<div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"><font color="Blue">Golden State Warriors </font> (36-44) @ <font color="Purple">Los Angeles Lakers </font> (54-26) </div> <div align="center">Time: 7:30 p.m. PT Location: Staples Center TV: FSN, NBALP</div> Season Series: Lakers 2, Warriors 1 11/02/03 Lakers 87 Warriors 72 12/23/03 Warriors 107 Lakers 98 02/18/04 Lakers 100 Warriors 99 Previous Games: Mavericks @ Warriors 108-107 W Lakers @ Kings 102-85 L Last 10 Games: Warriors 6-4 (Won 1) Lakers 7-3 (Lost 1) Head Coaches: Eric Musselman/Phil Jackson Probable Starters: Jason Richardson/Gary Payton Mike Dunleavy/Kobe Bryant Mickael Pietrus/Devean George Clifford Robinson/Karl Malone Adonal Foyle/Shaquille O'Neal Sixth Men Speedy Claxton/Derek Fisher Injury Report Warriors Erick Dampier Evan Eschmeyer Nick Van Exel Lakers Kareem Rush Jamal Sampson Horace Grant Rick Fox <div align="center">Players To Watch </div> <div align="center">Jason Richardson & Kobe Bryant</div> <div align="center">Richardson: 18.7 pts, 6.70 rebs, 2.9 assists, 1.07 steals Bryant: 23.7 pts, 5.50 rebs, 5.0 assists, 1.73 steals </div> Keys To The Game <u>Warriors</u> In order for the Warriors to end their season on a strong note, they'll have to do the following: The Warriors have to shoot a high field goal percentage from the field. Which means their starting backcourt which consists of Jason Richardson and Mike Dunleavy Jr. have to shoot better than 50% to get the Lakers on their toes a bit. The Warriors realize they are coming off a terrible loss, so if this backcourt can come out and shoot the lights out early, it could discourage and drain the Lakers confidence. Golden State has to take schemes from the Kings' playbook and find a way to contain Shaq. Clifford Robinson and Adonal Foyle will have to maintain a defensive strategy to keep Shaq away from the basket at all times. If they can double team him for huge portions of the game, disrupt his game, close all the passing lanes for his options to pass to cutting teammates, then the Warriors should be alright. Also, it'll be important for Golden State to win the rebounding categories. The Lakers will not likely come to play at 100% with the fatigue they'll be facing coming home from an awful Sacramento loss, so as long as the Warriors can give their team second chance opportunities, it can tire the Lakers out on every new Warrior possession. <u>Lakers</u> If the Lakers want to start to win this game and prepare mentally in their minds for the playoffs, they'll have to do the following keys: First things first, get Shaq the ball. He was so ignored during the Kings game, that he was like a total stranger. Shaq would need to touch the ball no more than 40 times, and when he receives these number of touches, he'll really need to help not only himself but his team. When Shaq scores 30 plus points and grabs 20 plus boards, the Lakers have a golden opportunity to win. So Shaq has to stop sleeping behind the wheel, and get his 300 pound body on the court and perform like the Diesel he's made himself out to be and attempt to take complete advantage of small Warrior frontcourt. Kobe Bryant will have to put his childish, arrogant ego inside and start playing team basketball. Previously, he only took one shot in the first half and finished 3/13 with eight points. The Lakers cannot have this kind of performance from him again if they want to have some kind of confidence as they prepare for the playoffs. Kobe has been in a shooting slump in this losing streak in which we have lost three out of four games, so I'd look for him to hit shots to put himself in a rhythm, but if the shot's not falling, it's not a crime to PASS!! And also, cutting down on turnovers would be absolutely perfect too. Malone has been doing an excellent job of crashing the boards, and his offensive and defensive contributions will be very much needed and appreciated. His shot hasnt been falling of late, but he's lucky he has three other guys that can pick up the slack for him. I look for Gary payton to run Phil Jackson's triangle offense with some sort of ease and relaxation. And whenever necessary, he should be able to penetrate to the basket, use the remaining quickness in his legs to draw contact and get to the line, and jumpstart our transitional offense. Laker Fever's Prediction I am very disgusted with how this team is playing. Especially Kobe Bryant. But with the Warriors coming to town, and the Lakers returning home to Staples Center where they've played comfortably all season, it shouldn't be a problem for the Lakers. The Warriors will definitely come out with a lot of pride in this one however. As they try to make a statement for themselves that they will be back and make another run for the postseason next year. Lakers by 6.
