I'm actually really, really excited for the return of team-MVP Andris Biedrins tonight. This is the first time he's been back post-Stephen Jackson. I'm really excited to see how he and Steph Curry develop a relationship with that pick-n-roll. Obviously, he'll be rusty coming off the injury. But Andris is probably the most reliable, sure-handed, and intelligent player we have (Steph will be eventually). So it's nice to get to see how he'll work with the other building blocks. I wonder if Nellie would actually consider playing Randolph and Beans together? ... nah...
I'm excited too but I wouldn't expect too much right away. Turiaf was not in NBA game shape the other night, probably will be the same for Biedrins and his moves will be rusty.
Nice win, but way to alienate your supposed "star building block", Curry gets 11 mins (yeah I know he was -16 but that's made up of a lot of things). Randolph gets 18 and 9 and he only gets 24 mins. Radmanovic leads the team with 10 rebs in 18 mins and that's all the run he gets? Pretty clear now that Maggette and Watson and Morrow are favorites and that's basically the core group that Nelson is going to play. I like Morrow's shot but I do not see much progress in his game from last year, he's a catch and shoot guy who does not have a great handle. Turiaf is a nice add; Biedrins will help, but at the end of the game, it will be Monta, Morrow, Maggette, Watson and Turiaf. Randolph, Biedrins, and Curry will be on the bench wondering how long until they get sent out to a real team that understands how to maximize their talent. As long as Nellie is on the bench, there will be more D - Leaguers who will be coddled for their tenacity while those with great talent are wasting away because they do not have the "unique" talent that Nellie is looking for.
Anthony Randolph started with Biedrins. I like that. I hope the starting lineup from last night becomes the regular starting lineup for this team The team actually remained even on the boards. That helped a lot. Hopefully this remains. Certainly the team is much more capable on this end of the game with Biedrins and Turiaf, and if Radmonovic rebounds like he did last night. I thought Nelson did a tremendous job with his rotations. CJ Watson deserved to play the minutes he did. He pretty much shut down Ray Allen. Didn't he get like 6 steals in the second quarter? I mean the game looked like it was over after the first quarter. CJ did a lot to bring the team back into it. There was no reason to take him out for Curry's sake. I am not sure if Ellis will ever see the bench anytime soon though. He played every second last night. Lastly I am surprised about the type of calls the Warriors are getting. Maybe it's just me but it seemed like the refs almost favored the Warriors a little bit in the last couple of games. Perhaps it is about time...
Curry not playing is okay. On a back-to-back, it's okay to rest him up for the Lakers. Plus, he wasn't playing that great. Plus, we should be upping CJ's value come Feb.
