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Dec22
Game No. 29, live: Warriors (8-20) at Magic (21-6)
Filed under: Commentary;POSTGAME:
** Erik: I don’t know if it was Rowell trying to light a fire under Nelson. (I mean, anybody who tries to use a motivational ploy on a guy who’s used every motivational ploy ever made is simply asking to get schooled in the art. Plus, Rowell has to know by now that he can’t really control Nellie with another $12 million guaranteed.)
I think it may be simply a case where Nelson got frustrated with the inability of this team to defend, so he washed his hands of the whole thing. I mean, on a night like tonight, when the media asks him about Orlando’s rampant 3-pointers, will Nelson just say, “Talk to Keith. That’s his deal” and leave it to Smart to provide an explanation?
FOURTH QUARTER:
** More off-balance jumpers off the dribble! Fun for everyone!
** If I didn’t get paid for this, I’d be changing the channel.
** Hey, wait a minute . . .
** This is just putting the whip to an equine carcass on the Magic’s part.
** Was anyone else a little bit surprised that Marcus Williams didn’t get to the scorer’s table and realize that he hadn’t bothered to put shorts on under his warmups?
** For all the talk on how “white hot” the Magic were, let’s be honest — the Warriors did not help themselves on many of those made 3s by Orlando.
** OH MY. Anthony Randolph to J.J. Redick: I drink your milkshake! I DRINK IT UP!
** I don’t know, CC. That was a pretty hideous get-trapped-in-midair-with-nowhere-to-pass moment for Williams right there.
** Well, at least the Warriors will get to Miami with plenty of time to hit South Beach.
THIRD QUARTER:
** Golden State’s DRR for this game is a stunning 80 percent so far.
** Another example of the limitations of the +/- stat: Wright is tied for the lead on the Warriors’ side at +3.
** Crawford giveth, Crawford taketh away.
** It’s interesting how the Warriors are trying to make lemonade out lemons with Biedrins. He can’t hit a thing inside, spooked by Howard, but instead of just cutting him out, they use him as an unexpected perimeter facilitator.
** Good adjustment by Stan Van Gundy to feed those corner 3s to Nelson rather than Keith “Brick” Bogans.
** Watching Lewis rail that 3, you get the feeling that even if the Warriors were to come back and tie things up, they’d just go to Lewis and Nelson on the S/R for 5 or 6 possessions and blow things open with a 12-3 run.
** This is just a lack of recognition on the part of the Warriors defense to not keep someone at home on the one Magic player who’s feeling it.
** So, C.J. Watson has what should have been a 2-on-1 with Anthony Randolph (with the preferable play being Randolph drawing Nelson to him, then kicking back to Watson on the right wing for a layup). Instead, he dribbles into the middle of the lane and misses a ridiculous shot. Luckily, he was bailed out by Tony Battie shoving Randolph in the back on the rebound.
** Larry: Jameer Nelson can be a scorer if you’re going to constantly refuse to a) Stop his dribble penetration and b) Cover him in the corners.
SECOND QUARTER:
** Azubuike to detractors: Who says I don’t pass?
** Erik: I’ll have to think on that and get back to you after the game.
** Anthony Randolph outquicked Howard to avoid getting the putback thrown back into his face, a la Biedrins.
** C.J. Watson is . . . ummm . . . let’s just say he’s not having a great game right now.
** If Howard is going to continually get position 2 feet from the bucket, the Warriors are going to have to start considering giving him the Yao fronting treatment.
** That was a hideous turnover.
** Biedrins is just short-arming everything. If he was a golfer, I’d say he had Howard-induced yips.
** Nice end-of-quarter sequence for once, even though they gave up too many looks at the basket thanks to the offensive boards.
FIRST QUARTER:
** Offensive rebounds don’t do any good if your putback is thoroughly dismissed by Dwight Howard.
** Hedo is just having his way with Azubuike right now.
** Marco Belinelli may have missed the layup, but that’s another good example of a Warriors guard getting back in the lane, making sure the team latches onto the defensive rebound, THEN looking to run, and finding a clear path to the hoop.
** Brandan Wright gets chased off with two quick fouls trying to guard Rashard Lewis at the 4, but I’ll give Nelson/Smart/Moncrief credit for staying with two bigs rather than getting suckered into a small-ball matchup they can’t win.
