<font size="4">Seattle Supersonics</font><font size="4"> (50-22) @ </font><font size="4">Golden State Warriors</font><font size="4"> (27-45</font><font size="4">)</font> Golden State Warriors (Home: 14-20) PG - Baron "B-Diddy" Davis SG - Jason "J-Rich" Richardson SF - Mike Dunleavy Jr. PF - Troy Murphy C - Adonal "O.D." Foyle Seattle Supersonics (Road: 25-10) PG - Luke Ridnour SG - Ray "Sugar" Allen SF - Damien Wilkins in place of injured Rashard "Sweet Lew" Lewis PF - Reggie Evans C - Jerome Williams Keys to Victory Move the ball, play defense, and attack the rim relentlessly Notes:
Rashard won't play, Fortson probably won't either. Warriors are in good form, not expecting to win this one with a shorthanded rotation.
Warriors are listed as the favorites for this game. Lewis, Cleaves, and Radmanovic are out for the Sonics. I don't know about Fortson. Wilkens will start in place for Lewis. http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/insiderpreview050403.html
This should be another good gauge of how the W's can matchup next year in the west,though Seattle's injuries are going to give us a good edge.
Who would have thought that the Warriors would be favorite over the Supersonics after the awful start to the season? Looking foward to this game.
1st Quarter Analysis Warriors 27 Sonics 22 SEA: James 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist GSW: Richardson 9 points (4-4 FG) Good 1st quarter. Biedrins airballed 2 free throws but then came back on his next trip to the line and got both in (3-6 FT). Hopefully he recovered mentally from that. It can be hard on a rookie.
Halftime Analysis Warriors 50 Sonics 41 SEA: Murray 11 points, 2 rebounds GSW: Richardson 16 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists Other than turnovers (11), the Warriors are playing a good game. Our shooting has been good, while the Sonics haven't been shooting well. Have to keep it up. Fisher is having another good game off the bench (10 points, 3-5 FG). Foul Trouble: GSW Foyle (3) Davis (2) SEA Wilkins (3) James (2) Fortson (2)
Looks like J-Rich is having a good night. So's Fisher. That means he's taken 3 threes and we won't see much of Pietrus
Dunleavy and his 3 3 pts pretty much ended the game. Warriors really didn't play 100% and number of TO shows, but it seems like we can get away with this game...
Turnovers and bad free throw shooting didn't do us in. Another awesome win. Dunleavy was clutch in the final 3 minutes (9 points?). Foyle had a good game too, I think you can actually say he was an inside presence on D (5 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks). The 3 young guys (Beans, Zarko, MP2) contributed largely in limited time. Fisher had another good game off the bench and JRich seems to be out of his slump the last couple of days. 21 turnovers and 58% FT shooting (14-24). I'm still a bit suprised we were able to lead the whole game with those #'s. Again, another good win to build on.
I agree. I would have liked to see the Warriors play the SOnics at full strength. And also the Sonics didn't have much to play for, they already clinched their Division. I just want to see how this team plays against a team that depseratly needs a win. Right now it is hard to guage how good they really are. I am glad that they are beating up on the teams they should be beating.
Great team game. 28 assists and 9 blocked shots (5 from Foyle) and they limited the Sonics to 34% shooting as a team. Foyle, Dunleavy, Fisher all had awesome games. Foyle was just active in the paint today. Dunleavy had an all around efficient statline with 6 of 8 shooting, 3 of 5 three pointers, 8 rebounds, a steal, 5 assists, and 19 points. We played great D as a team and managed to make up for the number of unforced turnovers committed by limiting the other teams points, matching their energy on the glass, and running fastbreak points in the paint. This is the second game in a row where Murphy has gotten a block or two to go with his double digit rebounding and Jason Richardson owned the shooting guard matchup against Ray Allen with a very efficient 10 of 17 shooting, 22 points and 5 assists. Baron Davis dominated at point guard as usual, but it was funny because he almost had as many turnovers as he did assists (Some of it was miscommunication, others was just being carless and too showy). Best defensive play of the game: Baron Davis, a 6'3 dude, stuffing Jerome James, a 7'1 center, from behind as he was about to dunk it. Luke Ridnour is a pretty good point guard, but he was getting bounced around by our 200 lb+ point guards and there wasn't anything he could do except try to use his quickness and try to hang on.
