Monta expecting to play but its not official yet. He has a history of going down and looking like he was jut hit by a car and then returning at relatively full strength soon after. Should be a fun one with two teams who like to get up and down. Lee returns to NY. Turiaf is injured and may not play. Azu is still out. AR will probably play though especially if Turiaf is out. Not to mention the old Steph Curry to Knicks storyline from when he was drafted. NY got owned yesterday in Milwaukee so they're playing a back to back but their starters didn't play a lot yesterday. This is an important game for us because although its on the road they're returning from a b2b and we got a day of rest. We're better than this team, we need to get it done on the road today because tomorrow @ Mil will be more difficult than Mil's record suggests.
I was freakin losing it watching this game. Had a 19 pt lead in the 3rd quarter and let almost the whole thing go by the beginning of the 4th. Knicks even got the lead late but we managed to pull this one out. I swear if we lost I would be leading the "fire Keith Smart" campaign. So far I like what hes done but HOLY FUCKING SHIT you're going to take Lee and Beans out with 5 minutes to play and put fucking Radmanovic on Amare with D. Wright at PF, Reggie at SF, and Monta and Curry in the backcourt? Uh, NO FUCKING SHIT WE GAVE UP THE LEAD. Moron. I understand he doesn't want the other team to hack-a-Biedrins but can you at least leave him out there until the other team starts doing it rather than pre-emptively subbing him out and putting our defense and rebounding down the shitter. Use that to your advantage if we're not already in the bonus. Once we're in the bonus and teams are hacking a Beans, then sub him out but for the love of god NEVER let Lee out of the game. At least not until we get Amundson/Udoh/someone who can defend a fucking monster PF and clear some glass. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I can't even express how angered I was by that. He puts Rad in and IMMEDIATELY we lose the lead. Not even B. Wright who hasn't been playing terribly the past few games. Rad who consistently plays like shit every time hes put into the game. A true SF who had already fouled Amare at least twice and blows on defense in general. Oh and did I mention he is even less valuable on offense?
Anyway kind of a shitty game after that meltdown in the 3rd quarter. Lee had a nice breakout game which is good to see. His finishing definitely has not been as advertised thus far but it looked good today. Reggie and Wright did decently off the bench. I don't know why Carney was held out the whole game until the 4th Q. We actually got outrebounded but fwiw we put up 12 more shots and they had 20 TOs. Didn't feel like we were losing the rebound battle until Smart decided he wanted to go with a smallball lineup the likes of which would make Don Nelson himself vomit in disgust. BTW Dorell is really starting to piss me off. Made some big shots at the end but wow dude makes Dunleavy look like a tough guy. He refuses to go hard to the rim and initiate contact. ALWAYS pulls up or avoids contact and prefers to not even get to the rim. I think hes got a shaky handle but damn is it that hard to learn to tuck the ball and take two big strides and leap into the defender? Literally everyone else in the league does it. Please do us all a favor Wright, if you're not going to take it all the way to the rack then just pass it and revert into true Bruce Bowen mode. Lin has a godawful handle for a PG. That being said I'm all for continuing to play him a few minutes a game. Dude already seems to be above average in both drawing fouls and ball-hawking at the NBA level. Having a shitty handle and no jumper is kind of a deal breaker but he also makes some decent plays and he allows Reggie to not have to play PG. 6-2 now though. Can't complain about that. Although we've been giving up dominating leads on the road we've also been showing that we can close out games in general. Steph Curry has been fantastic as a closer but other guys are making shots down the stretch as well. D. WRight chipped in in the clutch tonight as did Lee. Against the Raps and Jazz Lee and Monta also hit some big shots to help Curry close it out. Its bery good to see. 3-3 Bulls are next in Chicago. They're 3-1 at home so far, seem a little inconsistent. I think its safe to say its the toughest game on the road trip- coming off a back to back heading into Chicago and they've got a pretty talented roster. Winning this game would be pretty money as it would put us at 3-1 on the trip with a day off before heading to Milwaukee. Odds are probably against us though.
I agree with what you said about the substitution patterns down the stretch. But I feel like I can honestly say that the refs weren't doing us any favors in the second half. The two fouls on the long jumpers, Reggie's "charge", the foul before the inbounds. I'm proud of how we overcame everything and held on in the end, despite showing signs of crumbling. That was definitely the most angry a game has made me in this short season. And while I agree with your criticisms on D-Wright and Lin, I think you're being a little harsh. Yeah, Wright should be more of a banger, but overall I am very happy with his play. Solid outside shooting, came through in the clutch, and a good perimeter defender. Considering Lin is a little undrafted Asian kid from the Ivy League, I think he's matching up against NBA talent as well as can be expected. Yeah, his handles will definitely need to improve...but I'm just happy that he can be helpful in limited minutes, and not be a glaring liability out there. 2 spg and 3.5 a/to, so far...I'll take it. Anyway, we are looking like a legitimately GOOD nba team...not great, but a force to be reckoned with. I'm happy.
