Game Thread Warriors v. Jazz

The worst thing about this start is looking at Mike Dunleavy on the Pacers. Look at this guy's stats after the first three games. He is averaging about 23 points, 9 rebounds, and almost 4 assists per game. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1708 Dang! Maybe we should have put Dunleavy as the SG? haha. I am hoping he comes back down to earth.</p>

But yeah, Al Harrington needs to start just about every game. I am happy that we got these two Utah games out of the way after week number one. This team definitely is capable of going back to the Western Conference Championship again in 2008, especially with the emergence of Brewer and also Deron Williams.</p>

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Yeah, Utah is a real toothache for the Warriors. GS better hope they don't get Utah in the POs, and that's assuming GS even makes it to the POs at all. It's been about 4 years now that I've been asking for a thick, strong, durable PF to do the dirty work and make life rough for opposing players in the paint. GS has yet to get anyone like this. Until they do, they will continue to get eaten alive by Utah in the halfcourt. I don't care how much run-n-gun you have, this Utah team is the cryptonite. GS needs a bruiser to put some hips on Boozer, Okur, and their little band of cronies. Give me Charles Barkley, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, Moses Malone...</p>

 

There was a couple of passes barnes. Arrrggghhh why was barnes in the game so long with Azu on the bench it was killing me . Oh yeah my question. There was a couple of passes i think barnes was throwing to bellinelli. One at the end of the half where it looked like Belly didnt even make an effort for the ball or didnt think it was passed to him and the other ....well ..... barnes did his no look crap and belly lost his footing and the ball went to no one. HAd barnes not been hot dogging it there wouldnt have been a turnover. And is it just me or is barnes just jacking it up every time he touches the ball. The announcers were laughing about Al Thornton being a black hole .... barnes is starting to look like our version. Nelly keep the tatooed clown on the bench, please. When Jax come back may we never see him on the floor again. Wait. SCratch that. May we seem him every game in mop up duty in blow outs. I guess i didnt have a question. Or..... Why did we resign barnes? just cause no else wanted him? he is nelson's puppy mutt? i have to "believe" either lasme or BW can bring more than the Tattooed clown.</p>

 

Maybe Dunleavy's emergence is a sign that you need at least 4 good defensive players in a team defense scheme + inside presence. Murphy sits, Ike or Jermaine O'neil play and then suddenly Dunleavy's an asset. That part doesn't surprise me. He still can't hit the three worth crap which was what we wanted from him at times and he doesn't really iso or play defense that well. Dunleavy's still a good role player for certain needs and he'll probably stay around in the league because of that. The passing part is what we need from Sjax to get our bigs involved because Baron seems to want to carry the ball a lot and chuck those threes before trying to pass... Way to go point guard. He's defaulting to Baron of the sub 40% or high 30% shooting days.</p>

Then Pietrus and Barnes though... It seems that no matter what they do, they always find some way to undo their positives. Maybe, it's not Pietrus' fault because of where the coach wants him to play. He's basically set up to fail and yet somehow Nelson is pleased with the fact we still don't play much defense inside and we can't rebound worth jack or score inside the paint with finishing flair. But defense has just been the worst lately. I remember the last two games team defense with Ellis, Pietrus, Baron, Azu was just horrible. First off, we lose length that Sjax brings and then the other is guys are collapsing in the paint so much that we just don't defend the outside shots or those deep twos. Even Harrington (who is not the greatest defender in the world) at least does something to hold ground so guys don't have to collapse in and help as much. Biedrins is just getting bounced around because of the lack of strength and he's playing soft because of phantom foul calls or something. It's just getting hard. We need Sjax and a power forward defender at least the skill of Al Harrington. Pietrus at the 4 and a 6'4-6'5 guard playing small forward is a losing propositon.</p>

C'mon Nelly play Wright or Lasme or POB pretty please? And I mean having a guy at least 6'8 man the power forward spot when giving the centers some burn.</p>

 

Thanks Shape, i was the guy who dubbed Calbert Cheaney "The Towel". I knew there must be a good name for Barnes. Besides DNP. Speaking of barnes i just found this gem quote today. Apparently j-rich's loss, jax suspernsion and barnes are the reasons we are losing. If Nellie would only have played barnes more minutes we would be 3-0..... uh huh. Way to go Tattooed Clown. Maybe Bruce Dickinson can write a song about him.</p>

"We're missing J-Rich from last year, we're missing Jack, and we're missing me," Barnes said Saturday. "I can't help the team sitting on the bench. I'm going to try to do what I can to help my team and get out there, figure out what I need to do to get on the court. ... I'm playing 10 minutes a game. I didn't think that was going to happen." Oakland Tribune

"I'm very frustrated," Barnes said. "It's just hard, going in for two minutes and coming out. So I've got to fix my mistakes and figure out what I need to do to stay out there." Oakland Tribune</p>

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I don't mind the last statement... he does need to fix his mistakes if he wants to stay on the floor. He and the team needs to not mention JRich again. That bit is not going to change. They need to face that Utah's just a bad matchup (especially without Jax). Even with last year's team they could've gone 0-2 in those 2, but the Clippers game was winnable. Let's see what the next game has in store. Time for guys to not talk and step up</p>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Clif25)</div><div class='quotemain'></p>

The worst thing about this start is looking at Mike Dunleavy on the Pacers. Look at this guy's stats after the first three games. He is averaging about 23 points, 9 rebounds, and almost 4 assists per game. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1708 Dang! Maybe we should have put Dunleavy as the SG? haha. I am hoping he comes back down to earth.</p>

But yeah, Al Harrington needs to start just about every game. I am happy that we got these two Utah games out of the way after week number one. This team definitely is capable of going back to the Western Conference Championship again in 2008, especially with the emergence of Brewer and also Deron Williams.</p>

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Maybe Dunleavy found some consistency for once. He sure needs it on offense because his defense will always be lacking. I mean he's not the worst, but he's definitely too slow footed to really get out on guys or stay with ballhandlers. Plus, we're talking a guy that gets destroyed in the post because of lack of balance and strength. He's a flop-fest which is a bad thing if it's done constantly and the refs are calling no-calls. But I like Dunleavy's game when the guy is in rhythm. He shows off the things that I like in players like Joe Johnson, Mike Miller, Brent Barry, and Stephen Jackson. It's primarily that ability to pass and score off the dribble which makes Dunleavy look really good at times. It's a heck of a lot better than some guy that doesn't create offense for others and just doesn't see the play or make the accurate pass. I felt like at times Dunleavy only limited himself because he was a mental case at the free throw line and while taking wide open shots. The other part of it was Murphy and Jrich was no help to his game. I bet only Baron Davis was the type of player that could play with the guy.</p>

Well, I'm definitely glad Dunleavy got stronger over the season and got more consistent these past few games. Maybe we should be firing our athletic trainer or coaches for not knowing how to optimize these guys better. I mean Biedrins at 220 lbs is a disgrace. Get him back up to 240 please! It's basic physics here in that if you get guys like Dunleavy or Biedrins to weigh down, they just lose their ability to absorb contact. Contrast that with how Baron and Kelenna can just bull their way to the hoop. I think Dunleavy is doing that more with the added strength compared to last year and he's driving to the hoop more. So maybe what he said about how the Warriors wanted him to weigh down was actually a legit excuse.</p>

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