<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OAKLAND - Warriors guard Jason Richardson is naturally hard on himself. So you can imagine how hard he was kicking himself after he air-balled the game-tying 3-pointer against the Phoenix Suns on Monday. For the first 11 games, he's been somewhat of a glorified role player instead of the frontline star he's accustomed to being. "I never coached that guy, so I don't know," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "I've only coached the guy that I have right now, and he hasn't been dominant. I haven't been able to go to him as much as they went to him last year. ... I would hope he would get back to that pretty soon." Nelson desperately needed the old Richardson in Wednesday's 115-112 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena. Despite the return of Baron Davis, who missed Monday's game with sore ribs, the Warriors (7-5) needed Richardson to bail them out from an ugly performance, as he'd done so many times last season. But Richardson, still not 100 percent from having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Aug. 22, just doesn't have the juice yet to match last season's heroics. The effort was there, as always, and the production was better than it had been. He posted a season-high in points (24) and assists (six) to go with eight rebounds and four steals. But Richardson didn't make the plays to get the Warriors over the hump, and he certainly couldn't negate the Warriors' 11 missed free throws and Denver's 17 offensive rebounds, which produced 20 second-chance points for the Nuggets. "He had big numbers, but I didn't think he played very well," Nelson said. "He lost the ball, he didn't finish around the basket. I think there's been improvement over the last couple of weeks, but this was not a good game." Richardson was part of a late surge that nearly turned the Warriors funky performance into a victory. With the Warriors down 115-106 inside of a minute, he nailed a 3-pointer, then stole the inbounds pass and got the ball to Mickael Pietrus, who turned a driving layup into a three-point play, cutting Denver's lead to 115-112. The Warriors got the ball back after guard Monta Ellis, who set a career-high with nine assists, drew a charge on Carmelo Anthony, who finished with 33 points and nine rebounds. But Pietrus and Ellis missed their game-tying attempts. Nuggets guard Andre Miller gave the Warriors new life when he missed a pair of free throws after the Warriors fouled him intentionally. Richardson got the rebound and called a timeout with 1.5 seconds left. But forward Mike Dunleavy's turnaround 3-pointer from the left wing hit the back rim, missing the chance to steal a win in a game the Warriors were outplayed. The Warriors had no answer for Marcus Camby (14 points, 16 rebounds) and Reggie Evans (nine points, 14 rebounds) on the boards. Despite 21 points each from Pietrus and Davis, and 17 points from Troy Murphy, the Warriors didn't get much else. "I appreciated Baron's trying," Nelson said. "I know he's really hurting, and he wasn't very good, but he certainly tried and he still managed to get 21 points for us. "We just weren't good enough to win," Nelson added. "We can't have mediocre games and win. We're just not that good." Especially not with Richardson laboring to get back to neutral. Richardson's scoring average entering Wednesday (14.0 points per game) was nearly 10 points shy of last season's career-high average of 23.2. He's got some work to do in just about every statistical category to catch up to last year's numbers. "I know it's going to take some time to get back to where I'm used to playing. I've still got to get strength in my legs. I've still got to get my conditioning (better). But I'm getting stronger and better every game. ... I was just trying to bring some type of energy. We didn't have it tonight, so I was just trying to give it my all, push until I couldn't go any more." Right now, that's just not enough.</div> Source
I just wonder if JRich can ever get his hops back if he plays every game. With a knee surgery, it's not always easy to "play through" the recovery. Will he ever be the high-flyer he once was?
Winning does have its price. We need someone to step up in order to give JRich a blow. Baron did his part by playing while injured. I thought it would be MP and Dun. Anthony Roberson could play some minutes, too, if he hits his shots.
Dunleavy may suck-but lately doesn't suck much. He can take up some slack as well as Pietrus. Nellie's got to give Roberson a bit more play. I don't know if now J Rich should pamper the knee a bit-or if he has to push it to get strength. That's up to the experts. Murphy's also getting his wheels back,Baron's healing Ike should be back soon. We gotta be more durable from here on,but it's looking up
bright side of this injury plague season so far, is that is very early in the season. Better to have the injuries in the begining of the season than towards the end of the season when we are going to need everybody healthy for that playoff push. We are just going to hop tha Nelly can keep the team afloat until everybody is at full strenght.
<div class="quote_poster">Duckmyster Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">bright side of this injury plague season so far, is that is very early in the season. Better to have the injuries in the begining of the season than towards the end of the season when we are going to need everybody healthy for that playoff push.</div>Last time I checked, the games in the beginning count the same amount as the ones at the end. The bright side, if there is one, is that the Warriors, while not flying, are holding it together and still have a winning record despite the injuries.
