As much as I wanted the Warriors to win tonight, I knew they'd lose. I'm glad they lost in this fashion at this point in the series. They needed that reality check. Better in a game two than a game five. Barkely said that the Warriors will lose the next three now, after they realized that they were in the playoffs. I think the opposite. The Warriors were over confident going into this game and then the Mavs bringing it to the Warriors really shocked them. They lost their composure, as is their tendency to do; they live off of adrenaline and energy and it backfired on them. Plus, as others have mentioned, the amount of dumb turnovers this game was ridiculous. Howard's defense was amazing. Whoever he's guarding I get nervous that he'll get a block or a deflection or a steal. The other thing that worried me was the Dallas fastbreak. They killed the Ws in that department, and got a lot of easy run outs, the type the Ws usually get. I can't wait to see how they play at home. I'm nervous about how they will play. Will it be like most home games this year when the warriors feed off the crowd? I feel like the Warriors home court can come up huge in this series.
Man...I am looking at the stats and this is what I see: Warriors 36-76 on FGs, Mavericks 37-76 on FGs. Warriors 4-20 on 3 pointers, Mavericks 1-16 on 3 pointers. So based on field goals the Warriors win by one point. But where is the difference? The difference is at the FT line. The Mavericks made 14 more free throws than the Warriors and the Warriors shot a super percentage from the FT line so it's not from poor FT shooting from the Warriors. But basically the difference is what I have been saying is the difference in the series, and that is the bench. The Warriors got nothing, technically they got 17 points but a good number of them were late in the game after the Jackson ejection. The Mavericks got 17 points out of Stackhouse alone, and 22 points total from the bench. Next the Warriors need to learn how to take care of the ball. This team doesn't look like the team that was racking up huge assists to close out the season each game. The Warriors got 9 assists and 24 turnovers, which is an unheardof stat, at least to me. That is beyond horrible. The Warriors need to get out of their one-on-ones and start taking care of the ball. How many times is this team going to dribble it off the opponent's foot, keep the ball in front of the defender to poke away, and just make horrible passes and travels? It's got to end. The Mavericks played good defense, and I will give them credit on that for crashing on the Warriors ball handlers, especially after the first initial step. But man, things have to change. The main reason, perhaps, why the Warriors game was probably off was because of the close (this is not the right adjective) officiating (more likely those anticipation calls) that halted the Warriors on some chances of getting out on the fast break. Everything was a foul; and for the most part it was kind of going both ways. But when the refs are like this, then the Warriors lose their style of play and then struggle, especially with how Dallas was playing defense. And when the other players disappear like Al Harrington, Jason Richardson, and Monta Ellis (at least for half the game in his case) then the Warriors are in deep trouble. Add the ejection of Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson and the game is done. As far as the technicals, I hope the referees are suspended for the playoffs. First of all, Stephen Jackson did not deserve his first technical. I saw him, and all he did was make a foul, raise his hand in acceptance, then he saw a little mix up and ran in to break it up. The only players I saw him touch were his own players. Why he got the technical there is unknown by me. Maybe it's because his name is Stephen Jackson and he has his reputation. Why Baron Davis got a technical in that situation is not totally beyond me. If there was a double technical and that was it and the offset each other then I am fine with that. However from what I saw it seemed like Jason Terry made it a bigger thing than it actually was. I mean so Baron was a little physical after the whistle, it's not like the Mavericks were not making hard fouls and being physical on the court. But then I guess they exchanged words and then Terry decided to step up to Baron and do whatever they wanted to clear. Again a double T would have been fine with me. Why Jackson was landed with the T to give the Mavs the advantage there is beyond me. What further goes beyond me is why the hell Baron and Stephen were ejected. This is the playoffs. If the referees can't stand the heat, then go take a vacation and go fishing. I think the NBA will be better off without those refs anyway, especially the dude with the white hair. He was horrible. Anyhow, moving back away from that controversy: Right now the series has become a new 5 game series. The slate is clean. Well the Warriors have homecourt advantage right now, but anyway, basically it's a brand new series. Next game or the first game of this new series is on Friday. If the Mavericks wanted to make excuses about the regular season didn't mean anything, well they are 1-1 now, and that means something. The Warriors need to get Jason back going. Hopefully coming back home after a long stay in Dallas will get Jason back on track. Monta needs to play like he did in the first quarter and quit making turnovers. Harrington needs to provide some points. He's doing well given his assignment for the most part outside of scoring, but the points need to come. And well, this is going to get interesting.
