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

I just got back from the game. Man am I disappointed. Its like we did not even care to win. Davis kept us in the game for the first half and then hardly played in the second. I talked to Zarko on his way out of the tunnel and asked him why he is not playing. He just shrugged his shoulders like I dont know, you tell me. It even seemed like Monty did not care about the game with his substitutions. I mean, when was the the last time Skita and White were the first ones off the bench? Warriors could have won this game. I dont know what was wrong with them. I wonder if the tough loss last night had an impact or if they were tired, or if they are now done with their win streak and are calling it a season so they can get a good draft pick. Hello! You should have thought about that 10 games ago! As always from watching Nuggets games this year, Melo gets his dunks in right under the basket and in alley oops. What I was really disappointed in beside Fisher's shooting were these few points.

2 fast breaks in a row starting with the Earl Boykins outlet and the Posey break, Pietrus was right there and could have killed Boykins shot or at least contested either one. He just kind jogged to them and did not even raise his hands.

Dunleavy was not assertive at all

Jrich started slowly but he began to come along. One of the first possessions he posted up Melo and got a good look 2ft from the bucket but did not convert. He really needs a dunk in the beginning of games to get it going, otherwise he just jacks up 3s.

Where was Zarko

Skita sucks and the fans let him and White have it. White had some nice fast break dunks, but this guy is gone after the season. The fans in Denver LOVE Najera though. Too bad he did not play for us the way he is playing for Denver and Dallas...

 

Thanks Warriorfansnc93. I'm also sure the altitude in Denver had something to do with the fatigue in addition to having played off a back to back double overtime game. But you know, you want a game bad enough you can play through it.

We just saw Spurs hang tough against us after having played double overtime the night before so there's really no excuse why we couldn't play through it. This game probably didn't mean as much to the team if it was going to cause Baron Davis extra stress on his body and nobody had any legs or ability to really beat the other team down the floor. The Nuggets are like one of the masters of this due to their athleticism and point guards.

 

I hear everyone asking for a "big" man to protect the middle but I want to remind you that if we go that route we are not going to be as high scoring as we are because we then lose our mobile big men who can shoot outside, Zarko, Murphy. I like our combination right now. A game like tonight is going to happen because there's the altitude and don't forget that the Nuggets are the hottest team in the league after the AS break and going to the playoffs. Hell, they might get the 4 seed.

This has been a memorable stretch for the Warriors and let's not let one game dampen the spirits.

 

Guess Monty chose to play Skita and White in their former home court. However, it must be really tough to be a Zarko. I mean, look at his boxscore for April.

4/1 22 mins 5-6 14 pts
4/3 10 mins 3-5 6 pts
4/5 19 mins 3-4 10 pts
4/8 11 mins 2-2 7 pts
4/10 12 mins 2-2 6 pts

In April, he shot 79% from the field and 71% from 3. And, he scored 8.6 pts. Yet, he couldn't even average 15 mins per game. I am a Zarko, "uh... What should I do to get some min?" We know Zarko won't stop anybody, but it's not like other people are stopping anybody anyway...

 

Even when we were hot, we were repeately got killed by their big men. We won 8 straight games not because of our big man's defense, but despite of our big man's defense. And, we just can't expect this team to outscore every single game. I mean, how better will we be if we actually get a big man, who can D and no longer allows those silly 20 pts/ 50+ % from marginal PFs? And, what's the point of our big mans, such as Dunleavy, Murphy, and Zarko being mobile, when they couldn't stop anybody from overpowering them or going around them? Why our 6'5" (at best) SG is our best option against 6'8" tough SF, especially when he continously pounds inside? Let's not deceive ourselves and thinking that we will continue to win 8 straight games again. At this point, we are bottom half of PO team at best, and we can clearly see gigantic hole at defending big men. I can live with our current line up, but I would really like to see that fixed...

