Warriors playing well right now. Maggette is a punk. All he does is jack up random shots and never look to do something for anyone else. I hate him so much.
or maybe the refs just love calling charges. a couple question charges called against golden state now.
Maggette sells those flops very well. Don't blame him, blame the refs. Anyway, good game again by the Warriors. It seems they are building something here...or not.
I do blame the refs and I agree with you about his flops being good But at least you recognize he does flop
Wow. Awesome win. Jackson was fantastic tonight, all around. I've been very harsh on him, but tonight he looked like the old captain Jack. He guarded Roy most of the time, and even though Roy had 37, Jackson's defense still gave Portland problems. For the first 2 quarters he had Roy completely bottled up. He also guarded Aldridge. Not only that, he had 20 pts himself, which, when you're playing defense like that, are much sweeter. Plus, while he had 6 assists, he probably should have had about 12-14 if Turiaf / Maggette could handle passes/make layups. Monta was clutch down the stretch. Three straight iso plays in the 4th, and he bangs in all three. Turned it over on the fourth try, but still, that's the guy I want taking shots in the 4th quarter, because he can get his own shot at anytime off the dribble, unlike Maggette who needs a post-up/face-up play to score. I was very surprised, though, that Randolph didn't even get in the game in the 4th quarter. Especially after how well he played in his limited stint. I would have really liked to see Randolph/Turiaf against Aldridge/Pryz/Oden/Outlaw. Also, another DNP for Morrow. I'm baffled by that, because it's not like he's a rookie who is raw and needs developing -- he's the team's best shooter, the team's most consistent shooter, the team's most dangerous shooter. Can't he even get a taste of what Azibuike/Watson get? Even 5 minutes to hit some shots and spell the vets? It would make sense from a coaching standpoint, I would think. I think so. The Warriors looked so much better tonight than they did in their huge but, IMO ugly, blowout win over NY. Tonight, they played terrific team defense, and, other than when Maggette got in the game and slowed the team chemistry to a complete halt, the rest of the guys (Craw/Jax/Monta/Buike/Turiaf) had terrific ball movement and team play. They really seemed to gel tonight. JAx looked like he was just having fun passing to his teammates. It helps to have Monta returning to form, too. Pretty encouraging.
Yeah Maggette flops, but the refs were calling it so why would he stop? Hes pretty good at it. Oh by the way can anyone in Portland teach their guys some footwork? Every time they lower the shoulder into the defender and every time Mags takes advantage and exaggerates the contact. How about a spin move? The one time I saw Oden do one it resulted in a dunk. Aldridge/Oden usually have 5 inches on whoever is guarding them so you'd think they could just rise up and shoot it over the defender without barreling into them. All this being said, GS got a lot of favorable calls and seems to get all those calls against the Blazers whenever they play. Good game overall though. Am I the only one who actually likes Mags a lot off the bench? Don't get me wrong, I'd move his ass in a second for an expiring contract, but disregarding the contract I love him as a 6th man. Gets to the line, finishes at the rim, rebounds fairly well, defends bigger guys ok and provides a nice mismatch on offense. Hes hitting his mid-range J. Jack continues to be on a tear and will get some much needed rest. Turiaf also continues to play great as the stand-in for Beans. How about Monta and Randolph though? Against the Knicks we saw Monta getting back some of that athleticism and explosiveness but he just couldn't convert the lay-ins that he usually did. Tonight we saw more of the same but he got the jumper going at the end (not to mention at the end of the first half!). He looks like hes creeping back to form athletically, though his skills haven't quite returned yet. Monta's lift on his jumpshot seems to be the biggest issue. Last year he'd explode off the ground on his jumpshots. This season you can predict whether the J will go in or not based on how much lift hes getting on his shot. When he explodes up he makes them almost all the time, when he does a weak jump he usually misses. He just needs to get re-calibrated and get his leg strength/conditioning back and I think he'll be fine. Plus he appears to have a serviceable 3 pt shot now and whats more he only uses it when necessary instead of jacking up 6 3's a game like Baron and Jack. And Randolph, man hes been good lately. Cutting down on his mistakes drastically while rebounding and just being a ball of energy. His on-ball defense has gotten a lot better too. Hes more under control taking the ball from coast to coast and hes showing a little more skill in creating shots. Love what hes done so far but would he be as productive at PF with Beans/Turiaf next to him? He needs to get that jump shot to be more consistent but if he keeps it up I can see him moving ahead of BWright on the depth chart because hes a noticeably better rebounder and hes been bringing the energy really hard lately (while keeping the mistakes to a relative minimum). As for Morrow, yeah I'd like to get him in there for 5 mins at least to give Jack or Monta a blow but I can see why hes not playing. Lately Azu, Jack and CJ have been drilling their threes at crazy %'s, probably because we're at home. Not to mention Craw can still hit 3's and Monta seems solid from 3 this season. All those guys provide more than Morrow can. Azu seems to be his direct competition at SG and hes been absolutely NUTS hitting 3's anyway so why play Morrow who is less athletic, a worse finisher, worse rebounder, worse defender, has a worse handle (not that either of them are that good there though), etc. Azu is a better all around player so unless the 3 pt shooting difference is drastic and we need to space the floor there's no way hes getting much run. Plus Beli is coming back soon. We need to get rid of some of these perimeter players!
