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    Thoughts on Game No. 4: Grizzlies 90, Warriors 79

    By Geoff Lepper
    48minutes.net

    So many jump shots, and only 48 minutes to hoist them.

    After a win in New Jersey that seemed to offer a blueprint for how the Warriors could survive the loss of Monta Ellis without falling completely out of touch with the Western Conference playoff race, Golden State reverted to the stagnant offensive team it was before coach Don Nelson’s arrival in what became a 90-79 win for Memphis.

    Corey Maggette (4-for-16), working on one leg in the second half, was ineffective at best. Stephen Jackson (6-for-21) was stymied at every turn. Al Harrington (3-for-15) was -19 on the +/- scale, something you’d ordinarily call astounding, except it was exactly the kind of number his performance deserved.

    “This was a game we were supposed to win,” Maggette said. “Tonight was a night that we just didn’t play well. We didn’t shoot the ball well at all. We just got to get better, that’s it.”

    But on nights when the Warriors don’t get any fast-break points to speak of and can’t generate any ball movement (15 assists versus 12 turnovers, with a 5-5 ratio for Jackson), they can’t claim that they should beat anybody.

    Put it this way: This was one of those nights where the Washington Generals would have actually beaten the Globetrotters.

    The Warriors’ 34.4 percent shooting was the franchise’s lowest total since Nov. 21, 2007, when they hit just 33.3 percent of their shots against the Celtics in Boston and lost by 23.

    Here’s the play that encapsulated the night: Having just allowed two offensive rebounds that led to an O.J. Mayo layup over Andris Biedrins — giving Memphis an 83-75 lead — C.J. Watson came racing downcourt with no one but Kelenna Azubuike by his side against five Grizzlies.

    Instead of pulling back and waiting to set up a play, Watson shoveled the ball off to Azubuike, who clanked an 18-footer short off the iron as part of his 4-for-12 night.

    “It was one of those games that we were getting a lot of open shots,” DeMarcus Nelson said. “They are the same shots that we are going to get every game, but tonight we just didn’t complete a high percentage of them.”

    ** I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist, but Maggette missed time twice due to hamstring strains last season — four games at the beginning of the season, two more at the end. And Maggette had to miss second quarter of Monday’s game because of a strain in his left hamstring, the opposite leg from his injury last month.

    That makes you wonder if he was compensating too much for the original strain. It also makes you wonder how long it’s going to take for Maggette to really be right.

    “It’s hurting, but it is something I’m just going to have to deal with,” Maggette said. “I’m going to get as much treatment as I can.”

    ** Marco Belinelli got into the game — his first appearance of the season — and on his first possession was matched up with Mayo in the right corner. Mayo went baseline, fed a pass to empty space at the top of the key. Belinelli either went after the ball, or perhaps he was just distracted by a shiny object; I don’t know which. Either way, it left Mayo wide open for a 3-pointer on the other side of the court.

    ** After Jackson (career 79.5 percent from the line) was the designated the Warriors’ technical-foul shooter in Toronto at the start of this trip, Maggette (81.9) took over Monday.

    ** It can’t be called a surprise, but still: Rob Kurz, the ink still drying on his contract, was in uniform. A healthy Marcus Williams was not.

    ** Watson showed an improved ability to get to the rim, but if half your layups are going to roll off the iron and out, it doesn’t do anybody much good.

    ** Nelson needs to learn that trying to block a 7-1, 265 pounder like Marc Gasol is not very feasible for a man his size when Gasol catches the ball 4 feet from the basket.

    ** It would be interesting to know how many more illegal screen fouls are being called against the Warriors’ opponents because of Nelson’s propensity to go over the top of picks.

    ** I got called once for trying to inbound the ball without stepping out of bounds, as Harrington did in the first quarter. Of course, I was 9 at the time.

    Here’s an indication of how old I am: the counselor who called me on the violation said, “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar can get away with that. Not you.”

    ** I don’t know if there was something else going on in Memphis that kept people away, but when you’ve got courtside sections where only one-third of the seats are in use, that’s a bad, bad look.

    Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net

8 Responses to “Thoughts on Game No. 4: Grizzlies 90, Warriors 79”

  1. saltwatertaffy November 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm

    A bit random, but Geoff, I’ve been wondering how much do the +/- stats really mean? I know it can be a very useful statistic… I really like the stat, but I wanted a second opinion.
    —
    Now, onto my thoughts about the game…

    To put this in the nicest way possible, the warriors were outplayed tonight. I haven’t seen such an ugly game in a LONG time, and I thought the Warriors vs. Nets game was bad…

    AND is it just me or does it feel like the ball just isn’t moving? The offense seemed so stagnant and things seemed so forced… Do you think its a trust issue or is it just the fact that the warriors do NOT have a legit PG?

    I hope Wednesday’s game will be a good one since it is going to be on ESPN.

    Lastly, Thanks for the timely updates and blog entries. I really enjoy them.

  2. Jon November 4th, 2008 at 12:25 am

    I didn’t see the game (Gamecast was bad enough…)

    Did the Warriors continue to leave the pick and roll out of their arsenal? It’s like Nellie doesn’t trust anyone to run it except Jack, but Jack is too busy bricking to run it properly…

    Tonight illustrates how incredibly stupid it is that we are paying $16M combined for Jack and Al to shoot us out of games, yet…

    1) Are trying to extend Jack AND give him a raise

    2) Have yet to trade Al, despite knowing HE WANTS OUT

    Seriously?

