<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">For years, people have marveled at the patience and understanding of the Warriors' fans. At times, with the team a complete and utter failure, their devotion didn't even seem real. Those same fans fill the arena this autumn, with one big difference -- there's no mystery as to the source of their entertainment. Wherever this season may lead, the Warriors are exciting, dangerous and unpredictable. They almost guarantee a good show in Oakland, where Monday night produced a thrilling victory over the proud and accomplished San Antonio Spurs. There can be no question now about Don Nelson's impact on the team and the franchise's reputation, and it has occurred with stunning haste. It's not that the Spurs ever resembled a world-championship contender this night. They seemed to play with an unshakable hangover, and they badly miss the non-stop energy of Manu Ginobili, out with a back injury. Still, when one recalls their first visit to Oakland last year -- a spirit-crushing blowout that exposed every Golden State weakness -- the change in seasons seems particularly striking. As opposed to the past couple of weeks, when players emerged from anonymity to spark the Warriors, this one put heavy focus on some old hands, notably Jason Richardson, whose confident-looking outside shots netted him 26 points, and Mike Dunleavy, who shot 8-for-13 off the bench and scored 20 points. There seems to be no denying, however, the remarkable ascent of center Andris Biedrins (15 rebounds, 18 points) and Monta Ellis, who awakened from an odd malaise to put 19 points on the board. Ellis was so invisible in the first half -- two points, three turnovers and no assists while being absolutely torched by Tony Parker -- a stranger to the arena must have wondered what all the commotion was about. "I've never seen him like that," Nelson said. "I know he can get a little depressed if things aren't going well, and instead of shaking it off, he just gets worse. I had a little talk with him at the start of the fourth quarter, though, and he really responded." "What he told me," Ellis said, "was that we weren't going to win this game if I didn't step up to the plate." He did just that, drawing some of the crowd's loudest responses of the night with a driving, fast-break layup that tied the game (72-72) and a breakaway dunk for an 89-82 lead. The saga of Dunleavy, meanwhile, remains a story of twists and turns. At times the crowd's booing and heckling seems unreasonable, especially in light of Dunleavy's intriguing stat line Monday night. Nelson, though, isn't annoyed by the love-hate relationship. On a night when he downplayed a very big win, citing the Spurs' back-to-back games and the absence of Ginobili, Nelson took a hard stance on Dunleavy. "A lot of it is his own fault," said Nelson. "He needs to step up and do more, get tougher. I mean, I have the same problem the fans do. I'm not booing (laughter), but I'm thinking that way. Like, if he's got a mismatch down low, he might not do anything about it -- that sort of thing. I'm on him a lot, because he's our team captain, and there are times when he needs to be dominant." As for the team's long-term prospects, a hard, honest look would put the Warriors in contention for one of four playoff spots, given that San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix will make it there safely. Unlike the East, where any old slug can make the postseason and exactly one team (Orlando) has looked even remotely inspiring, the Warriors have some murderous obstacles ahead. The Lakers have chemistry, an ever-healthier Kobe Bryant and a surprisingly formidable, two-headed presence inside with 19-year-old Andrew Bynum and the resurgent Kwame Brown. Denver runs like crazy, with Carmelo Anthony destroying people nightly, and doesn't seem to miss either Kenyon Martin or Nene. Chris Paul, by himself, makes New Orleans a threat. The Clippers, while hopeless on the road and lacking any semblance of energy, figure to make a move eventually. Utah looked terrible in Oakland but seems to have everything in place -- especially fast-coming point guard Deron Williams -- to win the Northwest Division. Nelson, naturally, isn't worried about any of that. He just beat San Antonio without Baron Davis, Mickael Pietrus and Ike Diogu. He strikes the look of a proud father, watching his kids blossom as athletes and as people. Late on this memorable evening, Nelson said he was going to particularly enjoy his scotch and soda. It would be richly deserved.</div> Source
I like how the article describes that Nelson empathizes with the majority of fans. Especially about the love-hate relationship part on Dun. I like Dunleavy's skills and when he's assertive he's very smooth offensively. On defense, at least he's improved and cut down on blocking fouls or moments where he gets destroyed on man-to-man coverage. It's obvious Dun has been very well coached player as a youngster, but damn has he been ineffective as a 6'10 starter at all nba positions or what? At least the bench allows him to think about a few things so that he can adjust to the current tempo. We need scoring? Great. We need a guy who can dive cut and finish right to left? Great. He can probably do all these things if he touches the ball more, but not if Murphy, Richardson, and Baron are the better guys to take these shots first. BTW, what is up with Dunleavy shooting worse than Jrich at the free throw line now?
Bruce Jenkins is simply the best writer in the Bay Area. He's not hip-hop but he's straight down the middle and calls them like he sees them. Dunleavy's problem at the line is that he refuses to grip the ball on the seams, instead turning them so that he shoots with the seams.
Pietrus is at like 60%... Biedrins is almost catching up to him. Warriors are ranked last in the league in FT's..
Not a good situation to be if our offense becomes stagnant, we stop moving the ball, and we can't play the defense. It's why I like separating Murphy and Dunleavy even more because both don't have the footspeed to play their intended positions, nor the strength to play one position bigger, defensively.
Biedrins and Dunleavy is a passable frontline. Biedrins can cover the post up option and Dunleavy can roam. Dunleavy knows how to box out on the weakside and grab rebounds (although he gets outjumped at times.) Without Biedrins, Dunleavy gets exposed. Murphy, sorry to say, is the odd man out.
