Warriors play so much better when Foyle, Dunleavy are not in the game. They probably have to be our two worst players. Ike Diogu gets put in and bam finally we have some inside scoring.
Mike Dunleavy has not missed yet in this 4th quarter 2/2 3pt field goal 3/3 2pt field goal 2/2 ft and there is still 6:28 left
He airballed it wide left, I think the Dunleavy streak is over. Crap I wish we had a shooting guard that can dribble. I like one FSN announcer and its Jim Barnett, but he overanalyzes things and sometimes misses what's going on in the game. I guess announcers can't be perfect.
I live in Australia and never get to watch the warriors play. I only watch the gamecast. Can someone please tell me how bad they look in the final stretch of a game because every time we have a big lead in the last quarter we seem to almost blow it every time.
The one person I like on the FSN broadcasts is Matt Steinmetz -- that dude should have his own show. He's smart, informed, and tells it like it is. I'm sure you'll agree.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gstate23:</div><div class="quote_post">I live in Australia and never get to watch the warriors play. I only watch the gamecast. Can someone please tell me how bad they look in the final stretch of a game because every time we have a big lead in the last quarter we seem to almost blow it every time.</div> I hate to blame everything on Montgomery all the time, but I think this is very much related to Monty. If we have a group that plays well and gets us a lead or gets us back into a game he almost always takes them out with about 5 minutes left and puts in starters who all just shoot j's. Tonight, for example, we were doing very well with Dun/Ellis/Pietrus/Diogu/Biedrins and we were also getting production from Foyle but Monty decides to end the game with a no-center lineup and more importantly, no inside presence at all. We had no defense which would be okay if the lineup gave us offense like it was supposed to do but when all you have on the floor is Murphy/Dun/J-Rich/Fish/Pietrus then you are doomed to only get jumpshots. Montgomery is just terribly biased against rookies, he might as well let the young guys lose the game and learn from it than letting the vets continue to make the same stupid mistakes down the stretch.
The team's been playing better without Baron Davis. It's time to trade Barooon over the summer while his trade value is still high .
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gstate23:</div><div class="quote_post">I live in Australia and never get to watch the warriors play. I only watch the gamecast. Can someone please tell me how bad they look in the final stretch of a game because every time we have a big lead in the last quarter we seem to almost blow it every time.</div> They didn't look that bad tonight, but the one thing that has constantly killed the Warriors late in game was the shot selection, not boxing out for rebounds, the missed free throws, not executing the plays right, turnovers, the inability to get back on defense or stop dribble penetration down the lane. Also, there's the fact we use small matchups that tend to shoot nothing but outside shots that suffer on defense is what really kills us. The only reason why I think Monty uses that lineup is because we don't have any dribble penetration at the guard spots other than Baron Davis or the very green Monta Ellis, and we don't have good enough shooters that can spread the floor and hit when they're wide open (except for Fisher and Richardson). So when we can't create our own shots, the ball stops moving, and we settle for long shots because there's nothing else to change the way the defenses play us. When that shot isn't falling, defenses pack in the middle or go to 3-2 zone and dare the Warriors to shoot, otherwise they play man-to-man and turn up the pressure to force a bad shot or turnover. Also the Warriors stop moving the ball that's when all hell breaks lose. If the Warriors just develop an inside threat, move the ball in and out, the outside game will be much easier. This is where I think Montgomery got screwed because he's stuck with some bad contracts the GM signed and Mullin didn't think about what do we do about scoring the ball inside? Murphy/Dunleavy/Foyle are horrible near the basket and they're all mediocre defenders because they can't move their feet to get the defensive positioning needed to make stops. Richardson and Baron Davis are the same way but we give them passes because they're at least able to change the way defenses play us. Fans may not like Montgomery's practices, but the Warriors themselves are so damn inconsistent and they dont' have good team fundamentals. So since we lack an inside scoring presence, good ballhandlers that can beat defenders off the dribble, good shooters that can hit from anywhere with a hand in their face, we don't have any screen setters or offensive rebounders, and we're poor at defense, we're