 

Not necessarily, Phil. It's a steep requirement, but not impossible to fulfill, but if we get a big man with presence defensively that can also pound the ball deep inside and finish strong at the hoop (candidates like REREM suggested), we could probably score a lot more points inside + fouls negating the need to shoot 3 ball after 3 ball to climb back into it. It'd also give us the option to play halfcourt sets so we don't wear our guys out running all the time. With a big man for the other team to worry about inside it would make actually help us get better looks from the outside/midrange and control the pace of the game (maybe add in another quick perimeter defender to prevent teams from running out on us by getting out on the lead pass before it initiates the break against us).

Also our point guard paired with a big man finisher at the rim would probably help us score more efficiently (50% in the paint on average) and then you can throw in Murphy or Zarko on the outside to keep the floor spread and help out with the rebounding. I'm sure Mullin is addressing this need in the draft and has his eyes open. I'm merely criticizing that guys are just not built to do battle against certain players defensively or offensively (yet) and we have no fill-in players to help us out off the bench since Zarko, Dunleavy, and Murphy are all face up shooters who struggle with defense unless there's a lot of help defense or the matchups are in our favor. I mean we did some huge trades, so it's expected to still be missing some things and we certainly don't want to tear apart this team after that huge run and signs of great chemistry.

Chalk it up to fatigue/altitude/nuggets being pros in the open court at high altitudes, whatever tonight, but last night, you could see on the perimeter we were having trouble containing quicker players and on the inside we were letting Nazr Mohammed and guys like that go right to the rim without even trying to alter shots or save layups by fouling. I would love to see Murphy just get those hands up and make an attempt to swat or at least wrap somebody up rather than stand there and watch. Most likely we'll be playing teams like the Spurs and the Nuggets in the playoffs and we need to be able to cover our weaknesses as best as we can unless they be exploited again and again whether its their high altitude court in Denver, Spurs' homecourt or our own Arena.

 

Here is my thing on the altitude guys. I lived here for over 3 years now. I am in the military and we have to do physical training 3 times per week where we run ect. I also play basketball here. I am very out of shape to say the least, however, when you are in shape, the altitude does not effect you as much as if you are not in shape. I saw my supervisor who was in OK shape practically get off the plane and run a 12:30 1.5m run. I had never run that. For you track stars out there that is about an 8 minute mile. It is not great, but it is pretty good for some old fat guys in the military. The point is I dont really buy that excuse from the Warriors. These guys are great athletes and their stamina is not their problem. Both teams played last night. The Warriors played a 2OT game and lost. They played late last night, did not get the rest they needed to get. That was the difference maker. Baron on a fast break just laid it up. I was hoping for a dunk. Jrich had 1 dunk. Biedrens had a few dunks and Pietrus had none. Murphy could barely get up for his dunk. These guys were tired from last night. Had they been fresh, maybe they would not have been blown out. Who knows...

 

Here is another thing about the altitude. How can you get used to the altitude when you dont live here for half the year? Some of these guys probably dont live here in the off season, and when you are constantly traveling during the season, how can you get used to the altitude?

 

Its a shame that the W's had to play the heart-breaking 2OT game before going to Denver. If the W's had pulled off the win in 2OT, I think they would have been alot more motivated. Last night looked like a team that was done before the game started. Granted that I missed the 1st quarter and caught the game as the W's climbed back and got within 4 at the half.

The Nuggets just looked like they were ready to go, while the W's looked like they just woke up from a nap, which they probably did. I'm not worried about any attitude problems or drama. The team was flat and they were flat out beaten. Of course, Pietrus played a horrible game and Fish looked horrible. (He can't play with out having a lead, get him with in 4 or 5 points of the other team and that's when he plays well, other than that, well, we know he's a chucking machine).

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Not necessarily, Phil. It's a steep requirement, but not impossible to fulfill, but if we get a big man with presence defensively that can also pound the ball deep inside and finish strong at the hoop (candidates like REREM suggested), we could probably score a lot more points inside + fouls negating the need to shoot 3 ball after 3 ball to climb back into it. It'd also give us the option to play halfcourt sets so we don't wear our guys out running all the time. With a big man for the other team to worry about inside it would make actually help us get better looks from the outside/midrange and control the pace of the game (maybe add in another quick perimeter defender to prevent teams from running out on us by getting out on the lead pass before it initiates the break against us).

