The Warriors got a little gift from Stephen Jackson in their last road game to win by one point. There are times when this Warriors team looks solid for one stretch then like complete garbage for another stretch. This will be a tough game for the Warriors. Hopefully they can make a good showing and play solid ball and start cleaning up the defensive board or it will be a long and ugly game for us. Udoh-Bosh would be a fun matchup. It seems like Smart wants to have Lou come off the bench. So maybe there is a chance Udoh starts. I am hoping they don't start Vlad, especially to go against Bosh. Ellis-Wade, Wright-James...yeah I guess the Warriors have a chance, but it's going to be a tough one for the Warriors. They will need their A game.
Correction, game starts at 4:30. I guess pregame show and all that with Steinmetz and St. Jean starts at 4pm.
Beans is not back yet. Wow, this is the best game of the season so far! The starting lineup was Curry, Ellis, Wright, Lee, Radmo
I know smart is trying to buy time for David Lee, but Amundson just sucks. He has no skill and he's physically overpowered by legit nba bigs.
This is the NBA I hate. The refs blow their whistles based on expectations. Wade throws up a fade away falling out of bounds air ball garbage so the ref blows the whistle to call a phantom foul. The only reason why they blow their whistle is because Wade is a star and is incapable of throwing such garbage. Ellis gets packed throws up garbage and it's all Ellis fault and foul on Ellis if there is any whistle. The ball goes out of bounds and it's out on the warriors because the heat/wade is too good to lose the ball like that. All these calls are on expectations and not on what's done. They all go against the Warriors too. Also I think Smart needed to get tossed. Show some fire. I also don't like his lack of timeouts. Big leads are lost to about two or four points before he calls one. It's a bit weird.
I have lost all faith in Smart...his substitution patterns are mind boggling. Jim & Fitz keep making remarks along the lines of being shocked that Smart isn't getting T'd up....uhhhh yeah, he's a pussy. He lets blatantly stupid plays go by without comment, and then he'll sit Steph for 10 minutes cuz he went the wrong way around a screen. The superstar whistles that have been getting blown all night tonight are my least favorite thing about the NBA. The rich get richer...such bullshit. Like Cliff said, it's anticipation whistles...the refs should be embarrassed when they get the results from the league review. We made 6 more field goals than they did, and still lost by 7...and the heat didn't even shoot that well from the line. So frustrating...
This is also another example of the two-faced Warriors. One where at times the rythm and flow is so good that they look like playoff teams. Then the other face is one where they look like a team that may get a top five pick. This was seen yesterday as well when the warriors go on hot streaks then the opponents make some adjustments and then they go on very bad stretches. I'm not sure how else to explain it. I'd say a lack of defense and rebounding may be behind it at times.
The Heat began hand-checking and glomming all over GS in the 3rd quarter. They played like Utah, where because they were so physical every play, the refs began giving them a lot of leeway with that. The Warriors responded very poorly to that. They sort of melted down in the late 3rd/early 4th. They were very careless with the ball. I don't know how many official TOs they had in the 3rd/4th, but it seemed they had about half of their passes tipped. It seemed like every single player on the team (except Lee) had a few plays where they were lazy/careless with the ball. Curry throwing over the shoulder passes, assuming Lee would be there... deflection. Law taking the in-bounds pass lazily, like there was nothing at stake. Wade stripping it from him and Law then fouling Wade. Radmonovic with an easy look at a tip-in... bricks it. Monta going 100% at the rim, getting caught in the air with nowhere to go... offensive foul on the push off... I'd bring up Dorell Wright, but he played so damn well, how can I fault him, really? Is it really true the Warriors were up by 20 points in the 2nd quarter? Man... Yeah, I usually don't blame the refs, but here's the frigging FT disparity: Golden State: 12-16 FT Miami: 35-47 FT That has to be an NBA record.
Warriors had ten turnovers in the second half. NBA TV had an interesting take on the game. One of the comments was that good teams make the fourth and fifth efforts defensively and the bad teams make one or two. I think that's the difference between us and the heat in the second half and other teams in general. It kind of makes me think this team may want someone like Mike Brown as the head coach. Isn't he a defensive guy? There are too many lost players on our defense. I mean you have Radmanovic basically in no-mans land on many plays where he is basically setting a screen on his teammate for the opponent. The crazy part is that I think the hear only had 19 FTA at the half. So to end the game with so many explains much of the game.