Huh, well it must have just been my impression then. But Jackson was on Aldridge, too. It just seemed to me that when Jackson was on him, he did a good job denying the ball and forcing deflections. Did it seem like Roy scored his points against other players, or am I just remembering incorrectly?
Great points. I do think Mags has been much better off the bench. his ballhogging hasn't been affecting the starters as much this way. Although, tonight, when he came in, the starters had a good thing going and he took the steam right out of their sails with three straight "me" possessions for bricks and a turnover. Still, though, he seemed to man-up guarding Aldridge, flopping and all. I agree with your assessment of the depth chart, but to me Morrow is much more versatile than people give him credit for. He's a tough nosed rebounder and a good finisher around the basket. I don't think he's better than Az, but I do think he could spell Craw/Az/CJ for a few minutes here and there. Who knows? He may get red hot and torch 37 points again. Because you'll never know if he's going to get scalding hot on a moment's notice, it wouldn't hurt to "test the waters" a few minutes with him here and there, especially if you need a quick boost. He may just blow out the scoreboard. Considering Nellie has been playing Randolph at C, I just can't wait until he gets some serious run at PF with Beans at C. Or even at the SF, with Wright/beans (I know that will never happen). But at PF, with Beans at C, he would be so much more deadly. Because he wouldn't have to body the biggest guy, he could constantly come over from weakside and attempt to block every shot that goes up. Also, with Beans being guarded by the bigger guy, Randolph could space more, and slash to the lane, and, most importantly to me, come in out of nowhere and tip-dunk missed shots. Plus, he's skilled enough where he would actually be a mismatch on the perimeter with many PFs still. I don't know if we'll ever see it but it makes sense to me.
i honestly don't remember who roy scored most of his points on. did jackson start on aldridge or was is azubuike? to me, it didn't really seem to matter who was on roy, he still got where he wanted and the shots he wanted. he was the only blazer that got any kind of respect on the offensive end though. i'm still trying to figure out how maggette got away with the exact same flop at least 3 times. i mean, that's his only shot when he's guarding aldridge/oden, but you'd think they wouldn't keep giving him that call when he clearly was flopping.
Jeez, I love Mags. He can be the go to guy the Warriors need and the guy can get rebounds. But I do agree that he is a huge ballhog and should pass sometimes. What I like to see is Buke get about the same amount of minutes as Mags so he can become more consistent. I think if we get Raymond Felton for Crawford, then this team would be set for years to come.
If he could just recognize what he's bad at and avoid it I would love him too. He needs to stop faceup, lean back and forth and jack crap, the three-pointers (yeah I know he made one last night, but we have a lot of people on this team much better at those than he), and the fadeaway 20 footers. Also, he seems to drive to the hoop just assuming he'll get the foul too often, without any plan as to how he'll actually finish the move if he doesn't get it. Unfortunately, as with Baron and Nelson, it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks. Baron would be a perennial All-Star and a superstar if he could stay away from his weaknesses, but he never could. As for Jackson, well he has been great lately, but one thing I notice is that whenever the Warriors force a turnover, he often seems to treat it as a free opportunity to take a three, like recklessly chucking the ball down the field after a whistle in football because if it goes against you it doesn't count anyway. Also, I don't want him bringing the ball down the count because he's just really slow. He tends to hold up to dribble around defenders instead of just blowing by them as Monta does. Maybe that does protect the ball, but it absolutely kills any break.
I don't know guys, I find it hard to criticize Maggette because without his scoring, we would not have won. It seems these days his teammates are looking for him to score, including Crawford. This wasn't this case early in the season. His scoring seems to be more in tune with what the offense is trying to achieve. Sure, there's a couple possessions here and there that he COULD have passed it to an open teammate, but let's be honest, when he makes up his mind to go to the basket, there's no stopping him. At least he gets something out of it most of the time. The only thing I can criticize him for is his contract, and that's not his fault that he was offered it.
Warriors win again. What is the common theme to these games? The team chemistry and effort. Jackson stopped trying to do so much, and in the process ended up doing more. The game is just flowing, the ball is hopping, and every guy that is on the floor is running. Randolph seems to have gotten it. Hooray! Sure, it took Beans getting hurt for him to get his minutes, but this is the NBA, that's how it works. Oop, don't worry about Morrow, he's only a rookie, but he's poised and a consumate pro. It's a LONG season, and he'll get his shot again. The team dynamic is good, the bench is smiling and cheering again. The team is learning how to win. Anyone think Nelly perhaps ended up doing the right thing? Looking back at this season, any soft or young coach would've been eaten alive by all of the injuries and losing. For the first time in the seaon, I like what I'm seeing.
Yeah, AO, your concerns about Morrow are pretty identical to the concerns I had about Marco earlier in the season. I was asking WHY WHY WHY. Well, Marco got his chance. Morrow has already proven himself, so there's no reason why he won't get his due. There's just too many guards on the roster...way too many. I think the most realistically expendable guards on our roster are CJ Watson and Kelenna Azubuike. We have guys who are paid much more who basically do the same thing as they do. Sure, you'd love to get rid of the expensive guys and go with the cheap guys, but we all know that's easier said than done. I think we can get some sort of expiring contract (not a big one) for those two in some sort of package. Maybe we can throw in Marcus Williams too. That would immediately resolve the logjam at the guard position.
