Musings
A lot of happenings in the NBA recently. A fight broke out in New York, AI is reportedly headed to Denver, and the Warriors still suck on the road.
Some of my friends were giving me shit about the title of this Blog. But until we are proven otherwise, the Dubs are headed to the NBA draft lottery. The Warriors have made losing on road part of not only an art form, but inevitable. Last night was classic Dubs. Play super for 3 quartes, tons of fast break points, a swarming defense. Up 3 at the half and 6 after 3, they surrender an 18-2 run to start the 4th, and end up losing by who knows what. What is the deal? I wish I knew. Outside shots that fall for 3 quarters don't in the 4th. Baron continues to play out of his mind, nearly recording his third triple double in as many games. However, it was Jason Kidd who recorded his 81st career trip-dub, and it was the Warriors who fell to 1-9 on the road.
Seattle, Toronto, New Jewsey, Boston, Miami (without Shaq). These are all teams that a supposed playoff aspiring team should be able to beat. I mean, Seattle was without Ray Allen, Toronto without Chris Bosh, and NJ got nothing from Carter last night. All loses.
Part of the problem I see is that the Dubs have no interior presence besides Andris Biedrins. And even AB is only 20, and still growing into his body. He is much improved from last year, and is a dam good shot blocker. But one guy inside is not enough. JRich came back last night to give the Dubs nothing. Diagu has been activated for 3 games now, and has given us nothing.
Is it possible the Warriors can still make the playoffs? Sure it is. Is the season over? Not at all. But seriously, the only way that this culture of losing is going to turn around, is with some wins. I'd like to see less BD in the 4th quarter and more Monta. BD has taken all the tough shots down the stretch since he's been here. He has delivered on occasion like last Thursday against Houston. But sometimes we need to switch it up. Give Dun a shot, give Ellis a shot to make a play.
As long as they continue to settle for shooting jumpers, its going to be a long season.
Inother hoops news:
How do you replace the NBA's leading scorer for 15 games?
Replace him with the NBA's second leading scorer.
Denver has reportedly traded Andre Miller, (former Dubs first pick) Joe Smith, and two first round draft picks in this spring's upcoming NBA draft for Allen Iverson.
I'm really interested to see how Iverson and Anthony co-exist when Anthony returns from his 15 game suspension for punching Mardy Collins in Saturday night's brawl at Madison Square Garden. It has been well chronicled that both guys need their shots to score. It has been well chronicled that AI has never played with any comparable talent in his 11 years in Philly. However, it has been less chronicled that when AI has had even a little bit of talent, he can be an effective distributor of the roundball. Denver traded away their only legit point guard. They have Earl (the pearl) Boykins (also of GSDub fame) but he is more 2 guard in point guard's body. JR Smith is another player who needs his shots. However, almost every championship team from last year back until the Seattle Supersonics won the NBA title circa 1979 has had two super stars on its team, with the notable exception of the 2004 Detroit Pistons. I'm talking about Jordan and Pippen, Shaq and Kobe, Shaq and Wade, Duncan and Ginobli or Duncan and Robinson(to name a few). So in reality, this is a move that should help Nugetts. Not sure its going to happen for them this season, but I think as AI gets older, the Nugetts will become legit Western Conference title contenders.
Lastly: As I only saw the brawl in New York on highlights, i'm not really going to take a lot of time commenting on it. But one thing I've read that I agree with is that when fights happen in the NBA, the outcry from the national media and from the common fan/observer is that the lig is full of thugs. But in hockey or baseball, which are sports that are not predominantly african-american, the outcry is minimal.
Also, how come the NFL doesn't have the image problem with all the various off the field offenses that are committed by some of its players, that the NBA has? I'm just asking.....
Side note: Hope everyone saw Gilbert Arenas requested 70 extra tickets from the Lakers on Sunday, and then dropped 60 on Kobe, including 16 in overtime (to beat the aformentioned Earl Boykins) for most points scored in an overtime quarter.
Warriors at Celtics tomorrow night. Celtics have won 4 in a row.
Some of my friends were giving me shit about the title of this Blog. But until we are proven otherwise, the Dubs are headed to the NBA draft lottery. The Warriors have made losing on road part of not only an art form, but inevitable. Last night was classic Dubs. Play super for 3 quartes, tons of fast break points, a swarming defense. Up 3 at the half and 6 after 3, they surrender an 18-2 run to start the 4th, and end up losing by who knows what. What is the deal? I wish I knew. Outside shots that fall for 3 quarters don't in the 4th. Baron continues to play out of his mind, nearly recording his third triple double in as many games. However, it was Jason Kidd who recorded his 81st career trip-dub, and it was the Warriors who fell to 1-9 on the road.
Seattle, Toronto, New Jewsey, Boston, Miami (without Shaq). These are all teams that a supposed playoff aspiring team should be able to beat. I mean, Seattle was without Ray Allen, Toronto without Chris Bosh, and NJ got nothing from Carter last night. All loses.
