Warriors @ NO/OKC Hornets Jan 2, 2007 5:00pm FSN

It was a relatively ugly game up until the last minute or so. Dunleavy hit a big shot, Baron hit an even bigger shot, and then Barnes capped it with a nice three from the corner, who by the way was the only player that shot well tonight. Baron struggled from 3-land and Dunleavy just couldn't seem to get it going but came up with some clutch plays at the end.

 

The game was sloppy and ugly. It seems like if we score less than 120pts, it looks ugly. With as many jumpers as we take, it can get ugly in a hurry if we start bricking shots. The FTs were not there. At the end of the game the Hornets got really close (about 3 pts) and Baron missed 2 FTs in a row. But then he literally took over the game, drew a foul, hit both his FTs and grabbed the momentum. When Barnes hit that 3, that was the dagger and everyone got up and headed for their cars. Sloppy game overall, not worth paying the money to see them win, but oh well, it was a christmas present and I got to see my team play up close. There were even a couple of Warrior fans in my section!

AZ looked solid. He did not get very many touches, but I can not believe a guy who was JUST SIGNED TODAY can get so many minutes while IKE CAN NOT GET A SINGLE MINUTE! He is really in Nelson's dog house. That is too bad because he is one of my favorites...

 

Yeah, it would have been tough to lose this game since the Hornets are without their three best players.

Azubuike looked real solid. For someone who is supposed to be a below average defender, I thought he looked pretty strong. For a players who just joined the team today, he did a good job. He wasn't noticeable for most of the time which is good compared to McLeod, but he also stood out on some good plays too which was very nice to see.

I can see why AZ would get more PT than Ike. The Warriors only have Baron, Keith, and Pietrus in the back court. Whereas Nelson feels obligated to let Murphy get back into shape on the court with Dunleavy, Andris, Barnes, and even Pietrus playing time as the 4.

 

Barnes was Scottie Pippen in his prime tonight, lol. He looked great.

Sure the game was rough at times but Barnes and Baron stepped up at the end (I know Baron called his own number about fifty times in the last quarter but that seems to be what Nellie likes).

Rasoul Butler and Janeer Pargo both played fantastic for NO. Ex-Warrior Marc Jackson had a few good spurts but all his motor-mouth talking started irritating his teammates and the NO fans and GS players and the announcers and the officiating crew and me.

Tyson Chandler is weird because at times he has these explosive wiry-strong moments where you think "damn! This guy is for real" and then he just goes and hides behind the curtain till the end of the show.

But this new kid, Azawasabikamakazi -- this guy looked pretty darn good tonight. Solid D, had a nice steal on Pargo for a break-away dunk, great rebounding for his position, didn't make any turnovers or other mistakes, is quick, strong, and active in the zone on defense, really did a fine job in his debut, IMO.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Warriorfansnc93 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The game was sloppy and ugly. It seems like if we score less than 120pts, it looks ugly. With as many jumpers as we take, it can get ugly in a hurry if we start bricking shots. The FTs were not there. At the end of the game the Hornets got really close (about 3 pts) and Baron missed 2 FTs in a row. But then he literally took over the game, drew a foul, hit both his FTs and grabbed the momentum. When Barnes hit that 3, that was the dagger and everyone got up and headed for their cars. Sloppy game overall, not worth paying the money to see them win, but oh well, it was a christmas present and I got to see my team play up close. There were even a couple of Warrior fans in my section!

AZ looked solid. He did not get very many touches, but I can not believe a guy who was JUST SIGNED TODAY can get so many minutes while IKE CAN NOT GET A SINGLE MINUTE! He is really in Nelson's dog house. That is too bad because he is one of my favorites...</div>

Awesome! Being here in the bay area, I take going to W's games for granted.

What's going on with Ike? Not getting any PT in this game must mean he is really struggling in practice.

Does anyone know how we can follow POB when he's in the developmental league? Too bad there's no way to send him to a European club to learn the game at a higher level. I guess this is why Mully left Kosta Petrovic in the Euroleagues.

 

http://www.nba.com/dleague/

http://www.bakersfield.com/136/story/92076.html

http://www.nba.com/dleague/bakersfield/obryant_061231.html

He's playing for the Bakersfield Jam. Let's see if he can put up some numbers.

 

Nellie does not like you Ike.

But look on the bright side. You could be Zarko.

 

I like Ike too, as many of you do. But, I question if he really is in Nellie's "dog house." Have there been confirmed reports of that? I haven't seen any.

 

Matt Barnes is playing out of his mind. 29 pts, 11 rbs, 5 stls, 5 for 9 in 3's, 6 for 7 in FT's.

 

I had faith Nellie would give in to basic logic,which would have Ike + Murphy plaing a lot of PF. Instead-all the G-SF depth started except Dun + Azuwoozoo
Niether Ike nor Foyle left the bench though Dunleavy as PF was pretty awful.

I guess Nellie's crusade for smallball has replaced all other matters now.

Great.

After a decade or so of searching for good big men-it looked like we had a BUNCH. Now 2 are finished with chronic back trouble and 2 are not used because.......hell....I can't figure out an excuse.

Nellie's smallball style is pretty good,and gets better once Ellis + J Rich can play----HOWEVER-it won't hold up in the playoffs and now I think there's a scary probability Nellie stubbornly stands behind the whole smallball game.
That will result in us not getting past rd 1 in the playoffs.

Worse----if the big men---aside from Biedrens, are under-used,Nellie MIGHT persuade Mully to do a deal,or a couple,with Ike-Murphy-Foyle leaving and us getting nothing but some perimeter shooter. then,Nellie has no way to change his smallball obsession,meaning we get predictable.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Kensaku Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Matt Barnes is playing out of his mind. 29 pts, 11 rbs, 5 stls, 5 for 9 in 3's, 6 for 7 in FT's.</div>


Barnes has been like getting a bonus lotto pick.

