Whaaaat? No game thread??? Very nice game for the dubs. The big 3 all had verrrry nice games. 13 assists and no turnovers for Curry. 19 boards for Lee....all 3 of them with 20+ points. But we KILLED them on the glass, and played some nice defense! Crazy how that more than cancels out a bad shooting night. 20 to 2 on offense rebounds, wow. And we finally took care of the ball tonight with only 9 to's to their 20. And here's the stat that I don't remember ever seeing before: 40 more field goal attempts!!!! Who was this team I just watched!? KILLED them on 2nd chance points. What do you think AlleyOop?? playoffs=maybe again? hahah jk Great game though.
Wow. I wished I saw the game. What impresses me was 13 assists for Steph Curry. Can he become a pass first PG? The teams that have a pass first PG seem to get to the playoffs more than the ones that don't. Standings 1. * Boston PF 2. * Miami SF 3. * Chicago PF 4. Orlando PF? 5. Atlanta SF 6. New York SF 7. Philadelphia PF 8. Indiana SF 9. Charlotte PF 10. Milwaukee SF 11. Detroit SF 12. New Jersey SF 13. Washington PF 14. Toronto PF 15. Cleveland SF Western Conference Team GB 1. * San Antonio SF 2. Dallas PF 3. * LA Lakers SF 4. * Oklahoma City PF 5. New Orleans PF 6. Denver PF? 7. Utah PF 8. Portland PF 9. Memphis PF? 10. Phoenix PF 11. Houston SF? 12. Golden State SF? 13. LA Clippers PF 14. Sacramento SF 15. Minnesota SF
Nice win, but it was against a team on a b2b at our home. I would rather keep things in perspective and not get too carried away.
I only listened to a few minutes of the first quarter or so. But I like that Udoh and Biedrins each got 20+ minutes. Udoh didn't put up much stats. I wonder if Udoh helped Lee grab all those boards though? Perhaps the defense was not so strong, besides causing a lot of turnovers because the Thunder shot a really good percentage? Good to see the Warriors get a good win after the disaster in Phoenix.
Steph played great (watched 2nd half). Lee played like a power forward. He got the last rebound in traffic and just sucked it up. That's how I define a power forward. Haven't seen that type of rebound from a Warrior since Chris Webber. OKC was on a B2B so there is that but the Warriors killed them on the glass.
Great game. Steph Curry could not miss! The warriors were getting pummeled at the foul line, but the warriors made up for it by capitalizing off turnovers and getting second chance points. Steph Curry was awesome!
Lee's interview after the game was spot on. He essentially said that this team has plenty of scorers, that rebounding is something he needs to focus on and the points will come in the flow of the game. It's amazing how easy 20+ points can be when you pull nearly 20 boards in a game. Everybody looks better. This is something we've all been saying on this board for years now. I'm glad he had the epiphany. Sure it helped that they were on the road on the tail end of a back to back, but I'll take it.
Yes, Lee had a great interview. He said that rebounding is all about "effort and heart." Completely agreed. On the other hand, five minutes later Smart said that "you can't motivate a guy to go out and rebound, he's either a rebounder or he isn't," which is complete bullshit. Really? It's your job to motivate guys to go out, hustle, rebound, and take pride in defense. If you can't, won't, or don't think it's possible, then get the fuck outta here. On to the next...
Keith Smart has been blowing smoke up our asses all season. That being said, he seems like a good guy who's trying really hard to make shit happen.
There have been some minor improvements. Team has been playing better defense lately, Curry looked very aggressive last night and made sure he had the ball enough, we had a legit 8 man rotation last night and Ekpe played 27 mins to Andris' 20. Not enough to keep him around, not by a long shot, but hes limited too given that after Steph, Monta, DW, and Lee we get very little from anyone else on the team most nights. Kind of amazing how we're not a complete bottom feeder given that we get suspect production from the C position and practically nothing off the bench most nights.
Yeah, the true indicator will be the 2nd half of the season. Unless the bench starts to step up, the starters will sputter and barely make it to the finish line.
Smart contradicted himself 2 seconds after that statement, he said you can't motivate, then came back and said I spoke to them and reminded them about what it takes to rebound. I'm over him already, especially now when Sloan is watching from home.