[quote name='custodianrules2']Great team game. 28 assists and 9 blocked shots (5 from Foyle) and they limited the Sonics to 34% shooting as a team. hey just got back from the game. Awesome win but I wouldn't give too much props to the Warriors d. Ray Allen had a lot of good looks, the Warriors big men just dont step out far enough on the pick and roll. Also Murray, Luke, Daniels, and Wilkins all had very open shots but couldn't hit anything. They are a diff team with Lewis and Rad. But having said that it's good to start playing with the mindset that we need to beat teams like this. But the team they put out there wasn't all that great to be honest and they missed a lot of wide open shots. Dun still needs more toughness, the 3's at the end were very nice but there were a couple times he didn't go after key loose balls that hard. And if Fish were to ever stop hoisting contested shots his fg% would skyrocket. But for some reason Monty still lets him do it, I really dont understand. Pietrus only 11 minutes? Why aren't we giving him close to 30 so he can develop? I dont really understand this. A good win, but thinking of what Mully is going to do with Dunleavy's future contract makes me uneasy. That is the big question.
Jzblaze, we're not the Pistons or the Spurs, but we played some pretty great D considering who we are. Some guys get beat, but the team D and the fact Murphy and Foyle combined for 7 blocks and 19 boards forced the Sonics to think twice about driving against us. It was great for us today. I think we did a good job of boxing out against a team known for offensive rebounding, we converted a lot of turnovers into points. We won the game, I don't know what possible standards this team has to be right now to meet your approval when we've held the sonics to 34% shooting. And what difference does it make whether Pietrus got minutes or not when he has other bench guys that can step up for him. It's about who is setting the tempo and who you can afford to give rest to. Pietrus has that shoulder injury remember? Unecessary risk on a risky player when your other guys are getting the ball inside easy.
<font size="2"> </font><font face="Arial"><font size="2">Mike Montgomery</font></font><font size="2"> "It is a big deal, and has been a big deal for us to finish off quarters, and I felt we did a good job of that today. It?s money in the bank, cattle on the ranch, when you can take a lead into halftime." "We?ve struggled with consistency (from the line) this year. The free throw issue has been problematic, and we missed ten again today, but sometimes we?ve been good. Credit Andris, he bounced back, after some fairly interesting attempts." "At this point in the season, no matter how many we win the rest of the way, we?re not going to the playoffs. Right now, the guys are motivated by the fact that they enjoy playing with one another, and proving to some of these playoff teams that we can play at their level." </font> <font face="Arial"><font size="2">Baron Davis</font></font><font size="2"> On what?s needed to get to the playoffs next year: "We?re going to do everything in our power to make us playoff material next year. We?re not looking at our record. Every time we step out on that floor, we want to win, and that?s the attitude that you have to develop in order to get to that next step. We believe that each and every ball game we come into we can win. Granted Rashard Lewis was out and they weren?t at full strength but we?re supposed to win this game because they?re not. And those are the games that next season we can?t afford to lose. In order to be a playoff contending team you have to beat the teams that you?re supposed to beat on the nights you?re supposed to beat them. Whether it be injury or if it?s a team with a worse record than you. That?s just the mentality that we?re trying to develop now. We?re gonna play as hard as we possibly can." </font> <font face="Arial"><font size="2">Jason Richardson</font></font><font size="2"> On the addition of Baron Davis: ?Both teams took care of the ball and really shared the ball. It was a really good, high-scoring game.? "We?ve been working hard. We?ve had a lot of close games during the season before Baron got here, but now he?s here it takes a lot of pressure off guys like myself when teams are trying to double team me, now they can?t do that because now we?ve got Baron out there to score." On the recent win streak: "We want to be a winning team and that?s something you have to work hard for. It makes the job a lot more pleasant, makes it more easy, makes it more fun." </font> <font face="Arial"><font size="2">Adonal Foyle</font></font><font size="2"> "Tonight I wanted to try and keep my guy off the glass. They (Seattle) come hard on the offensive boards and I just wanted to get a body on my man and let some of my team-mates get the rebounds." "Baron Davis has set the tone for our team and we are taking this opportunity to learn going into next year. We don?t want to go into next year trying to figure each other out. We are playing a lot of quality teams and this is giving us a dip-stick on what we have to work on during the summer, So we?re taking these remaining games very important. " "Baron (Davis) is a huge part of my success but the key to me was when we traded Clifford (Robinson) and Dale (Davis) which opened up some playing time for me. Those guys bring a lot to the table, but I think having more of a traditional center who blocks shots with this team being as explosive offensively as they are. We really didn?t need that extra outside present but I think that was very significant on top of the acquisition of Baron. "</font>