I definitely agree with you, Clif, about the Warriors offense not clicking. I hope to see more cohesiveness with the team. Even in the first half (save for the first 8 minutes) I got the feeling that the Mavs would pull away at anytime. The offense just didn't look good at all. They were lucky Jackson shot so well. The defense the Mavs played on Davis was the biggest difference. He couldn't drive the lane, because someone was going to double as soon he made his move. At times it looked almost like they were playing a zone against him. There definitely seemed to be a lack of confidence on offense, in terms that certain players seemed afraid to take shots and that kind of caused the offense to stall and the offense couldn't get into a rhythm, were everyone was happy and confident of what to do, making the right decision. Agree again with Clif, that the Dallas D had a lot to do with it, as well as the pressure. Not to mention that the D wasn't getting many steals.
<div class="quote_poster">jason voorhees Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, the Warriors were sloppy, but I think they did get it down to single digits in the 4th. But then they fell apart, and got called for a bunch of dumb fouls. Next game, they got to start playing as a team again and pass the ball. Their ball movement was non-existent in the second half. Oh yeah, play some D, too. They gotta be smarter and keep their emotions in check. SJax and Baron especially.</div> Yeah Azubuike came in and the team seemed to get back in it some. I think the Mavericks called a timeout or something, but after a commerical break Azubuike is back on the bench, more basketball is played where players seem like they haven't touched the basketball in years if ever, and then that was pretty much it. When Barnes and Pietrus are just making turnovers - the Dallas game plan was probably focused on shutting these players down (well Pietrus' fouls did that to himself) along with JRich who Avery Johnson knows is not a good ball handler since they were teammates - Don Nelson has to find Azubuike and put him in there. Azubuike knows how to play team ball. I think the Warriors could have tried to take advantage of matchups one-on-one too much. Azubuike is a player who can come out and play team ball and be smart and take what the defense is giving, which is something the Warriors just didn't do. The refs didn't give them anything, they didn't have it in them in there to get themselves anything. They just gave the Mavericks too many possessions off stupid turnovers. I mean what's up with that inbound violation thing? First I guess is dumb, but what is the exact ruling on that play? It seemed to me that Monta grabbed the ball out of the hoop (or was it Barnes), and then passed it to Barnes who was coming out of bounds (I wasn't sure if he was actually in bounds or not if that was important) but then I assume Barnes was going to walk back out of bounds to inbound it to Monta. I don't know, what's the violation there? Can the player who takes the ball out of the hoop off a made basket not capable of passing it to a player who is inbounds or something? I was kind of confused on that one... But still dumb stuff like that can't be made against the Mavericks. Kind of on a random side-step: I don't think Dirk Nowitzki is a very smart player. He is no Matt Barnes or Mickael Pietrus in that department. But as for a superstar and MVP candidate I don't see him being that smart of a player. I mean one possession Diop was guarded by Jason Richardson and Dirk just doesn't have the court awareness to notice it and he decides to put up one of his weak fade away jumpers that was very heavily contested. Then there was that 24 second shot clock violation that probably goes on Dirk for passing it to a guarded player with about 3 or 2 seconds left on the clock. Personally, I may be the only one in this category - but - I would rather give the MVP to LeBron James than Dirk. But that's just my opinion.
Ouch, lets hope Jack doesnt get suspended, he needs to get less homotional about these types of things. I didn't really see either him or B-Diddy doing too much wrong though. Keep your fingers crossed that the commish doesnt pop a boner over this. Good luck Warriors, from a Bulls fan.
