I blame Don Nelson for this loss. He puts in Rony Turiaf who's been sitting most of the second half to guard one of the best players in the game. Second, he kept Monta out there too long. Ellis was supposed to be out there 25 mins.
We lost by one point on a buzzer beater to the 3rd best team in the league without Craw, Wright, Beli. Monta clearly wasn't completely himself (hes still out of shape and doesn't have the rhythm on his jumper), Biedrins wasn't playing great with the sprained wrist. I hate to make excuses but I think we managed pretty damn well. Yeah, it would have been better to have a G/F on LeBron on the last play but realistically anyone guarding LeBron is going to play off of him to prevent the drive and Bron is just gonna rise up and get a good look over anyone. Give him credit for making the shot. Great shot by LeBron, you can't really blame the W's for that one like you could Jeff Green's wide open shot. Monta clearly wasn't as quick as he used to be. Looked like hes still thinking about the ankle and wasn't really pushing his ankle to the limits. I'm sure he'll regain more explosiveness as he gets in shape and gets comfortable going hard on the ankle but he still may not be the same as before. Made some great finishes but didn't show much in the way of improved PG skills. Only 1 TO at least. Had a nice dunk. Good first showing from Monta.
I'm pretty happy with this loss, as much as one can be with a loss. As BJM says, they played well against a far superior team. They gave them as much as they could handle, with Monta still rusty and still with some key injuries. They're not going to the playoffs anyway so I'm not too concerned with the implications of another L in the loss column. I'm not worried about Monta at all, his jumper was way off but that will come back, I saw enough of the speed and explosiveness to calm my fears. As far as him playing point, we won't know for a while. He needs to play with the team in real game situations to develop that. At least he pushes the ball. I don't know about you guys but I saw a huge difference in the personality of the team last night when he was in the game. I'm pretty sure they had more fast break points than they have had in a long time. If not for some of Maggette's crap solo chuck specials and some ill-advised shots by Watson in the 4th, they could have won that game Morrow just looks more and more solid too, how does Nelson sit that guy so much in the 4th when he's that hot?
One other note, I didn't really see them working the pick and roll with Biedrins last night (either Monta or SJax). Not sure why, maybe because Biedrins just doesn't have the hands for those passes right now because of the injury, but I'd like to see more of that. Ellis-Biedrins working screens and pick and rolls on the high block should be deadly when Monta gets his jumper back.
I thought we were really going to win last night because the warriors seem to have a mental problem. They lose to the crappy teams in the nba, but actually beat some of the top teams in the nba. I thought this was going to be a win like the one over Boston.
