Tipoff: 4:30 p.m. today at the FleetCenter TV: None. Radio: KTCT (1050). Celtics update: Boston, coming off a 105-98 loss to Portland on Wednesday, holds the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, 1 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland. G Ricky Davis paced Boston with 27 points, and leading scorer Paul Pierce (22.9 average) followed with 23. . . . The Celtics have defeated the Warriors in six of the past seven meetings in Boston and also won 100-91 this season in Oakland. Warriors update: Golden State improved to 8-1 in its past nine games with an 85-78 victory in Toronto on Wednesday but lost C Erick Dampier to an ankle injury. He rolled his left ankle late in the fourth quarter and might be out for the season. G Jason Richardson scored 25 points, and G Avery Johnson added 13. Warriors injuries: F Troy Murphy (dislocated left pinkie) is questionable. G Speedy Claxton (hand), C Evan Eschmeyer (knees), G Nick Van Exel (knee) and Dampier are out. Celtics injuries: None reported
I say Warriors by 12... I wish the game was on TV though because I've heard a lot about Mark Blount, the Celtics' center, and there aren't many chances for us West Coast guys to see him play since the Celtics aren't exactly the Lakers or Kings when it comes to national TV appearances.. I also wanna watch Jiri Welsch play and see how much he's improved since last year (and I know he has a lot). I bet Pietrus has a good night defensively, since he seems to thrive against teams with good guards (this time, Paul Pierce). Expect Pierce to be frustrated offensively and not do as well as he'd like. Another thing that probably pisses most Warriors fans off... the Celtics, who basically have the same record as us, are in the 8th spot in the Eastern conference (1 1/2 games ahead of the Cavs, too). damn.
Lost, too many TO's, missed FT's and a bunch of Sh!tty calls against the W's. Was once down 18. A fierce comeback to tie the game. Came up short again. A hell of an effor though. Was so exciting on the radio. Foyle had 6 points and 7 boards but was basically in foul trouble. Damp was definately missed. That's basically half of what Damp produced this season. The Custodian was on fire 4-6 from 3PT land, 7-7 FT's, 23 points in 31 minutes. J-Rich was shootin 1 of 8 in the first half with only 3 points and exploded in the second half with 22PT's and went 6-7 from 3PT land.
In the words of Jim Barnett- "Oh my word!" haha the people who listened to the radio know what I'm talking about. Even though the Warriors made a fierce comeback to tie the game with 54 seconds left, I had a feeling that they would come up short, given their record in close games and their execution. Nothing changed tonight. Down the stretch, Pierce scored with a jumper, and the Warriors came up short twice (with Richardson airballing a shot), even though they had the clock in their advantage. Cardinal had a great game tonight, showing that he's always ready to play. Musselman was kinda forced to put him in the game because of all the fouls by Cliffy and Foyle, and Cardinal didn't fail to deliver. Pierce had a big game too, and all the calls went his way. You can't really do anything when the refs are biased against your team than hope that they don't get too whistle-happy, and they did this game. Hopefully the Warriors can finish out the rest of the season strong.
Good effort. I knew Cardinal would go off. He's the man. So is Jrich. All he needed was his hardwork and the right veterans to help develop him mentally. I think a lot of the young talent needs that. You saw what happened to Darius Miles once he was traded to Portland. They have a lot of good vets.
Jrich has really impressed me with his improved shooting... I guess that's the result of the hard work he puts in summer after summer (I remember going to the Warriors camp one summer; he'd be there every day shooting hundreds of jumpers with his trainer).
I'm not a Warriors fan, but I am a Pietrus fan. J-Rich blew up today again, after his nice game against the Raptors. Cardinal was back after it seemed like he'd taken a vacation, and put up 21 points. Dunleavy was basically a non-factor, and just committed 6 turnovers out there. Did Markus Banks' 7 steals come from some of those turnovers?? Pietrus had an okay game, 14 points, 5-12, and 2-5 from long range. He also had 5 rebounds, but 2 turnovers in 24 minutes.
I wonder who Pietrus was guarding. Does anybody know this? Was he guarding the Celtics' PG or was he guarding Pierce? I guess it would be hard to tell from the radio, but if anyone knows, that info would be very appreciated.
Pietrus was probably on Paul Pierce, but I don't know the exact assignments at all times because I missed the details on the radio. (NBA TV is a scam because you can't order by individual games) I would say that if you are a smart coach you would want your best backcourt defender on their best backcourt scorer. This is how coaches have Ron Artest and Bruce Bowen operate. But if Musselman was thinking that Jrich should guard Paul Pierce and Pietrus on the point guard, it wouldn't matter anyway because look at who Dunleavy probably had to guard (Ricky Davis or Jiri Welsch). Are you kidding me? Dunleavy is just way too slow for the nba. Boston's faster, smaller lineup was the better option when you can pick the point guards off for fastbreak points. I wouldn't mind going small to match them, but they had better keep the frontcourt with plenty of shotblockers that can get back in transition.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Clif25:</div><div class="quote_post">I wonder who Pietrus was guarding. Does anybody know this? Was he guarding the Celtics' PG or was he guarding Pierce? I guess it would be hard to tell from the radio, but if anyone knows, that info would be very appreciated.</div> I'm not quite sure but I think Pietrus had to guard Pierce and a PG at times. Most of the time he guarded Pierce I believe. He teamed up with Cheaney. We lost the game cause Piece burned Cheaney on a play with 54 secs left in the fourth. It allowed Pierce to hit a wide open jumper and we lost the game. We could've had this game man. Too bad it wasn't on TV. It was some damn exciting on radio.
I guess not nice enough, Pierce won the game for them. Barnett is always kissing everyone's ass. He's on the warriors payroll. He better be liking Dunleavy, Jrich, and any player. He actually said good things about Dan Langhi.
Naw I like Barnett though. He knows what he's talking about, and even though he always says good things about people, I'm glad he doesn't go over the top like some other POS announcer I know, Bill Walton. damn that guy pisses me off I get mad even when I hear his name or think of him. Barnett just gives credit where it is due (and sometimes when it isn't- haha he complimented Dan Langhi?? On what, how skinny he is? )
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Fitzgerald is the man!</div> He's kind of a homer sometimes. Barnett has the better eye for being the neutral commentator. Barnett's also very knowledgeable compared to Fitzergerald about all the NBA teams. But Barnett does kiss a lot of ass at times.