Very nice preview Laker_fever. I'm not too sure what the Warriors starting line up will be but I can garauntee you Dunleavy will not be guarding Bryant. If Pietrus starts, he was guard Kobe. That should be a fun match up to watch, if Kobe comes to play. I can't wait to see Claxton go at Payton again. Claxton owned that first match up and than Payton got frustrated and got them both ejected which changed that game around. This should be a good game but I'll give the edge to the Lakers as they are home and are playing for position in the playoffs. The Warriors have played the spoiler role and have done a great job at it...watch out.
The Lakers are coming off a blowout loss to their arch rivals the Kings so they are going to be fired up and ready to take some agression out early. Lakers don't really seem interested in their playoff posistion so if the W's can weather the storm, who knows. I wish Damp was not hurt, no one matches up better with Shaq. Can't wait to see Speedy / Payton round 2....ha ha '
No freakin' way Pietrus will guard George, and leave Dunleavy guarding Kobe. I'll take the Lakers by 15.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting cArMeLo15:</div><div class="quote_post">No freakin' way Pietrus will guard George, and leave Dunleavy guarding Kobe. I'll take the Lakers by 15.</div>Yea, those will not be the match ups. Dunleavy will be on George. Who do you think Pietrus will start on? I would like to see him on Kobe and put J-Rich on Payton. I'm sure Claxton will be subbed in pretty quick to continue owning Payton.
The way i'd love to see the lineups at the beginning would be Speedy/Payton Pietrus/Kobe JRich/George Cliff/Karl Foyle(well actually Damp...)/Shaq I was anticiapting this matchup a long while ago when Pietrus started to get some good playing time. The Pietrus/Kobe matchup is the matchup i hope we get to see a lot of. However if Speedy isn't in there with Pietrus, then i would predict that Pietrus would guard the PG and JRich would end up guarding Kobe. Also the Speedy/Payton matchup should be good also. And i also remember back in the preseason hearing about Karl and Cliff getting into it. This Lakers/GSW game should be a lot of fun. It's too bad Dampier is out though. But there seems to be some minor rivalry(if that) ever since they were both in Hawaii. It's the Next MJ vs the Euro MJ...haha...good fun. Is there any chance the real MJ will show up?...doubt it...but that would be neat.
Was it the french league that dubbed Pietrus the French Michael Jordan or was that Gary St. Jean's thing?
There will be some great match ups tomorrow night. Cliffy and Malone seem to have some bad blood from the past few games. Was that the game that Cliff got ejected? Speedy/Payton should be great as well. Speedy owned Payton in the last one and Payton countered by getting them both ejected. It should be good. Pietrus/ Bryant will be interesting. We'll see if Kobe is trying to prove another point to Phil. Maybe Pietrus will be the REAL kobe stopper in the future. I think Dunleavy will start. He has started all season and I don't see Musselman taking him out now. I think he will do fine on George.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Pietrus and Bryant are going to be ejected next.</div>lol...I would take that.
This has been pretty well gone over already, but I see this as a game where Dunleavy gets yanked after 2-3 minutes in favor of Claxston.
I heard some reports today on KNBR that Shaq might not play tonight because the league might suspend him for cursing on live television. Any word on this?
Warriors up 25-15. Great start as every Warrior has scored. Pietrus is playing amazing as well. Lets see how long Muss stays with him. Bryant is the only one scoring for the Lakers, I guess he got the message. --------------------------------------------- The Warriors have their biggest lead of 13 with about 2 minutes to go in the first half. Kobe has been their WHOLE offense. Dunleavy driving and scoring on Kobe, Pietrus posting Payton up for the score...I love it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting openglfx:</div><div class="quote_post">No Speedy, No Murphy. Good effort.</div>Don't forget about Dampier and Johnson.
It looked kind of like the Lakers were toying with the Warriors the hole time. Cardinal and Robinson played great though. I think the Warriors could have won the game if they could have came up with a defensive rebound in the 4th quarter.