<div class="quote_poster">Ed! Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Keep your fingers crossed that the commish doesnt pop a boner over this.</div>Unfortunately they have given him the opportunity to do just that. I don't doubt that they'd rather see Dallas advance than Golden State and now there's going to be an opportunity to have a serious effect on the outcome of Game 3, which should be a Warrior advantage. I really hate to whine about the refs, but that was one of the worst-officiated games I've ever seen. I do think the Warriors got assraped in this game by the refs, but as Clif pointed out, even if those calls are even, a game called with a very heavy hand will always favor the other team and hurt the Warriors. Now having gotten that off my chest, you also have to realize the Warriors didn't help matters by shooting themselves in the foot in this game, and I don't just mean Baron and SJax getting ejected. The number of unforced turnovers ont he Warriors was staggering. And another thing, Biedrins comes in and immediately Baron drives in and drops it off to him for an easy layup just like has been working all year and I'm thinking "awesome, you have this weapon that's worked all year and you're finally realizing this is the time to use it." Then...nothing. They never went back to it! Instead we get some crazyass offbalance 23' jumpers with no ball movement. It's just blowing my mind how they seem to have completely forgotten how effective Andris is and he's being way underutilized.
<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Unfortunately they have given him the opportunity to do just that. I don't doubt that they'd rather see Dallas advance than Golden State and now there's going to be an opportunity to have a serious effect on the outcome of Game 3, which should be a Warrior advantage. I really hate to whine about the refs, but that was one of the worst-officiated games I've ever seen. I do think the Warriors got assraped in this game by the refs, but as Clif pointed out, even if those calls are even, a game called with a very heavy hand will always favor the other team and hurt the Warriors. Now having gotten that off my chest, you also have to realize the Warriors didn't help matters by shooting themselves in the foot in this game, and I don't just mean Baron and SJax getting ejected. The number of unforced turnovers ont he Warriors was staggering. And another thing, Biedrins comes in and immediately Baron drives in and drops it off to him for an easy layup just like has been working all year and I'm thinking "awesome, you have this weapon that's worked all year and you're finally realizing this is the time to use it." Then...nothing. They never went back to it! Instead we get some crazyass offbalance 23' jumpers with no ball movement. It's just blowing my mind how they seem to have completely forgotten how effective Andris is and he's being way underutilized.</div> Yeah, the Warriors definitley over-did the take advantage of certain matchups by going one-on-one. It works at times, and when it does you look like a genius. Problem was that Dallas made the adjustment and really pressured the ball handlers especially Josh Howard man on man and even Terry some, but even if anyone made one move toward making a play to the hoop there were Dallas guys doubling pressuring the Warriors to make smart decisions. And really it just wasn't happening tonight. Baron Davis, the PG (and only real PG) and leader of this team wasn't at his best shooting, and when he went out, the Warriors were desperate for someone to take control of the ball and make things happen, but it just wasn't there tonight. The Mavs had the Warriors' number tonight -- though at the beginning of the third quarter I thought the Warriors were going to steam-roll in the second half after like a 8-0 run to go up 6. But things changed and never went back to favor the Warriors. Games one and two have been close. It's just been about who gets the last run to pull away.
The difference to me was turnovers. We did not take care of the ball. Baron made a bunch of stupid plays. Oh well, back down to earth. Now lets see if we can return the favor on our home court. In my mind, this is the beginning of the series because if we win both games at home, then we will have a chance to either end it there or come back home to finish it off. But if we go 1-1 here the series will be tied 2-2 going back to their place, they win their game at home and we come back to our place on our heels fighting just to keep our head above water only to be taken out at their place. I think it is crucial we win both games at home like we are capable of. I also think we will blow them out on Friday to return the favor..
I dont know if you guys saw the press conference after the game, but nelson made a point to call out harrington..... basically saying he wasnt showing up for the first two games..... he also called baron and jax out for being vets acting like rooks.... he had a great line when a reporter asked why we went away from running down doubling nowitzki .... or did nowitzki make an adjustment and not spin but fade instead..... and nelson said " is that what you saw? go write about it." nelson was clearly pissed. Monta also got to the podium and handled himself well.