Part of the problem I see is that the Dubs have no interior presence besides Andris Biedrins. And even AB is only 20, and still growing into his body. He is much improved from last year, and is a dam good shot blocker. But one guy inside is not enough. JRich came back last night to give the Dubs nothing. Diagu has been activated for 3 games now, and has given us nothing.
Is it possible the Warriors can still make the playoffs? Sure it is. Is the season over? Not at all. But seriously, the only way that this culture of losing is going to turn around, is with some wins. I'd like to see less BD in the 4th quarter and more Monta. BD has taken all the tough shots down the stretch since he's been here. He has delivered on occasion like last Thursday against Houston. But sometimes we need to switch it up. Give Dun a shot, give Ellis a shot to make a play.
As long as they continue to settle for shooting jumpers, its going to be a long season.
Inother hoops news:
How do you replace the NBA's leading scorer for 15 games?
Replace him with the NBA's second leading scorer.
Denver has reportedly traded Andre Miller, (former Dubs first pick) Joe Smith, and two first round draft picks in this spring's upcoming NBA draft for Allen Iverson.
I'm really interested to see how Iverson and Anthony co-exist when Anthony returns from his 15 game suspension for punching Mardy Collins in Saturday night's brawl at Madison Square Garden. It has been well chronicled that both guys need their shots to score. It has been well chronicled that AI has never played with any comparable talent in his 11 years in Philly. However, it has been less chronicled that when AI has had even a little bit of talent, he can be an effective distributor of the roundball. Denver traded away their only legit point guard. They have Earl (the pearl) Boykins (also of GSDub fame) but he is more 2 guard in point guard's body. JR Smith is another player who needs his shots. However, almost every championship team from last year back until the Seattle Supersonics won the NBA title circa 1979 has had two super stars on its team, with the notable exception of the 2004 Detroit Pistons. I'm talking about Jordan and Pippen, Shaq and Kobe, Shaq and Wade, Duncan and Ginobli or Duncan and Robinson(to name a few). So in reality, this is a move that should help Nugetts. Not sure its going to happen for them this season, but I think as AI gets older, the Nugetts will become legit Western Conference title contenders.
Lastly: As I only saw the brawl in New York on highlights, i'm not really going to take a lot of time commenting on it. But one thing I've read that I agree with is that when fights happen in the NBA, the outcry from the national media and from the common fan/observer is that the lig is full of thugs. But in hockey or baseball, which are sports that are not predominantly african-american, the outcry is minimal.
Also, how come the NFL doesn't have the image problem with all the various off the field offenses that are committed by some of its players, that the NBA has? I'm just asking.....
Side note: Hope everyone saw Gilbert Arenas requested 70 extra tickets from the Lakers on Sunday, and then dropped 60 on Kobe, including 16 in overtime (to beat the aformentioned Earl Boykins) for most points scored in an overtime quarter.
Warriors at Celtics tomorrow night. Celtics have won 4 in a row.
posted by DailyDub at 2:49 PM
1 Comments:
Please allow me this space for an international rant as the game against New Jersey was just one of handful of games I've seen all year, and I had to stay up til 4 am (Paris time) just to finish it. I went to bed disgusted. The Warriors played good team basketball for three quarters, took the ball to the basket, shared it effectively and challenged nearly every shot defensively. But the 4th quarter was simply catastrophic. My layman's analysis:
Nellie mismanaged the end of the game (which is unusual). His strange lack of substitutions hurt, but not nearly as much as his desision to let Baron continue to take off balanced ill-advised fade away jumpers for the duration of the quarter. I don't know what he could have done about this, but maybe say something to the guy because it cost the Warriors a victory that they should have had.
-As you blogged, the Warriors have no inside presence to speak of, but where was Biedrins in the second half? As I remember, he wasn't in foul trouble and made a couple of nice blocks when he was inserted in the third quarter but then rode the pine for the majority of the half.
- Monta makes mistakes but he has the right idea: he doesn't settle for long jumpers, he attacks the rim and gets his teammates involved, but he has to be more consistent as well as the league adapts to him.
-I guess I'm most disappointed in Nellie and Baron. Nellie because he couldn't find away to limit the damage in the 4th, and he let Baron pound the ball and shoot off balance fadeaway jumpers, and he didn't manage his personnel intelligently. Baron, who thrills me when he plays sensibly, just imploded in the 4th. All the crazy off-balance crap that he threw up broke the rhythm of the offense and created opportunities for New Jersey. To his credit, Baron was making most of them in the first half, but I was still cringing because the guy can get to the basket anytime he wants and shouldn't settle for these crazy shots! Pietrus is frustrating as well. He is an athletic freak who defends, rebounds well and always hustles, but on offense he just kind of lurks behind the 3 point line in the corners, and when he drives he loses control constantly. His inability to hit midrange jumpers hurt the W's last night. Amazingly enough, Mike Dunleavy was the best player for the dubs in the second half. He made smart decisions, took good shots, passed well and got on the boards. Very very frustrating loss, and very bad start on a road trip which on paper seemed like a great opportunity to get healthy.
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