** Kelenna Azubuike continues to play solidly, but he clocked 42+ minutes against Charlotte, which bears watching; playing 40-plus in four of the Warriors’ first nine games really took a toll on his balky knees.
** OK, admit it: Who thought that MP would hammer Jamal Crawford with a silly foul on that fast break?
** Somebody missed an assignment: Azubuike (strong) and Belinelli (weak) both pinched in to cut off Jameer Nelson’s drive where only one was necessary. Nelson fed MP, left open by Azubuike, for the trey.
** That was, to quote Marlo Stanfield, some Spiderman shit from Crawford right there.
PREGAME:
** Can Jamal Crawford repeat his performance? Probably not. But I do want to see if he can remain consistently efficient on offense. That’s probably more important than the point total itself.
** Power forward du jour: Ronny Turiaf? Kelenna Azubuike? Rob Kurz? Brandan Wright? Anthony Randolph?
– Geoff
24 Responses to “Game No. 29, live: Warriors (8-20) at Magic (21-6)”
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We look great.
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Rob Kurz is much better than Richard Hendrix.
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Pietrus>Marco
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Wow.
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Hey Geoff - I have a theory on this Nelson D-Coordinator thing. I think, Rowell, in panic mode at seeing “his” team foundering shortly after establishing unquestioned authority, called Nelson in and told him things like “your defense isn’t working”, “you have a long history of not being able to coach defense”, “you need to do something different”, etc., hoping to light a fire under Nelson to coach harder. Instead, in classic Nelson FU style, he totally abdicated any responsibility for the defense, with his reasons being repeated straight out of Rowell’s mouth. “My defense isn’t working, I have a long history of not being able to coach difference, I need to do something different”, etc. Basically saying to Rowell, “Gee, you’re right - I guess I’ll just stop trying, then. FU Buddy - what are you going to do about it?”
It seems to fit Nelson’s style to me and explains his sudden flip-flop of always saying how much he works on defense to his abdication. What do you think?
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Erik might have something there. No question Nellie’s pissed he answers to “Bobby.” He tried to talk tough a while back when he held out over the Summer. But now Rowell can kill the Nellie mystique and legacy if he’s willing to inflict the Nellie Suck on the team while it falls apart under Nelson’s constant tweaky mind gaming and power grabbing.
Meanwhile, this looks like it could get pretty ugly. Orlando’s playing WAAAAAAY down to us.
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Marco>Pietrus
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Nope. They’re both useless.
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But in the pantheon of uselessness, Marco will prove to be the least useless of the two.
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Nope.
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Marco sucks. He’s a total Nellie junk wing.
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Ball movement!
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Wright’s doing well Geoff. Whatcoo talkin?
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Marco is built to be abused on defense. And he’s another worthless chucked.
These suckerz want it all the time form Nellie. Anything he says: with a spoon. -
Defense? Lack? Warriors? NOOOOOO.
CJ sure can lead a break, eh? Ugh. Dead weight. Haven’t had much push back on CJ this week. -
larry allen December 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
its pathetic that someone like jameer nelson is lighting it up. hes not a scorer… but looks like allen iverson against the warriors
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Geoff!
My heart goes out to you on that last one. -
Sick dish from MWill. I’m so right about everything.
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I’ll watch Williams for 1000 minutes before I pay to see Kurz, Watson, DeM Nelson, Azubuike, Jackson, Maggette, Don Nelson, Keith Smart……..
Dead season.
MWill may suck in the grand scheme but he’s a billion times better than the “system” scrubz Nellie hand-picks to kill all hope.
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Thanks, Geoff. Great blog. From what I’ve heard of Rowell (a friend of mine used to work for the Ws) he’s both stupid and arrogant enough to do something like that, but you’re probably right. Just thought I’d throw it out there. Either way, it seems pretty clear Nelson is not going to go out of his way to get this team winning again.
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Careful Erik, the Warriors don’t like former employees talking abot business practices. They sue. Check out the backstory………
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Ha ha. CC loves MWill but hates Marco. Note to self, don’t ever pay attention to any CC talent evaluation. He’s clueless.
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Eddie, quit spamming my blog.
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CC, I will. Nothing of relevance on there anyways.
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