Golden State @ Denver, April 11, 2005, 6:00 PM PST

<u>Golden State</u> (31-46) at <u>Denver Nuggets</u> (45-31)

Monday, April 11, 2005 at 6:00 PM PST
At the Pepsi Center, Denver, CO

Golden State: 26.5 GB (Pacific, 5th place)
Denver: 5 GB (Northwest, 2nd place)

Probable Starters:
Denver Nuggets
PG Andre Miller
SG DeMarr Johnson
SF Carmelo Anthony
PF Kenyon Martin
C Marcus Camby

Golden State Warriors
PG Baron Davis
SG Jason Richardson
SF Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
PF Troy Murphy
C Adonal Foyle

Quick Recaps
Denver is red hot, having won 7 straight and recording an amazing 21-3 record after the all-star break. The surge has been largely attributed to Coach Karl, who took over on January 28 and proceeded to take the team, which was on the fringes of the playoff picture, to the #6 seed. The team can also point to the power of its bench, with perennial 6th man Earl Boykins, althletic Nene, hustler Eduardo Najera, defensive stalwart Greg Buckner and sharpshooter Wesley Person all registering near 20 minuters per game, giving Karl a lot to work with.

A win against the Warriors will clinch a playoff spot for Denver. But, Karl is not stopping at the playoffs, though, looking to attain 50 wins for the team. To do that, they will have to go 5-1 through their last 6 games.

Golden State has matched Denver's streak, having a recent 8 game winning streak snapped by a tough 136-134 double overtime loss to the Spurs. The obvious catalyst for Golden State has been Baron Davis, who has brought confidence (and timely passes) to his teammates and hope for the Golden State fans. With Davis and with Montgomery's change to a running offensive attack, Golden State has turned into an offensive juggernaught. The team scoring average increased from 93.9 points per game before the all-star break without Davis to 104.5 points per game with him, an increase of 10.6 points per game. Although Golden State has little left to play for except pride, a winning tradition would be a welcome change. The game against Denver will be a tough matchup, especially as a road game, coming off the emotionally and physically draining loss against the Spurs.

 

2OT gam, back to back, on the road playing a red hot team in Mile high thin air... I think this is gonna be a long one for us

 

The Spurs won on their back to back, with both of their games going to double overtime, and they're not as deep (with all the injuries) as the Warriors. Although Baron's minutes will have to be watched, everyone else should be ok. Still, we'll have to depend on our bench, which hasn't been getting as much use during the winning streak. If Pietrus and D-Fish have good games, it'll keep it close.

 

Well, I have a very bad feeling about this game. Not only double OT loss, they get to go to Denver later than 2:00 AM, air is thin, Warriors are bad at defending big man while Denver has number of them, and Denver is just sizzling hot. But Spurs has every reasons to be blown by 30 pts too, so who knows...

 

This is by far the hardest game left on the season. I've been saying this even before the streak was snapped yesterday. I'm not expecting a W out of this one, it's going to be tough.

 

This game isn't televised?

 

It's on Fox Sports Bay Plus because the A's home opener will be televised at 7 pm on Fox Sports Bay.

 

Thanks for doing the preview, Zhone.

Hey what gives? FSN Plus is nothing but a Phillies/Marlins game?

 

Mmm... Try various channels. I tried whatever website had, but it didn't come out right. Instead, I found it on Channel 33 for some strange reason.

 

Boy the comcast rep is going to be hearing a lot of F-bombs from my end. What's going on in the game so far?

Thanks, Kwan but couldn't find it.

 

1st Quarter

Nuggets 36
Warriors 29

DEN: Miller 8 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists (4-6 FG)
GSW: Davis 17 points, 1 rebound (6-8 FG)

Outside of Davis, everyone looks tired and bad. You would think Davis would be tired from playing 50 minutes (last night) but he is holding his own.

 

How was the game? Well, we knew that we are bad against defending big man. But, 1st quarter was getting ridiculous. At least, Davis kept the game close...

 

True stars like Bdiddy don't get tired I guess. Hey the game is on. Wohoo! Thanks gentlemen.

 

I wish Jrich would stop shooting those 3's and try to get inside on Andre Miller.

 

Wait, didn't we give up Dallas pick for Zarko trade? Fitz just said we gave up top 10 protected draft pick. Which one is right?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Kwan1031:</div><div class="quote_post">Wait, didn't we give up Dallas pick for Zarko trade? Fitz just said we gave up top 10 protected draft pick. Which one is right?</div> I don't think we gave up anything for Zarko except two second rounders.

We gave Dallas' pick to Denver I thought in addition to Najera for Rodney White, Skita to accept our salary dump.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1">February 24 2005
Traded guard Speedy Claxton, center Dale Davis and cash to the New Orleans Hornets for guard Baron Davis; traded guard Luis Flores, forward Eduardo Najera and a 2007 first-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for forwards Rodney White and Nikoloz Tskitishvili.
February 14 2005
Traded forward Clifford Robinson to the New Jersey Nets for two second-round picks in 2005 and 2007.
January 3 2005
Traded two second-round picks to the Phoenix Suns for forward Zarko Cabarkapa and waived forward Ansu Sesay.</font></font></div>
Jrich nailed a buzzer beater after struggling mightily.

 

I'm not sure how accurate the Cliff Robinson trade was because I thought it was for a 5 mil or so trade exception.

Here's the source: not sure how good it is
http://www.hoopshype.com/general_managers/chris_mullin.htm

Offical site says trade exception + 2 second rounders (this year and 2007)
http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/robinson_trade_021405.html

Offical site also says we gave up the Dallas first round pick in 2007 in the Denver trade
and <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> The Golden State Warriors have acquired forwards Rodney WhiteNikoloz Tskitishvili (pronounced NI-ko-los SKEE-tish-VEE-lee) from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for forward Eduardo Najera, guard Luis Flores and a future first round draft pick (from Dallas in 2007), it was announced today by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin.</div> http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/acquire_t...ite_022405.html

Then here's the Zarko trade: 2 second rounders we gave up to Phoenix (and got 2 back later from the Nets for Uncle Cliffy)

http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/acquire_z..._cabarkapa.html

 

That's right. We gave up Dallas pick to Denver, not Suns. Fitz scared me for a min. I have no idea what's going on with 2nd rounder either, since it moved around like crazy. Only thing I know is that we ended up with two 2nd rounders this year somehow...

 

Halftime

Nuggets 68
Warriors 64

DEN: Anthony 17 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 block (7-9 FG)
GSW: Davis 23 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals (8-11 FG)

Fast break and points in the paint are killing us. It's also the reason why Denver is shooting 61% to the Warriors 45%. Atleast we're somehow still in this game. But if we don't play D and take away their easy scoring chances then it's pretty much over.

 

Damn WTF I come home from work hoping to watch the 2nd half on TV and see Warriorfansnc93 bangin the thundersticks and instead theres some stupid ass info-mercial on the channel FSN+ is usually on.