» Blog Archive » Pre-game snack: More Morrow tidbits
  • Nov
    18

    Pre-game snack: More Morrow tidbits

    Just a quick note about Anthony Morrow as we await his chance to prove Saturday’s game wasn’t just a one-hit wonder of the highest NBA order.

    In what I would like to call an “homage” to Kevin Pelton over at Basketball Prospectus (and don’t send me notes about how I’m ripping off ideas, since Kevin imported the original concept from Michael David Smith over at Fanhouse), I thought I’d dissect Morrow’s entire 37-point barrage against the Clippers, to try and glean if that performance will translate against a team that’s not on pace to go 8-74.

    Type of play Points
    Catch and shoot 14
    Pull-up jumper 10
    Layup off cut/fast break 6
    Turnaround jumper 4
    Driving layup 3
    Tap in 2

    (Yes, this totals 39, not 37, because there was one play where Kelenna Azubuike delivered the ball to Morrow on the baseline while he was facing away from the hoop. Morrow then wheeled and fired, all in the same motion, so I put it under “Catch and shoot” and “Turnaround jumper”. Also, I included a made free throw in the category that led to the FT — i.e., the one “Driving layup” was a three-point play.)

    The catch-and-shoots coming off kick-out passes are no surprise given the range, accuracy and touch on Morrow’s jumper. (The Clippers’ inability to close out: Also no surprise, given the roster, the lack of motivation and the record.)

    But Morrow’s ability to put the ball on the deck and get to an empty spot on the floor (such as when he ran Ricky Davis off a screen and popped up for two on the other side), up-fake his defender out of the way (as he did to Al Thornton) or just blow by someone with a swift change of direction (so long, Baron Davis) was very impressive.

    One thing that really struck me was how many possessions Morrow was just a decoy, patrolling a station in either corner or in 3-point territory on the wings. Stephen Jackson mentioned at practice Monday how helpful that threat is:

    “As you see, by him being able to shoot and score, that opened up the floor so much for us, as far as Corey (Maggette) getting isos playing the 4. Me and (Andris Biedrins), when we pick-and-roll, the floor’s wide open now. It helped us in a lot of aspects of our game.”

    In other areas . . .

    Morrow’s 11 rebounds are probably going to be tougher to duplicate than the 37 points. He had a couple of deflected rebounds that bounced right into his lap, and another three were long boards off early shots where there was little or no presence of offensive rebounders from L.A. to apply pressure. Morrow was able to gobble those up easily, but there’s no way to ensure those will come consistently.

    He did do a solid job of boxing out — even drawing a loose-ball foul on Chris Kaman when the 7-footer tried to shove him aside and grab an offensive board in the third quarter.

    I didn’t notice that much of Morrow’s defense on the initial viewing. I did this time. He held his own in terms of stopping ball penetration, but more importantly showed signs of being a potential playmaker in other ways.

    Morrow fronted adequately enough so that Cuttino Mobley could not take much advantage of his post-up game, and also showed good instincts in knowing when and how to successfully dive down on a big man with his back to the basket in the paint. There were three Clipper possessions that went sideways because Morrow helped gum up the works, either be fronting or by coming in from an off-ball position.

    Also, as a side note, Baron Davis keeps getting the lion’s share of blame for Morrow’s performance ladled over him by Tim Kawakami. While Davis did give up the most Morrow points of any Clippers defender, he was hardly alone in his guilt:

    Player Points allowed
    Baron Davis 15
    Cuttino Mobley 5
    Al Thornton 5
    Ricky Davis 4
    Eric Gordon 4
    Team breakdowns 4

    – Geoff

9 Responses to “Pre-game snack: More Morrow tidbits”

  1. jsl November 18th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    Very nice deconstruction of A-Mo’s game, Geoff. I wouldn’t be too harsh on TK’s comments re BD’s defense — such as it was — on Morrow. Frankly, it was the most fun I’ve had watching Baron play defense in years. The key is always in his feet: when he keeps ‘em moving, he’s really quite good; when he relies on his hands alone, which is the vast majority of the time, he’s a true matador. And it was “Ole” on Saturday. (Reminded me of his incredible “step aside” for Chris Paul, who promptly hit the open three to kill the W’s rally in that last NO game last year.)

    In the last two years, Monta started playing BD-style D. Ideally, when he gets back, he’ll play defense like he did as a rookie — when he was a far better defender. It’ll be fun to see him on the court with A-Mo. If Nelson doesn’t destroy him, this kid will be pretty good.

  2. Binwal Ahmat November 19th, 2008 at 1:48 am

    Your title - 48minutes.net » Blog Archive » Pre-game snack: More Morrow tidbits - caught my eye on the technorati feed page. I’m not sure that the content of the post actually matches the title though. You sure you’re not writing post titles to get readers, rather than representing the content of the post? ;-)

  3. dan November 19th, 2008 at 2:25 am

    Nellie did convinced BD to play hard for him. Scott could not do it. Dun Sr will never be able to. BD did not look like he wanted to play. It was a bad combo from the start. Dun Sr is a control freak while BD is a freelancer. Bad combo.

    If Morrow can shoot 45% clip, the W’s would take that especially from behind the 3 pt arc. Right now, they don’t have reliable 3pt shooters.

  4. Geoff Lepper November 19th, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    Binwal: Um, no.

    Dan: If Morrow shot 45 percent from behind the arc, he’d never leave the floor.

  5. oj mayo November 20th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    geoff, you really oughta link to adam lauridsen’s fanblog, Warriors Fastbreak, on the Mercury News blog page. probably the best warriors blog out there. i found out about this blog when a fan mentioned it in one of his postings.

  6. John the Pirate - arrrrr! November 24th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    Good post, I like your writing style! I’ve added http://48minutes.net/ to my feed reader, and will be reading your posts from now on. Just a quick question - did you design your header image yourself, or have it done professionally? If you had it done by a professional, who was it?

  7. JoeSez November 24th, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    Dan:”Nellie did convinced BD to play hard for him.”

    Only for a while…Nell8ie benched BD when the playoffs were on the line. BD is a bad apple.

  8. » Blog Archive » Game No. 57, live: Warriors (20-36) at Clippers (13-43) February 23rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    [...] Don’t forget, Staples Center was the place and the Clippers were the opponent when the legend of Anthony Morrow [...]

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