  3. taylor November 4th, 2008 at 12:37 am

    yo jon if you got comcast or any kind of digital cable we get free NBA ticket right now for the month of Nov… Anyways the game was pitiful can’t even bring myself to talk about it how does Gasol not Pau go for 27 and 13. Nellie should stop being so stubborn we need Marcus Williams out there. There was one play where CJ caught a nice offensive rebound and immediatly threw up a fadeway contested jumper as a former point guard I was disgusted cmon man if u the point and u get an O rebound u bring it back out and reset the Offense thats why we need MWilliams at least he has point guard insticts unlike our two converted PG even though I like DNelson and I met him during the summer when I was working at Nordstrom and he came into the store. I talked to him for a little bit and he sounded very confident about making the team and this was in June he just needs time to develop

  4. Jon November 4th, 2008 at 1:01 am

    Gasol is no scrub- he had been good in the Euroleague, good in the Olympics, good in previous games. He can clearly play (although he’s not a nightly 20/10 guy…)

    It’s just our complete and utter lack of production from anyone other than Beans. Too many role players being stuffed into bigtime roles.

    Stephen Jackson is not a franchise player, he’s a *third* cog being asked to play entire games and carry the load. Stop. Just STOP.

    Be horrible with kids or be good. Don’t be horrible with veterans.

  5. James November 4th, 2008 at 1:40 am

    I worked this out elsewhere and figured I’d drop it in here as well to illustrate just how bad the Warriors have been in the 4th quarter so far. It’s a troubling pattern that really underscores the fatigue (and generally bad play overall) that sets in late in the game.

    Average score by quarter through the first four games:

    GSW: 26.0 / 25.0 / 26.3 / 18.5
    OPP: 27.3 / 24.5 / 23.8 / 22.3

    It gets worse. FG% per game, plus the comparison in FG% between Q1-3 and Q4:

    vs. NO: 36-82 or 43.9% (31-61 or 50.1% in the first 3, 5-21 or 23.8% in the 4th)

    @ TOR: 42-94 or 44.7% (30-61 or 49.2% in the first 3, 7-19 or 36.8% in the 4th, plus 5-14 or 35.7% in OT. Combined 12-33 or 36.4%)

    @ NJ: 32-76 or 42.1% (28-62 or 45.2% in the first 3, 4-14 or 28.6% in the 4th)

    @ MEM: 33-96 or 34.4% (28-70 or 40.0% in the first 3, 5-26 or 19.2% in the 4th)

    Add that all up:

    Q1-3: 117-254 or 46.1%
    Q4 & OT: 26-94 or 27.7%

    What more needs to be said than “Ouch?”

  6. JJ Jones November 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am

    What was the attendance at the game? 6k?

  7. M.Squared November 4th, 2008 at 11:54 am

    By watching last nights game- we can conclude a few things:

    1. Demarcus Nelson is progressing nicely ( not counting his awful free throw shooting)- but he is clearly a backup and although he can handle the ball- I am still not willing to call him a point guard. The ball did not move last night at all- the passing was very poor.
    2. For all the comments over the years about Pau Gasol being soft - that is one thing you cannot say about his brother. I see big things for him. I wonder if anyone on Memphis had a clue that he was going to be a player. I have to admit- when that trade went down I was VERY critical of the Griz for not shopping him more aggressively in efforts to up the bidding- but I could very well be wrong on this one. It looks like they have a younger, “in the paint”, cheaper version of Pau that figures to be a key building block for their franchise.
    3. The Dubs shot bad, didn’t play well, blah blah blah….. Last nights game was a result of running your 7 man rotation into the ground 1 week into the season. They were tired. They shot jumper after jumper because they couldnt got to the rack. Their jumpers didnt hit because they had no legs under them. Golden State only shot 12 free throws while Gasol shot 11 all by himself!!!
    4.Bellinelli will never develop if you yank him every time his misses 1 assignment. That 2 minute stint in the 1st have did nothing for him but hurt his confidence. Let the guy play for 6 minutes and get a few shots. Last night was a perfect time with Maggette hurt, Harrington sucking, and Jackson tired to go ahead and play the three young guys a bit. Wright looked good in his 9 minutes- did some nice things- but because there was no one to get him the ball he couldn’t score.
    5. If anyone from the NBA league office was watching last nights game- they clearly identified Seattle’s new franchise. The Grizzlies have left the building…..

  8. Geoff Lepper November 4th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    Taffy: No, it’s not just you. The ball is not moving at all, and that’s because nobody can force a double-team. There’s no PG with penetration-and-dish abilities, so the team settles far too often into that high-post isolation offense with either Maggette or Harrington. And if Maggette can’t push off on his leg, then that’s a disaster. The Jackson-Biedrins combination still works, but Jack doesn’t take good enough care of the ball to have an offense run through him for 48 minutes a night (and let’s not even discuss that he shouldn’t be playing 48 minutes a night).

    Jon: Who else should run it? They tried a couple times with DeMarcus, and he just doesn’t have the feel for it at this point. I remember one play where he tried to force the ball into Biedrins and was lucky it deflected off a Grizzly and went OB rather than being picked off.

    As for Jack’s extension, I’ve already said my piece. As for Al . . . I’d say that it was a showcase, but I think they’re actually hurting his value instead of helping it at this point.

    James: Nice work. Perfectly illustrates what’s gone wrong so far.

    JJ: Officially, the attendance was listed at 10,121, but in the NBA, “attendance” means tickets distributed. Based on what we saw, there is no way even half that number was in the stands.

    M. Squared: Can’t argue with any of your points, especially No. 5. I think in retrospect, knowing how poorly Maggette played in the second half, Nelson might have yanked him earlier.

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