<div class="quote_poster">boogielew Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I dont know if you guys saw the press conference after the game, but nelson made a point to call out harrington..... basically saying he wasnt showing up for the first two games..... he also called baron and jax out for being vets acting like rooks....</div>Nellie was strangely reserved for the almost the whole game, he just sat there with a frowny look on his face and said hardly anything. It was weird and reminded me of the first game this year against the Lakers. I guess he was just thinking "These guys are just not executing." What's he going to say, "Play better."? Iwas disappointed that Harrington did not pick it up, JRich is rebounding but still hasn't found his shot and is all of a sudden turnover-prone, Monta still can't maintain the intensity he's capable of for more than a quarter, Pietrus continues to prove he is just not a big time player, and as I said before, Nellie is underutilizing the talents of Andris Biedrins.
<div class="quote_poster">boogielew Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I dont know if you guys saw the press conference after the game, but nelson made a point to call out harrington..... basically saying he wasnt showing up for the first two games..... he also called baron and jax out for being vets acting like rooks.... he had a great line when a reporter asked why we went away from running down doubling nowitzki .... or did nowitzki make an adjustment and not spin but fade instead..... and nelson said " is that what you saw? go write about it." nelson was clearly pissed. Monta also got to the podium and handled himself well.</div> Don Nelson called out the whole team just about. But yeah, first he did point out Al Harrington. But he also was tough on Monta Ellis for not being energized (or i forget the exact word he used to describe Monta) enough. But the general message was, not enough of the other players have picked up their game, especially last game. He did mention that he thought the team still had a shot up until the Baron Davis ejection. Anyway, last night's second half was a nightmare. Let's take the first 10 quarters (and previous success over the Mavericks) and keep playing and building off that and throw away the second half of last night's game. They will just need to make adjustments to get the ball moving and go back to team Warriors basketball. This team is inexperienced in the playoffs and it showed last night. But they can overcome it, I know they can. Now we just have to wait until Friday to see how they do it if they do overcome last night.
^Sucks that they lost, but losing in that fashion was necessary for this team, a nice reality check for them, which they needed, and some fans did too.
<div class="quote_poster">Run BJM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">We played like crap in game 1 too though and still won. I'm glad the series is coming to Oakland now, hopefully Harrington and J-Rich get it going at home and Baron and Jackson will come out focused.</div> Yeah, but the big difference is the Mavs didn't play like crap also. I think Jrich is going to be a winner, but Harrington... talk about one-dimensional role player in the playoffs. Ugg...
<div class="quote_poster">jason voorhees Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, the Warriors were sloppy, but I think they did get it down to single digits in the 4th. But then they fell apart, and got called for a bunch of dumb fouls. Next game, they got to start playing as a team again and pass the ball. Their ball movement was non-existent in the second half. Oh yeah, play some D, too. They gotta be smarter and keep their emotions in check. SJax and Baron especially.</div> the ref calls were questionable according to some of my friends. I thought some plays were like that, but I mostly blame the team for acting up and playing stupid. Of course the other team will have a higher chance to run away with the game. We gave them all the opportunities to do so. I believe Nelson thinks the same. If I blame anything on the refs, it would be the technical fouls. Absolute stupidity by the refs. They totally took away the game because of their actions... Just like the Washington Game where people who provoked it, had the refs give them what they felt was coming. It should have been all about the game itself...
The stupidest thing was Baron complaining about his last foul, clearly he made contact, a chest bump in fact, that was an easy call. Don't know why he complained. In any event, someone who's been there before knows that you do not get thrown out, in any instance. The greats never lose their cool in the playoffs. Hot heads get a lot of run in the short term for quitting/getting thrown out, but if you look at it from the long run, you are really quitting on your team. Baron/SJax quit on their teammates. Let's just hope that they learn to quit complaining and just play.
^Agree with you philsmith. I couldn't have said it any better. It's hard to believe what Davis said in his post game interview, about clapping for coach, and clapping for his teammates. I don't know, but it sounded hilarious to me. Pure BS. And this is not the first time Baron has gotten frustrated. I can remember the Spurs game in Oakland, when Parker pushed off with his forearm and didn't get called for an offensive foul, so then you can tell BD is pissed, and he tries to take this crazy swipe at Parker, and pretended he was trying to steal the ball. Same thing happened against the Clippers with Quinton Ross, that game after the Indy trade. Clearly Quinton Ross got to BD with his D. BD is a great player, but prone to blowing up, which is why I can't blame the refs for ejecting him. He was asking for it and his clapping was obviously mocking. I mean he was smiling the whole time...
