<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><span id="iba2_siteCss"><span id="iba2_siteCss">OAKLAND — There's almost three-quarters of the season remaining, but Warriors coach Don Nelson wants no part of having to dig out from below the .500 mark for a second time after recovering from an 0-6 start. "Yeah, I'm fearful of dropping below .500 again," Nelson said. "I don't think that team — the one that drops below .500 — is going to be a playoff team."</p> Golden State sat at 11-9 going into Tuesday's game against San Antonio, but there's a daunting stretch of 15 road games in 22 contests coming up. And while the Warriors would love to have the kind of success they did last month — winning four of five games on an East Coast swing — the paramount goal is to, first of all, make sure they don't give back ground they've already won.</p> "I think we set a record, or something, for being the fastest 0-6 team (back to .500). But that doesn't happen very often if it only happened once," Nelson said. "So we're a little fortunate maybe to do that, and now that we're here, the worst thing in the world is to go on some sort of a long losing streak, which is very possible."</p> Veteran Troy Hudson pointed out the importance of not panicking if the Warriors do wind up on the wrong side of the ledger again at some point this season.</p> "You always want to stay above. 500, but I think we can't get too caught up in it to where you start pressing each game, because once that happens, you start questioning yourself and thinking too much out there <span id="iba2_siteCss"><span id="iba2_siteCss">on the court," Hudson said. "It's going to be in the back of your mind, but I think you just have to get better each game."</div></span></span></p> <span id="iba2_siteCss"><span id="iba2_siteCss">Source: Inside the Bay Area</span></span></p> </span></span></p>
<span class="georgia md" id="bodytext">Nine of their next 12 games are on the road - including a five-game Eastern swing that begins in Detroit on Sunday and ends in Cleveland on Dec. 23 - and a three-game trip through Denver, Houston and Dallas over New Year's.</span></p>
Yeah, that's going to be tough. There's a nasty stretch around New Year's where they get, in order:</p> Denver/ Denver/ Houston/ Dallas/ New Orleans/ San Antonio</p> That will be a huge challenge just to come out with a few wins. I think realistically, we as fans need to know this team is playing well, but it's also possible they'l dip below .500 for a while, and that may just be par for the course on their way to making the playoffs.</p> A few other interesting schedule notes:</p> In February, they only have one away game, and it's right in the middle! So that's 9 out of 10 at home, with a 5-game stand followed by a 4-game stand. That's a time to really make a push.</p> They'll need it, because, starting March, they finish out the year with 14 out of 25 games on the road.</p> Go Warriors!</p> </p>
You have to worry when Troy Hudson is the one being quoted in this article. LOL</p> In the back of Nellie's mind has to be the minutes Baron is logging this season. No one has stepped up to play consistent minutes when Baron is on the bench and Nellie has been reluctant to leave him off the court for an extended period of time. Baron has managed to stay healthy, but there's always a high possibility he manages to miss 12 to 15 games at some point due to injury.</p> Troy Hudson is not the solution and neiterh Belinelli or Ellis have embraced the role.</p> An extended road trip could catch up to Baron at some point and I'm sure that thought has Nellie worried.</p>
I agree it's still all about Baron. This team is winning nothing with Troy Hudson at point. Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go 0-10 if that ever happened. He absolutely kills the offense. Could they maybe trade Pietrus near the deadline for a better backup point?
Here's a list of potential free agent PGs rumored to be available.</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> It is a good bet there will be some big-name point guards moved. There has been plenty of noise about the Kings trying to move Mike Bibby, especially now that Beno Udrih has stepped in and proven worthy of a starting job.</p> Philadelphia's Andre Miller and Seattle's Luke Ridnour have been mentioned as possible trade fodder. And, of course, the drama surrounding New Jersey's Jason Kidd has been well documented.</p> Add the Mavericks' Devin Harris to that list, too. Harris went through a recent five-game stretch in which he shot a miserable 17-for-55.</div></p> The Heat have shopped Jason Williams around. I'm sure Indiana would unload Tinsley if they could find the right deal.</p>
Its not going to get any easier to find some time to rest our key players for a while. We have a friggin brutal schedule from Nov-mid January. I think Nellie has the right idea, we're playing so well right now that if we keep it up we'll have a nice buffer to where we can afford to sit Baron and take a loss or two every now and then. We can start resting guys more from January-early March when the schedule softens up and, ideally, we'll be several games over .500 and be comfortably positioned at the 6-8 seed.</p>
I still want to know why we didn't nab Brevin Knight over the summer -- is he not enough of an up-tempo PG for Nellie? He's better than Hudson, and the Clippers got him for pennies. The thing is, we can't spend too much for a very good PG only to have him sit on the bench behind Baron. We need a veteran or journeyman who can fill in when needed. That's why Hudson seemed like a good fit -- cheap and servicable. Maybe we can take a lookj down at the NBDL? Find another Azibuike to play back-up PG? </p>