Also our point guard paired with a big man finisher at the rim would probably help us score more efficiently (50% in the paint on average) and then you can throw in Murphy or Zarko on the outside to keep the floor spread and help out with the rebounding. I'm sure Mullin is addressing this need in the draft and has his eyes open. I'm merely criticizing that guys are just not built to do battle against certain players defensively or offensively (yet) and we have no fill-in players to help us out off the bench since Zarko, Dunleavy, and Murphy are all face up shooters who struggle with defense unless there's a lot of help defense or the matchups are in our favor. I mean we did some huge trades, so it's expected to still be missing some things and we certainly don't want to tear apart this team after that huge run and signs of great chemistry.

Chalk it up to fatigue/altitude/nuggets being pros in the open court at high altitudes, whatever tonight, but last night, you could see on the perimeter we were having trouble containing quicker players and on the inside we were letting Nazr Mohammed and guys like that go right to the rim without even trying to alter shots or save layups by fouling. I would love to see Murphy just get those hands up and make an attempt to swat or at least wrap somebody up rather than stand there and watch. Most likely we'll be playing teams like the Spurs and the Nuggets in the playoffs and we need to be able to cover our weaknesses as best as we can unless they be exploited again and again whether its their high altitude court in Denver, Spurs' homecourt or our own Arena.</div>

I understand that what your proposing would help. Yes. But I'm trying to be realistic, the Warriors were the sad sacks of the NBA for the past 10 years, worst than the Clippers, with no hope and now with the addition of Baron they are ranked 11th!!! by Marty Burns in his latest Power Rankings.

Before we go and tear down what has just been built lets enjoy it for a while. I do not think that there is someone out there available that you guys have been dreaming about. KG? Amare? Jermaine? Sure. Good luck finding that next year. Look at the Sonics, they've done it without an post presence. They have their own mobile 4 man in Radmanovic. The Sonics are not going to win the championship but they made the playoffs.

 

Whether you are a championship team or a team with dead last rec, when you see an obvious hole, you try to fix the obvious hole. And, defending a big man is an obvious hole for us. Nobody in here ask Mullin to rebuild the team just because we don't have a big man. And, last time I check, getting a decent role playing big man defender like Robinson doesn't take a half of teams to get it. I mean, it would be nice if we can get a franchise big man, but it probably won't happen. And, look at Sonics. How many articles did we read, which praise guys like Fortson, Evans or other big man's toughness? Without new found toughness this season, they wouldn't be anywhere near where they are now, and last season, they missed PO. Without Foyle, our inside is probably softer than a sponge cake...

 

While we did enjoy a great run not witnessed since the great Run TMC era, we obviously don't want to have the same weaknesses as they did, otherwise it's all for nothing when our players get old/traded away and we haven't gotten anything but some cheap thrills before we start sucking again for another 11 years thereafter. We have to try and take it all the way before everything becomes etched in stone. We're lucky to have this opportunity right now. We may be a future playoff team, but sooner or later teams will figure us out. Defensively we're easy to exploit. Offensively, we still lack some options to play halfcourt ball. You look at the spurs or the pistons or the ex-super lakers, they could attack from all angles, in the open court or in the half court set and they all had a starting 5 that played defense. Defense wins games. We can't settle for less, we have to try to add to what we have and make it better (especially D). You just can't play high calibre team defense when you got Murphy, Jrich and Dunleavy who can't even guard their own guy most of the time. We have to find out a way to compete in areas we're lacking in and our current players cannot do because it's not their strengths. Whether it's realistic or unrealistic to find some impact player on a losing team that's extremely talented on both ends, like an Elton Brand, we need to have more options than just playing like the Sonics or the Suns. I agree with Charles Barkley that those two WC teams will likely be the first teams to get their butts handed to them in the playoffs.

All I'm saying is we don't have to overwater the plant, we simply have to give it more ways to grow (sunshine, vitamins, fertilizer, removing the weeds) and keep an eye on it. I'm sure Mullin has learned from his nba days the importance of having an inside presence is in addition to dribble penetration, shooting, ball movement, all around defense to beat any opponent at their own game.