Wagner, Murphy, Richardson, Davis, Ellis, Taft, Ike, Pietrus, Zarko: So many good players yet all so injury proned or injured...
<div class="quote_poster">jason voorhees Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Maybe he's finally growing some pubic hairs.</div> Ridiculous! Lets not get carried away now.
<div class="quote_poster">Clif25 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Wagner, Murphy, Richardson, Davis, Ellis, Taft, Ike, Pietrus, Zarko: So many good players yet all so injury proned or injured...</div><div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Dunleavy's actually held up pretty well, all told...</div> AO, Cliff said "Good" players.
lol but he's got Zarko in there... then again Zarko could probably school Dunleavy in 1-on-1 -- he'd look like a Harlem Globertotter playing with a fan out of the stands Anyhoo -- this JRich thing is buggin me. Watching him have an open lane to the rim and barely getting off the ground for a lay-up is just plain wrong, man -- he's a shadow of that former athlete right now. As much as I love the guy he's not really giving GS the best chance to win, though given their roster situation I guess there aren't many alternatives...
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Anyhoo -- this JRich thing is buggin me. Watching him have an open lane to the rim and barely getting off the ground for a lay-up is just plain wrong, man -- he's a shadow of that former athlete right now. As much as I love the guy he's not really giving GS the best chance to win, though given their roster situation I guess there aren't many alternatives...</div> Wow I didn't expect J-Rich to be anything like that, in my mind J-Rich is that explosive dunker. He is still early on the rehab recovery right?
<div class="quote_poster">SkiptoMyLue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> He is still early on the rehab recovery right?</div> Yep, just some fans can't wait a couple of weeks for him to get healthy
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yep, just some fans can't wait a couple of weeks for him to get healthy </div>Oh, that is good, I like watching J-Rich because of his athletecism..
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">lol but he's got Zarko in there... then again Zarko could probably school Dunleavy in 1-on-1 -- he'd look like a Harlem Globertotter playing with a fan out of the stands Anyhoo -- this JRich thing is buggin me. Watching him have an open lane to the rim and barely getting off the ground for a lay-up is just plain wrong, man -- he's a shadow of that former athlete right now. As much as I love the guy he's not really giving GS the best chance to win, though given their roster situation I guess there aren't many alternatives...</div> Wait until he gets some conditioning back. He will be the human pogo stick that we all know and love... except when he has to save our asses with a free throw or he dribbles the ball off his own foot when he's trying to run out the clock/and splitting a defender, or when he's not "letting the game come to him" like in his 2001-2003 year. Defensively, I don't think he's that bad anymore. He's just laterally slow, but not as laterally slow as four other guys I can think of, one of whom went to the Jazz. At least Jrich has a nice pair of fast twitch muscles, the other four can't jump over a 2 liter bottle of soda maybe. Standing verticals may be overrated, but not when you combine rebounding positioning with length and standing vertical, then you got guys like Shawn Marion or Kevin Garnett or somebody like that. What about Biedrins or Pietrus or Jrich?
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yep, just some fans can't wait a couple of weeks for him to get healthy </div> lol -- That's been my whole point -- I don't think he should be playing because it may hinder his recovery. I don't know why he's on the floor given his injury. Quite the contrary, I can wait -- I can wait months, if that's what it takes for him to regain his explosiveness. Until then, it's painful to watch. However, tonight his first dunk was pretty sweet. But his second dunk, it was obvious he was hurting from the first one, he barely got it through and came back limping. As a JRich fan it sucks watching him not be able to do the thing he does best -- finish at the rim.
<div class="quote_poster">SkiptoMyLue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Oh, that is good, I like watching J-Rich because of his athletecism..</div> Yep -- that's what makes him so special. Without it, it's hard to watch him shoot fade-away jumpers and not finish n the paint. He's been giving max effort, though, but that's almost a double-edged sword -- he'll always give his whole heart to the game but I worry that Nellie might be playing him too much and that his knee won't heal properly. He's been doing some more athletic things lately, though, so let's hope he continues to make strides and regain his old form. Man the day I see him do a 360 jam again -- that will be a good day in the history of this franchise.
At least Jrich provides some inside presence, heh. He's also got more moves than most of our big men. There's definitely a higher ceiling on this guy because we got him unpolished and unlimited potential. He's becoming polished as a type of hybrid guard forward and still retains his big man game. I wonder if there are any tall 6'8 shooting guards to pair up with him? And not the Dunleavy kind
