<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Warriors Coach Don Nelson has done just about everything imaginable to light a fire under second-year guard Monta Ellis. He has called him out publicly. He has dramatically slashed his minutes. He has benched him as soon as he makes a mistake. Thursday, Nelson tried a new tactic - some begrudging love. With Baron Davis playing himself to exhaustion, Nelson said Ellis will see more minutes in tonight's crucial Game 3 against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena. If the NBA's most improved player lays another egg, well, so be it. "I don't think his confidence is very high at all, for whatever reason," Nelson said. "But in Game 3, he is going to have to play. Whether he succeeds or fails, he's definitely going to play more, because I just can't play Baron Davis that many minutes." Twenty-four hours earlier, Nelson was singing an entirely different tune. At the shootaround before the Jazz took a 2-0 series lead with a 127-117 overtime victory, Nelson said of Ellis, "I have to have a shorter leash, because he just hasn't been playing that well. I have to see something pretty early, or I have to go a different way. "I love him dearly. But I don't want to waste a game getting him to play to the way he's played most of the year. You can't waste a game in the playoffs."</div> Source: Mercury News
<div class="quote_poster">dallasdude Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Ellis winning the MIP award is more of a joke than Dirk winning the MVP. The dude needs to step up.</div> Are you crazy? They are called regular season awards for a reason.