Just curious. How many more career nights is Nelson going to allow? In other words Barnes was guarding Dorell Wright, he had a career night. Then Bonner lit us up and i watched closely and barnes was responsible for him the entire time he was on the floor. Now Travis Outlaw? Why does Barnes get this mile long rope when Pietrus Harrington Bellinelli Ellis Az Ab etc can't sneeze the wrong way without getting yanked from the game. Barnes is by far the worst defender on the team. He reminds me of fisher, constantly sagging off his man for no reason, switching when it is unnecassary, never closing on his man while he gets lit up, never keeping anyone in front of him. I mean his performance defensively vs the spurs was just pathetic. I dont care how good his numbers look in abox score. Barnes is killing us on the floor. What does he have on Nelson I wonder.</p> </p> </p> </p>
Nelly's small ball is such a one trick pony. He needs a center in the game in order to force the defensive traffic inside and seal off defenders. Then players can swing the ball side to side or kickout, step in for deep twos, run high low plays, or throw it inside against a weak defender. Then if the opposing guys are playing zone defense to neutralize isolations, they also get taken out of strong position for defensive rebounding. We also get better outside shot looks, and it leaves big men in position to seal off the defender when the ball is swung or to feed a cutter attacking weakside or down the middle.</p> I feel besides this problem in our middle and power forward spots and how Nelly won't play actual position players, we need our backcourt and wing to be in the game at the same time. I feel like the problem in the backcourt is that Baron cannot shoot worth crap but he makes everyone better with his passing and double team drawing ability. Plus, we need some guys that can pull off the dribble and shoot and we need strong secondary passers. So far Ellis is the pullup shooter (but no passer) and Sjax is the secondary passer (but not quite the shooter) that bothers to look for big guys like Baron does. With guys like Sjax hovering around the low 40's %'s, I'd want them to shoot less and get others who can score at a higher % involved. This usually means big guys. I mean don't we have a f'n center that leads the league in field goal %? WTF? Get him involved more Nelly. I really wish there was some way to combine Ellis with Sjax... Reasonable 3 point %, more height, good passer, quicker, and better finisher inside and on the break. Baron is everything you can ask for in a point, except he should really shoot less and get better at the foul line like he's doing. So with this group we should be able to support big men play pretty decently but we just need to play more big guys who can score high % and get rebounds that smaller guys can't.</p> I think the slump is very well possible because of how Nelly plays his lineups and how he doesn't really give anybody a rest. It just sucks.</p>
CR2 sounds like they need Eric Dampier (but with more consistency.)</p> The Warriors do need a space eater to seal off defenders and allow the guards to grab the rebounds and then push the fast breaks. Getting a big body who has good hands, knows the fundamentals and finishes strong around the rim would complete the Warriors team.</p> I thought Taft could have been that guy for them until his injuries. POB is too, light in backside to be the center the team needs. I still have no idea why they selected him with Biedrins on the team and with Nellie coming in to coach small-ball.</p> How about one of the Collins twins? They're both used to doing the dirty work to allow an offense to have more space and create lanes for PGs.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (shapecity)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> CR2 sounds like they need Eric Dampier (but with more consistency.)</p> The Warriors do need a space eater to seal off defenders and allow the guards to grab the rebounds and then push the fast breaks. Getting a big body who has good hands, knows the fundamentals and finishes strong around the rim would complete the Warriors team.</p> I thought Taft could have been that guy for them until his injuries. POB is too, light in backside to be the center the team needs. I still have no idea why they selected him with Biedrins on the team and with Nellie coming in to coach small-ball.</p> How about one of the Collins twins? They're both used to doing the dirty work to allow an offense to have more space and create lanes for PGs.</p> </div></p> Yeah, I think we need that kind of presence for not only rebounding/interior defense, but for intimidation and inside scoring (which can draw double teams just as well as Baron can). Right now I'd take any center that has skill... and a head coach willing to play more balanced lineups and not these crazy ass ones where Pietrus/Barnes/Jackson plays center. I'd be just happy if we got to see Biedrins/POB play 30 minutes a piece. I'd like to think POB being able to catch, rebound, block shots, and occasionally pass very well, ought to be a nice addition. But Nelly hates him for some reason.</p> Collins twins... well they don't put up great numbers, but they seem like good complimentary guys that'll do stuff not shown on the stat sheet. Montgomery would have liked those guys compared to receiving Foyle (who he didn't play until Clif Robinson got traded).Nelly would probably bench them in favor of small forwards though... so we might think of trading for Eduardo Najera or Antoine Walker hehe.</p> I would take Taft back if he can play right now. He looked good in preseason two years ago as a type of Erick Dampier with better hands. We just need some muscle badly that doesn't suck as bad as Foyle or Mbenga... I don't even understand why we don't play Croshere a lot more at center compared to these other small forwards we put there. He's actually not that bad on those isolations.</p> Also... if we're going to run small ball why not get the smallest guy out there that can actually play point guard? How about Earl Boykins? If we need to go to the foul line, he'll get us there and at a good % clip. If we want the guy to pass, he'll pass. Troy Hudson is pretty decent for third string, but Earl Boykins would be alot better IMO because we would get more of a sparkplug off the bench and he's just a better playmaker than Thud.</p> </p>
