<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OAKLAND ? Troy Murphy knows his team's predilection for increasing its winning percentage in the last few weeks of a season leaves Warriors supporters in a perpetual state of heightened anticipation. "It's a bit of a tease for our fans," Murphy said. "We showed a lot of leg last year ... If we win our next 19, we might be naked." Fortunately for fans who want their Warriors to remain a family-friendly entertainment option, that's not going to happen. Instead, even Murphy knows that Golden State's final 19-game push ? which kicks off tonight at the Arena against Minnesota ? will serve as a sort of early training camp for the 2006-07 Warriors. "We'll try and fit guys in roles for next season and try to finish the season strong," Murphy said. With the Warriors having juggled injuries for much of the second half of the season, Mike Montgomery wants to see how his team will look with all of its players in place. For example, since Monta Ellis emerged in the wake of injuries to Jason Richardson and Baron Davis, those three players have been at 100 percent for only four games. So as Davis continues to get closer to full strength, Montgomery will have a correspondingly better idea of how to mix and match his backcourt pieces. "If Baron were healthy, it would give us a little better indication of what we can and cannot do," Montgomery said. "I'm not sure we're getting a true indication right now. (Derek Fisher) has done a great job, but it's changed the way we have to play. We've got to see who we are." Richardson, whose heroic efforts this month have been wasted so extravagantly by the Warriors, won't settle for going out with a whimper. "Have everybody playing hard, that's the main thing. Not have everybody cash in on the season," Richardson said. But how do you do that with a team that's 25-34 and in danger of completing a third straight season with a declining win total? "Demand it," Richardson said. "That's all you can do, demand it every night: Guys, go hard. Guys, don't give up. Guys, don't give in." To some players, there are personal challenges to be met, in addition to the team goals. So while Mike Dunleavy has a long to-do list for the Warriors as a whole ? "Get our swagger back, play well, feel good about ourselves, have fun, enjoy playing basketball in practices and in games" ? he also would like to awaken his long-dormant shooting stroke. "It's surprising and frustrating and baffling," said Dunleavy, who's on pace to establish new career lows in field-goal and 3-point accuracy. "Obviously, I'd like to try and get back on track." Of course, these aren't scrimmages, so the Warriors won't be turning down any wins they come across. "You see teams starting to scrap a little bit," Montgomery said, pointing out New Orleans/Oklahoma City's fall to .500. "I'd like to see us finish ahead of those teams. I'd like to see us be a legitimate team." Just don't let them get your hopes up, Warriors fans. </div> Source
Well, this is the best time to watch Warriors basketball. When they start playing better out of pride. Even if we do play well, it's not going to change my opinion about them next season in the first half of the season. It's like this one guy that came on here was saying, the Warriors usually play better when there's no pressure to make the playoffs. For some reason that makes sense because with the way this team misses easy shots, layups, and can't do the simple late in the game, it's baffling... Maybe the pressure gets to this team. All the disappointing things that this team does and yet they are pros who are supposed to make open jump shots, supposed to make free throws, supposed to take care of the ball, supposed to catch the ball and make the layup... Is it pressure?
I'm watching the W's afternoon game vs a no Iverson Philly. Dunleavy is playing well,Fisher,as usual,is ballhogging and bogging things down,Monta looks like a natural PG,yet that idiot in the suit can;t see it. Murphy is outplaying Webber and MP is doing well
Ellis wasn't exactly stellar. He shot 0 for 4. But besides that he had some hustle plays, but can he run a team despite coming from a high school program? What are our expectations about him exactly in running a team? What is the coaching staff trying to do with this club? We don't want assumptions from fans, we want answers. Where do we find them when we're on the outside looking in?
I thought Monta was a better shooter. He looks good at shootaround and in warmups. I hope he wasn't getting pointers on shooting from Baron .
I think the major reason why college coaches in the NBA fail is because what kind of teams are these guys going to? Typically to teams where its a losing culture and where the GMs aren't really putting their coaches in good positions to win. As Warriors fans we want to win now, but we can't do that until we get a strong foundation in place i.e. team fundamentals, inside/outside game/defense/team rebounding. Outside of Jrich as a nice scorer on our team, the hobbled Baron Davis, Troy Murphy, who can we depend on to do many of those things? Rookies? C'mon the only reason we fall in love with rookies is because there's still time for them to get better and there's that sense of the unknown that makes them intriguing. Can they be the next Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett or Amare Stoudamire or Jermaine O'neil? But we're too impatient and we assume guys like those will be great overnight like Lebron James. We need time to dump the overpaid, crappy guys, keep the guys that are good, develop some chemistry with the guys that are good and let them play. All this takes time and the right moves, and when bad moves are bad, you have to reverse them, even that takes time.