Smart pointed out that, last year, GS was dead last in rebounds, at 30th, and this year they're up to 21st. I credit that mostly just to Nellie, and now Smart actually playing two bigs together. Last year, Nellie had Mags at PF at times, just plain annoying. Same roster last year, but you actually play Randolph and Beans together (instead of Randolph at the C spot lol) and you get more boards. Is Smart really to credit? I dunno, but I am glad he actually plays two bigs in GS for the first time in years. Assists against... GS was next to last last year, at 29th, now they are actually dead last this year, 30th... is that because of the number of possessions?... last I checked they're 6th in the league in possessions at around 98 per... they play a pretty high pace...that's significant, but not amazingly high... To me, though, assists against is a nice indicator of the quality of team defense. If you give up buckets from 1-on-1 brilliance, ala Kobe going off... so be it. If you give up fast break points... that's more to do with bad ball control, ala turnovers leading to those buckets, but there is a small aspect of transition defense involved as well... Points in the paint also matter, because that indicates penetration and a collapse of the defense... if guys are hitting outside shots, so be it, but 5 foot bank shots and layups, that's a problem... the only problem with PIP is that, doesn't that include fast break points? Because I remember GS being like top in the league in PIP a few years ago, even though they were atrocious in the interior, simply because they got so many fast break layups... I wonder if basketball reference, or someone, breaks down half-court points in the paint versus overall? But overall, assists against are a nice indicator of the ability to hedge, rotate, deny the pick 'n roll, and force 1-on-1 / contested jumpers. For example, last night, GS had 28 assists, and held OKC to only 15... and it showed, didn't it? GS denied Westbrook from coming easy of his screen... they rotated well, and didn't allow easy entry passes... that's a sign of defense moving in the right direction (although what was Phoenix, then, lol!?) GS FG% against is also atrocious... last year, 29th, at 48.5%... this year, 27th, at 47.2%... That has nothing to do with style or possessions... that has to do with assists, mainly... easy passes lead to easy buckets... penetration (due to the paper-thin perimeter) collapses the defense and allows easy kick-outs for wide open shots... the more assists a team gives up, chances are the higher FG% they'll give up, because those are easier buckets (instead of contested shots or 1-on-1 plays). So, has defense improved? I would have to say... hell no. It's the same as it was last year under Nellie... now, has GS shown signs of improvement... yes, definitely... that three game stretch, capped with Chicago, and then last night's good performance... it shows that the players are buying in and most of them are willing to try hard (Monta still gets no pass from me). Is that due to Keith Smart's brilliant defensive coaching? I'd say it has more to do with his motivational skills... P.S. Anyone know what's with Curry's new celebration tactic? It used to be kiss and point to the sky... now it's like an NFL face-mask call... Last night, after Reggie hit the big three, he did it, and bumped with Curry in celebration... at least it's not the three goggles... Rudy Fernandez needs to be slapped for that...
Rudy Fernandez, talk about burying a guy. When he first came to the NBA, I thought he was going to be electric. Guy could shoot from lights out and throw down with anyone. What do the Blazers do? Make him into their version of Quentin Richardson, just stand there and spot up and jack up 3s. Don't cut off the ball, don't move, don't look for any alley oops. Awful, just awful. I wish they'd cut him lose and let him play somewhere else.
I think when you count offensive rebounds and the greater number of possessions the Warriors get, then you get the inflated rebounding numbers. Thus, Smart was being misleading. The true indicator of defense is the defensive rebound. Also, the Warriors are actually last or close to last in terms of rebounding differential. David Lee was fired up and he got Andris Biedrins to focus on the glass, too. So, did playing a motivated Lee and AB together help?. Well, sorta. The back-to-back OKC had 33 rebs - 2 offensive boards for a total of 31 def rebs. The W's got 47 rebs - 20 offensive boards for a total of 17 def rebs. There in lies the story of David Lee and Andris Biedrins. They're basically cleaning up all the Ws misses. The numbers Lee - 19 rebs, 4 off = 15 def rebs <==== Lee earned his money! The rest of the bigs were Charmin soft!!! AB - 7 rebs, 4 off = 3 def rebs Udoh - 4 rebs, 4 off = 0 def rebs DWright - 7 rebs, 4 off = 3 def rebs Curry & Ellis = 2 rebs ea, 0 off = 2 def rebs ea Vlad - 4 rebs, 3 off = 1 def rebs Dubz - 2 rebs, 1 off = 1 def rebs
I agree def. rebounding is key. That's what's mystifying about Udoh (and BWright), he's better at the O than D glass. Is it desire? Boxing out/technique? Hustle?
Udoh, BW, and Ike all seemed to have this problem. Pretty good on the offensive glass but for whatever reason can't get a defensive rebound to save their lives. With Udoh and Ike you do notice that they box out their man well and usually another Warrior will collect the rebound. For whatever reason they can't explode out of that box out and snag the board though. Seems like Udoh doesn't have a great feel for getting to the ball at the highest point. Lots of the defensive rebounds he gets fall into his hands around his head or chest whereas most guys would time it perfectly to leap and get it at the highest point possible. I don't quite understand why this happens though. I'm no expert but when I play pickup I'm a pretty good rebounder and usually play guys much taller/bigger and unless the size difference is substantial I can both box out and get the rebound. Perhaps that was an issue with Ike but Udoh is roughly the same size as most of the guys hes up against. I think he just doesn't have a knack for it, doesn't have the timing, etc. Offensive rebounding is a lot different because you're the guy being boxed out so you just want to make an effort every time and eventually you'll get lucky and be close enough to the ball to snag it or tip it out. But I'd like to see some stats about our rebounding with Udoh on the floor vs. when other guys are on the floor. Lee really doesn't box out much and it helps him get defensive rebounds but it also makes it easier for the offense to get ORebs. Biedrins, for all his flaws, is a pretty damn good rebounder on both sides of the ball, he doesn't avoid boxing out like Lee but he also doesn't box out all the time like Udoh and hes just got a great sense for rebounding most of the time (though the past season or two hes been much less consistent as we all know). Hes also a very good offensive rebounder too though. To his credit I think Udoh is working on it and hes had 7 rebounds twice in the last 3 games which is solid for somewhat limited minutes. I just get the sense that he doesn't have a great feel for rebounding. But again, I'd like to see the rebound differential with him vs without him because it is valuable that he takes one of the bigs completely out of the play when he boxes out.