I'm however-frustrated as hell about the Dunleavy-PF fiasco.

 

Yeah they only went to Beans about once or twice down low. I think Baron and Beans on a pick and roll is virtually unstopable like Malone and Stockton. Beans just has such awesome hands and no one can stop Baron except for Baron. He was so disinterested it wasnt even funny. Its like they were toying with the Hornets. They let them back into the game and then Baron said enough of that. And made both of his fts in a row for the first time in the whole game...

That might frustrate me. Its like he is saving his energy or something because he is playing so many minutes. I guess it is the same way with other great players like Lebron etc. That guy will literally just stand out at the 3pt line for 10 straight posessions then when he get frustrated enough with his teammates ineptness, he just takes over...

 

I'm not that big a fan of Ike, but I agree that Ike should have played a few minutes (8-10) at least. I think he can be effective in short spurts, used as instant offense. But I wouldn't want him out there for long stretches of time. Besides being a great scorer, he is kind of flawed in all other aspects. But also some of those flaws can be fixed with more experience, more court time.

But also he can't be as bad as Murphy these past two games.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah they only went to Beans about once or twice down low. I think Baron and Beans on a pick and roll is virtually unstopable like Malone and Stockton. Beans just has such awesome hands and no one can stop Baron except for Baron. He was so disinterested it wasnt even funny. Its like they were toying with the Hornets. They let them back into the game and then Baron said enough of that. And made both of his fts in a row for the first time in the whole game...</div>
Stockton and Malone is reaching pretty high. I don't think they are up to that level yet. Biedrins could use a nice 17 foot jumper, or maybe I watched too much Utah Jazz basketball during the twilight years of both their careers, when Malone was starting to settle for more jumpers.

Baron did save the day with a tough jumper and two assists and some FTs, but one of the reason they lost the lead was because of Baron himself, for jacking all those threes. Which is not his fault because he played the whole game and was pretty tired at the end. And his teammates (excluding Barnes) were giving them nothing. So I don't think it was disinterest.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Gohn Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Stockton and Malone is reaching pretty high. I don't think they are up to that level yet. Biedrins could use a nice 17 foot jumper, or maybe I watched too much Utah Jazz basketball during the twilight years of both their careers, when Malone was starting to settle for more jumpers.
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Yeah you are right obviously neither Baron nor Beans are hall of famers, but you get my point. That would be a better option than Baron posting up every time. Beans did not get any touches and only scored 5 pts. What happened to the pick and rolls and Beans going in for a monster 2 hand dunk? I would much rather have that...

 

Good win! I'll take it (but only if we're legitimately making the playoffs, which I don't think we will, not to be a let down or anything).

I like the observations about the game. It paints a better picture of what happened out there. I'm just worried that the faster we push the ball and hustle it out there like what Barnes has been doing to gobble up rebounds, the more tired we become and just settle for jump shots with no legs underneath to hit the long shots. Plus, we also tend to get injured the more we grind those knees throughout the season in an effort to push or get open. Small ball played the right way tends to be physically/mentally taxing with the amount of cuts and flex offense principles (like trying to get a player like Murphy or Barnes to be a playmaker when he receives it rather than a 3-point chucking blackhole). I can imagine it won't be long before guys just start going iso and clear out the lane waiting for the kickout on the defensive collapse. I mean Don Nelson's style of play is supposed to get our guards to score and score, but the more of that we have, the more guys like Pietrus, Baron, Barnes, Ellis will settle for long distance 3's because there's nowhere to go inside with the types of "big" players they are putting in the game like Barnes, Dunleavy, Murphy. Biedrins is our only inside presence and that's kind of sad, actually.

I worry we don't have enough big bodies to make the other big men tired or at least slowed down. They probably go into the game fresh because nobody is really leaning on them to fight for position and they play as if against little kids who don't have to move very far to force a miss and don't have to worry about getting blocked because they can just dunk it over tiny players and not worry about getting stopped or fronted once they make their move to the basket.

Smallball has me worried... Big man depth may be a problem but it's not like the last few drafts haven't brought promising guys who could be a big solution to the offensive/rebounding struggles we have.

 

The Warriors did what they were supposed to do, win on the road. Unfortunately, I was sweating it out until I could get a score on ESPN News. Barnes has been a lifesaver; perhaps he's the scrapper I was longing for at the start of the year.

 

Just curious - How many people actually watched the game?

 

If you look at Ike's per48 stats, they are quite high. In fact, he is #2 on the Warriors for PTS/48, just behind Baron. And he's a far more efficient shooter than Baron, 54% compared to 43%. And let's not forget that it's pretty hard to put up big numbers with injuries, sporadic playing time, and playing out of your natural position, all of which Ike has had going against him this year. And in rebounds per 48, Ike is also at #2, just below Andris, 15.1 to 14.3. More than Troy, more than Dun.

His big negative is a fairly high rate of turnovers, although that's something that will probably be reduce with more playing time. He gets hassled for his defense but I really don't think it's that bad. He can block the ball. Let's put it this way, is his defense worse than Murph's or Dun's? I think it'd be hard to argue that.

Now I can hear you getting all lathered up thinking "but per 48 stats aren't necessarily a reliable indicator of performance!". Well, that's true, and who knows if he can translate those numbers into higher minutes? But don't we owe it to the team to find out? I say his stats indicate more minutes might be a good idea. Scoring, rebounding, blocks, high FG% and FT%...those are things the Warriors need, especially on the road where they seem to have the most trouble sticking to the game plan and they get blown out. I just don't get why Ike's not playing more, I'm pretty frustrated with Nellie right now in regards to Diogu.