Even before the ejections and arguments we were playing horrible so we can't blame it on that. We ere down by 13 points at the end of the third quarter. JRich was still playing horrible, Monta cooled down from the first quarter, and Al Harrington had a horrible shooting game. Sjax and Baron were the only two players that played consistent throughout the whole game. When the fourth started I thought we had a chance to catch up and still win, but the ejections made it worse. Sjax and Baron needed to stay calm in the situation. They were the only two players playing good on the team and the Warriors needed them. Unfortunately they let their anger take over them. In the first half the Mavericks slowed the pace. From being a running team they made us play half court offense, something we aren't the best at. Jackson and Davis still played good, but it took all of our other players out of the game which was another reason why we lost. Dirk didn't play good until the fourth when our players started to lose momentum and confidence. Even Nelli was confused. It looks like the Mavs starting Dampier really helped them control the game and put it more of their style of play. Overall, I wasn't too surprised bye the outcome of the game. I was expecting a little closer game, but after what happened in the fourth, I knew it was over and there was no way that we would catch up and beat the best team in the NBA on their home floor. Honestly, I think we will win both games at home and lose the next game in Dallas, but finish off the series with a win in game 6. I hope the league doesn't suspend Jackson for his actions so we could still have the confidence to win.
<div class="quote_poster">Legacy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Even before the ejections and arguments we were playing horrible so we can't blame it on that. We ere down by 13 points at the end of the third quarter. JRich was still playing horrible, Monta cooled down from the first quarter, and Al Harrington had a horrible shooting game. Sjax and Baron were the only two players that played consistent throughout the whole game. When the fourth started I thought we had a chance to catch up and still win, but the ejections made it worse. Sjax and Baron needed to stay calm in the situation. They were the only two players playing good on the team and the Warriors needed them. Unfortunately they let their anger take over them. In the first half the Mavericks slowed the pace. From being a running team they made us play half court offense, something we aren't the best at. Jackson and Davis still played good, but it took all of our other players out of the game which was another reason why we lost. Dirk didn't play good until the fourth when our players started to lose momentum and confidence. Even Nelli was confused. It looks like the Mavs starting Dampier really helped them control the game and put it more of their style of play. Overall, I wasn't too surprised bye the outcome of the game. I was expecting a little closer game, but after what happened in the fourth, I knew it was over and there was no way that we would catch up and beat the best team in the NBA on their home floor. Honestly, I think we will win both games at home and lose the next game in Dallas, but finish off the series with a win in game 6. I hope the league doesn't suspend Jackson for his actions so we could still have the confidence to win.</div> The 3rd quarter just ended horribly. But until the end of the third I thought the Warriors were somewhat in it. They had a nice 8-0 run or something early within the first two or three minutes of the 3rd to go up by 6. But then the Mavericks got their run going. The Warriors started to somewhat weather their run. With a couple of minutes left in the 3rd the team managed to be only down 7 or so. Then there were like two turnovers in a row (well I don't know what JRich's fall to the floor which ended up in a jump-ball is called, probably not a turnover but it acted that way) or so, and plus the technical, and then yeah the Warriors were down quite a bit, 13 to be exact, going into the final quarter without their best player and leader. One concern that I kind of got from this game was if this team has enough bodies and players to play the way they do. These players play hard and hustle on everything. It's really great to see how they work on the court like that. But with 8 player rotations and one player (Pietrus for last game's instance) who gets in foul trouble in an instant isn't going to help in the long run. Baron's knees may be another concern. Nonetheless the Warriors are still in it, and it should be a fun game three back in Oakland. So far the Warriors have played 8 strong quarters of basketball. They have home court advantage now. Let's not get down just because of those two bad quarters. The Warriors will finally be out of Dallas and back in the Bay to take care of their home court, fans, and business.
