty played a very simple, controlled style of basketball. He must have did a helluva sales job getting the head coaching position in his interview with Mullin. I still think he can coach in the NBA, but he needs a roster like Utah or Charlotte has. His style does not fit the Warriors current makeup.

I think someone like Rudy T would be successful with the Warriors. He runs a high paced, wide open offense, which would emphasize all the strengths of this team. Ike Diogu is being used completely wrong in Monty's system, and he's struggling as a result. He so effective on fast breaks and has the motor to run all game long. He's not a half court back your man down player, he's much better at facing up and taking his man off the dribble.

I guess if I had to make an analogy, it would be like asking the St. Louis Rams to play smash mouth football like the Steelers. The Rams just don't have the personnel to make that work. Their team is built on speed and being creative on offense. The Warriors are similar to the Rams, and need an offensive minded genius as the head coach.

 

Great analysis Shape. Monty's offense is more siuted to a team with a good post game who doesnt play well in transition, which is the total opposite of how the Warriors are built. Hes not building a system around the team and he doesnt realize that no one's going to buy into his system. Also, I totally agree about him mis-using Diogu. Diogu is small enough as a PF but if you put him at C I'm surprised he even plays as well as he does, the strange thing is that Monty said a few games back that he should stop playing Diogu at C but he just keeps doing it. Monty is definitely in way over his head if he can't even get through to his boy scout team.