The trick for the Warriors to win in Chicago is to control the tempo. The Bulls average 102.8 PPG and give up 102.8 PPG. Those numbers are actually lower than they were a couple of games ago. Last game was a 90-90 kind of score (well under 100 for both teams) against the Nuggets. Go uptempo and the Bulls can't keep up. They simply don't have the scorers.
Thanks for the scouting report, you traitor. LOL The key for the Bulls is to make sure Vladimir Radmonvic is in the game. So long as he's in the game, the Bulls have a great chance to dominate.
Yeah, about Dorell, I just assumed he was an explosive athlete and a big dunker when he came over. I thought he was an amazing athlete, ala Carney. So far, he's looking more like Al Harrington in that department. Not explosive, herky-jerky, and getting about 6 inches of vert. However, the thing is, I was totally wrong about his game, but that's okay, because I really like what his game actually is. I expected a freak athlete. Instead, he's a cerebral, patient player with a nose for finding the open man. Spaces the floor well, solid fundamentals, terrific pump fakes... actually the above comparison to Dunleavy has some truth to it. He's a smart player who has good timing and a good sense of the floor. He doesn't get by on athleticism or quickness, but instead on pacing, hesitation, ball fakes, and court vision. Unfortunately, yes, he's also like MDJ when it comes to finishing. The guy has had several WIDE open dunks... and instead he makes it much more difficult, tries to double pump reverse under the rim, pump fakes when there's no need, etc... Just run up and dunk it dude! That's just the way it was with Harrington. He'd have a clear path, wide open, and it just seemed a given that it would be a standard NBA dunk... and then before you know it the defender has caught up to him and he's trying some patty-cake bullsh!t off balance fade-away reverse layup that has NO chance... I know Dorell had some knee issues before (surgery?), hopefully he's just trying to get that explosiveness back... I heard he was a huge dunker in highschool, but the dude seems like he can barely touch the rim right now...
Yeah Dorell definitely isn't as athletic as advertised. Not a bad athlete but not explosive, hes smooth though. And yes, hes been playing well overall and thus far hes a good signing but man I can't think of one other NBA player who passes up so many open lanes. He can get around his man pretty easily and all he has to do is put it on the floor once and take a big step or two to the rim and draw contact but he never does. Pulls up, dribbles away from defenders, anything he can possibly do to avoid contact or avoid dribbling in the paint and it literally always results in a much harder shot that is much better defended and no FTs. Hes literally the only guy in the NBA I can think of who can't take it to the rack with an open lane. Dunno if hes tentative because of injuries or a suspect handle or if he just doesn't get it but hes really taking away from his effectiveness. Oh and he kills his dribble fairly often which doesn't annoy me all that much but then he starts pivoting around looking for someone to pass to and ultimately takes a horrid fading contested shot. And as for Lin, I'm actually pretty damn happy with the pickup. Like I said hes a UDFA and already IMO well above average at stealing the ball and getting FTs. Hes pretty good penetrating and generally good on defense. I've been saying for a while hes more athletic than given credit for. Even if he were a second round pick I'd be encouraged by his play. And I said at the beginning of the year I think he starts earning minutes quickly because he does make some things happen. So far Smart is only giving him minutes on the road though. Dude can't beat a press which is a big issue. I don't know how much he can work on his handle during the season but if he could shore that up he would be a lot better immediately. Same goes for the jumper. Although these are major areas to work on he does already show ability in other areas. Most PGs coming into the league have the great handle and probably a jumper but nothing else to discern themselves. If Lin doesn't improve those hes screwed but I think they're both improvable and if you add in those necessary PG skills to his aggressiveness on both sides of the ball, tremendous ability to force TOs, tenacious defense, size and athleticism for the position, etc. he'd be a very nice backup. I'd love if he turned out like a Keyon Dooling type of player- another guy who was raw coming into the league and didn't have perfect PG skills but hes very aggressive, very defensive minded, and the jumpshot, handle, passing came later (Lin is already way ahead of him passing the ball though).
Warriors heading into their last game of a 4 games in 5 nights stretch. All starters except for Beans played 40+ minutes. Chicago can rebound very well with Noah and Taj Gibson up front. We're going to need quality minutes from our bench and Smart needs to play Beans 35 minutes+. This will be a very tough one.
[video=youtube;NXkJwnmXN9k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXkJwnmXN9k&feature=feedu[/video] Highlights.
I think D. Wright's tentativeness going to the rim is him trying to get others involved more. He's always looking to make a play, not necessarily finish one. I think he's more athletic than what we've witnessed thus far. He's been a pleasant surprise and really anchors the perimeter really well. His size and length present a lot of difficulty for opposing players. Keith Smart said D. Wright called out his teammates during the TO in the 4th quarter when NYK came and took the lead telling them to put more effort in D.