The only way Dun works at PF,is if we haul-ass with max speed at the 1-2-3,and Biedrens is huge on d and rbds. then Dun can be a passer,feeding slashers or making a pass on the break. Murphy and Diogu however-each bring different things-but maybe of equal or higher value as the PF. Further...it ain't a 30 min game or a 30 game season...5 guys are not the whole enchilada. I see the "second 5" as a real big edge,especially vs certain teams. The more we push tempo-the more the second 5 matters. Nellie,Lately-has been without 3 guys of his top 8. As a result-he turned to guys few saw as among out top 10....and Nellie got what he needed. As the season rolls on-Nellie will be weaving his magic-
<div class="quote_poster">philsmith75 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Biedrins and Dunleavy is a passable frontline. Biedrins can cover the post up option and Dunleavy can roam. Dunleavy knows how to box out on the weakside and grab rebounds (although he gets outjumped at times.) Without Biedrins, Dunleavy gets exposed. Murphy, sorry to say, is the odd man out.</div> At worst-at some point Murphy is our #2 option at PF and C. How is that odd man out? Dunleavy,Pietrus...hell-Barnes or J Rich can BE your PF but then you really need the other team to play small or you need us to really out run them and make shots. We can-SOMETIMES-get away with a bunch of guards and one big man-but if that is our only option--then its easy to counter.
I meant odd man out for crunch time. Not totally. Murphy can bring some things, I used to be a big fan of his, but in light of how the team is playing these days, especially Biedrins, I sense Murphy doesn't fit as well.
The problem with Murphy is he's the biggest liability on defense. If he's more active with his feet, then he sacrifices defensive rebounding positioning it seems. How else does he get rebounds without being a big leaper or exceptionally quick off his feet? He's a stay at home kind of guy and that's how he pretty much gets his numbers on the glass. He can read the glass, is very tall, has excellent hands, and a knack for being in the spots where he can collect the rebound easily. Aside from injuries, his rebounding becomes less steady when he's forced to do a lot more as the team's center like leak out instead of trail all the time on offense. If we can somehow hide Murphy with four good defenders and get another playmaker on the floor, then maybe he is all right. But Dunleavy and Barnes have been really dishing it out lately and making some hustle plays. We kind of need that grittiness from those two until Murphy can heal and get some back. We've seen some weird stuff from Murphy where he was passing it and actually blocking shots and stealing the ball. He's got some ballhandling skill, but not too dominant.
<div class="quote_poster">philsmith75 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Biedrins and Dunleavy is a passable frontline. Biedrins can cover the post up option and Dunleavy can roam. Dunleavy knows how to box out on the weakside and grab rebounds (although he gets outjumped at times.) Without Biedrins, Dunleavy gets exposed. Murphy, sorry to say, is the odd man out.</div> Yes, passable at best. I think Dunleavy at PF is only good at spurts, but what the heck do I know? Nelson knows best and creates lineups on the fly. I just think that Dunleavy at 4 puts too much pressure on the 5 to man the key and rebound as Dunleavy can do that as effectively as a Canadien quarter in an American arcade.
Murphy and Dunleavy shouldn't be on the court at the same time, and it took Nelson one game to figure that out. If it weren't for Nelson, we may see more of Biedrins-Murphy line up. But, since Nelson favors small line up, Murphy can't defend the middle, and maybe Murphy isn't 100%, he has been ignored somewhat, just averaging 28.5 mins. Kinda shame because Murphy is shooting 50% from the field and 45% from 3 pts line. But, there is no question that Murphy seems to be bit awkward in Nelson's system so far. And, I think Nelson also figured out that Dunleavy can't play 4 as well. Even though he may be the 2nd tallest player, more often than not, Richardson or Pietrus play the role of PF. Really, it's quite scary if we don't have Biedrins, who can cover the weakness of Murphy and Dunleavy quite well. Dunleavy is definitely benefitting from the presence of Biedrins, and hope Murphy can find his role as well (or be traded for expiring contract)...
I'd HOPE Muphy will,with Nellie's guidance,find his role so I can say Nyah Nyah..told ya. Alternate HOPE,we trade him for someone I actually WANT on the team,some value. Trade him for an EXPIRING? Thats a pretty sad little thing to hope for. Big men and rebounders are not that easy to come by,especially for the Warriors. Show me a deal where we get a 10 rebound guy who costs less and I'm interested.
<div class="quote_poster">REREM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> Alternate HOPE,we trade him for someone I actually WANT on the team,some value. </div> Okay... say we do that. How does that help our cap situation?
<div class="quote_poster">Warriorfansnc93 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Murphy has not been a 10reb guy this year. It's like he lost his mojo or something...</div>He does seem a bit lost right now, but one factor is that Andris is probably getting a lot of the rebounds that Murph used to get by default. Also, it seems we're doing better team rebounding this year. With Baron free from running point, and taking fewer threes, he's probably in a better position to get rebounds, and everyone else seems to be grabbing a lot of boards as well. I don't know that it'll necessarily be Murphy, but it seems clear that someone with some talent is going to have to be sacrificed for cap room, and we won't be getting back equal value for them. Murphy and Pietrus seem the most likely candidates to me right now, probably both of them. If we can get back some cap room and somehow hold onto Andris, Monta, Baron, JRich, and hopefully Ike, I'll be pretty happy.