Yeah, at this point, I don't think the return of Beans will mean much. This team will beat some of the weaker teams here and there, but they'll probably end up with a 30-52 record at the rate they're playing. You have to wonder what it will take for Lacob to demand some change. That dude was all over the media the first week of the season, coming out at half time and nearly bursting into tears as he lauded the GS fans and promised a championship... I haven't heard a peep from him since... But I'm starting to get a little frustrated, despite GS winning 4 of their last 6. They beat Sac, Port, Philly, and Charlotte, but all those games were tough. And, whatever, they're 13-20. I'm not liking the results right now. No way should Radmonovic be starting. I don't give a shit. That dude is cannon fodder for a trade... how is he suddenly becoming the centerpiece for our fukin franchise.... I mean at least let Udoh take his licks so we can build for the future... I'm sorry, but as exciting as it is... Monta/Curry is not working defensively. Why do I always feel like we are getting bullied? It's been like 6 or 7 years since I felt like our starting 5 could beat the other starting 5 in a fist-fight brawl. Back to Danny Fortson days. Since then, every squad we've had... it feels like we're lucky to get away with a score, and that physically it's only a matter of time until we get dominated (like tonight). wtf
I thought Steph looked gassed starting the 3rd. He looked like he partied like it was 2099 the night before. What I like to do when I need some energy is drink some coffee and take a fifteen minute nap. The caffeine will kick in after that and the nap will give you an energy rush. It's cheaper than 5-hr energy. Also, I'd heat up the opponent's locker room to a nice 72 degrees and keep the home team locker at 68 degrees. When you're cold, the body won't relax as much and will try to generate heat as when you're nice and toasty. It will give you incentive to get yourself warm when you start the 3rd. I'd give some credit to the Heat for playing perimeter defense and then getting in front of their man when the Warriors drove to the rack. That said, I agree the refs were biased against the Warriors. It's like they were star struck. The Warriors need some front court help, especially in rebounding. They are near the bottom in rebound difference. When you're counting on Radman for boards, then you need help.
There will be a lot of home games in Jan/Feb. Not to make excuses, but the Warriors have been injured and have had a tough schedule to start the season. For the most part, they have beat the sub-500 teams. Their record is indicative of what their schedule has been. I'd say if we don't see improvement by end of Jan, time for Lacob to make a move.
IMO we've actually been decent as far as pure wins-losses lately. Yes, those 4 wins were close games we eked out against bad teams but the two losses were @ Atl and @ Miami and those were also close games. I'm no fan of moral victories but it is somewhat telling that they can hang with two of the best teams in the league on the road. The most frustrating thing is that they make so many god awful mistakes and bad plays that they could have blown out every single one of the last 6 teams if those were corrected. As for why they go from amazing, beautiful play to awful disjointed basketball I think there are several reasons. IMO the team does run better when Curry is in there so once he leaves its the stand-around-and-watch-Monta show (don't care about the Curry vs. Monta assist numbers, from what I see the team gets better shots when Curry is in). Another thing is that this team is deceptively young. Curry is 22 I believe, DWright and Monta are 24 or 25, Beans and RW are also under 25 I believe. Then there's Udoh, Acie Law, Carney, etc. and Lee and Lou Amundson are both 26-27 I believe. Vlad is the oldest guy out there and he easily makes the most horrid plays on the team. The last main factor is just that I think there is confusion as to what our offense is in half court sets. Seems like half the time its Monta iso and half the time its an unproductive play that Smart writes up. Dunno what happened after Smart's offense was working so beautifully at the start of the year but it looks awful now. Smart is digging his own grave right now though IMO. Dunno whats up with his love of Vlad. Dunno why he refuses to run pick and rolls. Dunno why Curry barely touches the ball on so many possessions. DW has been impressing me lately but why is Lee getting so few shots in comparison? I don't see any type of tangible team defense schemes. Thoughts on this game though; we got raped by the officials but I still think we would have lost. They played very poorly the second half and dealing with Wade and Bron is brutal. Its not Smart nor the officials fault that we never get FTs (Monta gets no love from the refs but even if they were fair we'd stil lbe getting killed on FTs every night). Then again maybe it is Smart's fault- Lee used to get to the FT line pretty well when he was getting more touches and there doesn't seem to be any emphasis on getting to the rack. But this roster is a jump shooting one as it is. I think it is encouraging that we're playing all these teams tough on the road though. They're improving and we'll see how the success translates on that home stand. I think the defense is noticeably better with Udoh out there, wish he and Lee got more playing time together.
It could be Udoh is still getting his conditioning. I just hope we start seeing a trend up for his game minutes. Both Udoh and Amundson should be taking Vlad's minutes.
Even Brandan Wright should be taking his minutes. That may be more on Brandan Wright not showing any promise, but the sight of Vlad makes me throw up in my mouth.
Hope so, but I also hope it's part of a deal that makes the Warriors better. Because, Vlad's expiring is pretty valuable as it is. I'd hate to waste it on some player with more years on his contract that would hinder the Warriors' future options.