doomed to lose unless we score. Also the reason why we allow so many baskets at the hoop is because we don't have a good enough perimeter or interior defense to slow down dribble penetration. Therefore we go to zone and it causes all kinds of problems when teams start moving the ball around and hit their shots or cut to the hoop through the gaps in our defense. In this defensive scheme guys like Murphy and Foyle have to move a lot more than they are able to and that's when the defensive breakdown occurs (on the switch). I swear if we had 5 guys on the floor that can actually keep their man in front, we wouldn't need to play this pressure type of zone. I hate zone defense and there's a reason why Montgomery never had to use it in college. But the Warriors are really really bad without it. The thing is they need all 5 guys to cover for each other and this is why I totally dread players like Murphy because he's a stiff inside and he's a stiff on help defense where teams look to exploit him. But besides all that, the Warriors have absolutely shot themselves in the foot by blowing free throws. If they could hit their free throws they wouldn't be in these situations where they lose by a few points. Absolutely stupid that they can't hit free throws and they can hit 23-25 foot long three pointers. Nobody is guarding them at the foul line and they freakin' miss. Total mental midgets out there.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Run BJM:</div><div class="quote_post">I hate to blame everything on Montgomery all the time, but I think this is very much related to Monty. If we have a group that plays well and gets us a lead or gets us back into a game he almost always takes them out with about 5 minutes left and puts in starters who all just shoot j's. Tonight, for example, we were doing very well with Dun/Ellis/Pietrus/Diogu/Biedrins and we were also getting production from Foyle but Monty decides to end the game with a no-center lineup and more importantly, no inside presence at all. We had no defense which would be okay if the lineup gave us offense like it was supposed to do but when all you have on the floor is Murphy/Dun/J-Rich/Fish/Pietrus then you are doomed to only get jumpshots. Montgomery is just terribly biased against rookies, he might as well let the young guys lose the game and learn from it than letting the vets continue to make the same stupid mistakes down the stretch.</div> I agree I hate that lineup, but Larry Brown does the same thing. If Larry Brown didn't have a 4-allstar starting lineup, he'd probably still bench Darko in favor of Darvin Ham. Even on the Knicks he's still not giving guys like Channing Frye major minutes.
I watch Monta Ellis play and I cannot believe he just came out of high school. He plays with a lot of composure and has a great understanding of fundamental basketball. I really thought the lineup in the 4th quarter was a good mix for the Warriors. Dunleavy Ellis Beans Pietrus Diogu With Dunleavy and Ellis, the Warriors had two capable playmakers on the floor to keep the defense honest. Diogu had a lot more space and was going after the rebounds Murphy normally gets. Beans was there to clean up anything from the weakside after the initial penetration was made. All this movement was freeing Dunleavy up from the perimeter for wide open looks. Pietrus gives them a lot of athleticism and a slasher on offense. He got stuffed bad by Eddie Griffin on a dunk attempt, but I still liked how the Warriors executed the play for him. The chemistry these 5 played with was on point during the 4th quarter and they had a lot of confidence on the court. I'm guessing Monty uses this unit a lot in practice. Unfortunately, I don't get to watch the Warriors as much as I'd like so I have to ask is this a rotation they've been using recently? I've seen about 25 games this year, but I don't remember this particular group on the court for extensive minutes.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">I watch Monta Ellis play and I cannot believe he just came out of high school. He plays with a lot of composure and has a great understanding of fundamental basketball. I really thought the lineup in the 4th quarter was a good mix for the Warriors. Dunleavy Ellis Beans Pietrus Diogu With Dunleavy and Ellis, the Warriors had two capable playmakers on the floor to keep the defense honest. Diogu had a lot more space and was going after the rebounds Murphy normally gets. Beans was there to clean up anything from the weakside after the initial penetration was made. All this movement was freeing Dunleavy up from the perimeter for wide open looks. Pietrus gives them a lot of athleticism and a slasher on offense. He got stuffed bad by Eddie Griffin on a dunk attempt, but I still liked how the Warriors executed the play for him. The chemistry these 5 played with was on point during the 4th quarter and they had a lot of confidence on the court. I'm guessing Monty uses this unit a lot in practice. Unfortunately, I don't get to watch the Warriors as much as I'd like so I have to ask is this a rotation they've been using recently? I've seen about 25 games this year, but I don't remember this particular group on the court for extensive minutes.</div> Dunleavy Ellis Beans Pietrus Diogu I like this lineup as well even though it hurts to think that a majority of that money is busy sitting on the bench for 4 more years. But the roster seems to work because it's athletic, it's quick, it's smart, it's got an inside/outside game. I don't think it has the most experience or the best shooting, but it could work. With Ellis/Pietrus you get perimeter defense that can stay in front of their man and pressure a ballhandler without getting burned. You got inside presence with Diogu/Biedrins who actually box out, set good screens, get offensive rebounds, and block shots. This is why I badmouth on Murphy because he doesn't always do the dirty work, he plays soft sometimes, doesn't stay stay near the hoop or make others better with team play. And Foyle is just garbage. He'll give you effort, but so do the NBDL guys. He needs to average more rebounds and finish those easy plays every single game, not just one every five games. Dunleavy was a big factor in tonight's game and was probably why we won. I guess that means it will be another month before we see another game like that because Dunleavy is the most inconsistent Warrior the past 4 years. But when he plays well, he typically makes others around him a little bit better because he reads the floor well, can look for the big man inside (Foyle usually fumbles everything and Murphy gets swatted because he's not an inside scorer). Dunleavy isn't a defensive liability as he was in years past but he's still going to struggle at small forward unless he somehow gets quicker or stronger. He can take power forwards off the dribble, but most power forwards just dare him to shoot because they don't want to come out and Dunleavy can hit from the outside very well. Dunleavy is definitely the x-factor... without him playing well we play like we do this first half season, when he plays well we play like the way we did last half season when we were winning. I mean the coaches aren't responsible for how crappy this guys plays lots of times and the fact he's got 5 years on his new deal.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">The team's been playing better without Baron Davis. It's time to trade Barooon over the summer while his trade value is still high .</div> Unless Diogu and Dunleavy can score 20 every night then we should probably keep Baron. We barely won with them scoring as well as Adonal on fire (never thought I'd say that).
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">The team's been playing better without Baron Davis. It's time to trade Barooon over the summer while his trade value is still high .</div> I hope you are joking...
Only saw a little and what do you think I saw? Fisher doing his spin dribble get stripped or shoot a wild jumper with 15 sec left on the shot clock. UGH.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philsmith75:</div><div class="quote_post">Only saw a little and what do you think I saw? Fisher doing his spin dribble get stripped or shoot a wild jumper with 15 sec left on the shot clock. UGH.</div> thats good enough to say he's horrible. He's out of control i'd say 99.9% of the time
This thing with Fisher shows that stats can be misleading... I know we're desperate for some shooters, but we need some decision making, floor awareness on the floor and some teamwork for gosh sakes. If we got too many guys looking to score instead of setting up the other and calling plays, the team just won't work unless we're hitting those shots made more difficult. Maybe that's a catch 22, since we lack consistent scoring, understanding of basketball plays. We also lack flexibility in that the only options fall on trying to get the ball inside with dribble penetration or hitting the outside jumper. In that case Fisher/Dunleavy/Jrich/Murphy/Baron are the only options to do this, but they don't come without major flaws when they try to dribble or shoot. Then we got Biedrins/Ike/Foyle whoever have some kind of roadblocks receiving or scoring the ball or not getting subbed in. It seems like with the Warriors, if it's not one thing it's the other... Also if we want to keep Baron he's got to be healthier than he's shown the last few years. He plays almost less than half a season. I think Grant Hill is even more durable at this point. I don't think the team can move forward unless the guy is healthy, but for the most part he's been under control and a positive locker influence. He's just paid a lot more than he's given to the franchise, but if he can stay healthy, he'll be worth it. He certainly was better than having a backup point, and a former one-time all-star center we didn't intend to keep.
