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  • Jan
    7

    Game No. 37, live: Lakers (27-6) at Warriors (10-26)

    Filed under: Commentary;

    FOURTH QUARTER:

    ** Painful start to the quarter, especially coming up with two offensive rebounds on one possession but no points.

    ** What is that, five unforced bad passes? I harp on this only because you just can’t afford those TOs if you’re an underdog on the order of the Warriors right now.

    ** Josh Powell is getting worked right now at both ends of the floor. The Warriors are taking advantage of his presence out there.

    ** Jamal Crawford, I assume, was trying to bounce that off the backboard and over Gasol, rather than into his own net.

    ** Sasha Vujacic can be having a horrible ballgame but still come back to stick a dagger right in the Warriors’ collective gut.

    ** Kobe’s like the older brother who comes home from college and makes you realize that all that crap you were doing with your high-school friends that you thought was cool — yeah, it’s really crap.

    ** Credit where it’s due: That Maggette outlet lead directly to Crawford’s reserve lay, even if he’s not going to get an assist on it.

    ** Down 6, 35 seconds, Crawford drives for a tough layup try on Gasol? Awful.

    THIRD QUARTER:

    ** I wonder if Anthony Randolph’s in full Rod Tidwell mode: “You’re lovin’ me now, huh, coach?”

    ** It’s nice to see Belinelli come back from a 2-for-7 first half.

    ** Seriously, Corey: Calm down and make a decent pass.

    ** If Randolph goes for 15 and 8 in the second half, what happens then?

    ** The Warriors’ defense is generating turnovers — and more importantly, TOs that lead to easy buckets — for what feels like first first time in weeks.

    ** Another one of those poke-from-behind steals on Kobe for Belinelli.

    ** Great decision from Crawford to give it to Randolph for the easy dunk — both for the rookie’s confidence and the crowd noise level.

    ** To fight through everything else and then lose this game on missed free throws would be simply unacceptable.

    ** I would love to know if, in his heart of hearts, Phil Jackson feels all these TOs are due more to sloppiness on his team’s part or strong defense by the Warriors. To me, it looks like the latter.

    ** 1and2: It is fun. You wouldn’t have thought that was possible, based on the spin emanating from 1011 Broadway. Too bad it probably won’t happen again for a while, given Wright’s injury.

    HALFTIME:

    ** 1and2: I agree, but unfortunately, I’m thinking it’s potentially serious.

    SECOND QUARTER:

    ** I don’t care if it’s the second unit, flying reverse layup prayers from Ronny Turiaf don’t make good offense.

    ** Dribble, dribble, pass, dribble, dribble, turn, rise, fade, miss. Haven’t we seen this movie before?

    ** Cue Capt. Reynaut: I’m shocked, SHOCKED to find Maggette at the 4 is flopping miserably.

    ** Trevor Ariza is making Daniel Sagal look pretty smart right about now.

    ** I know he got the points eventually, but Brandan has got to get stronger in terms of finishing at the rim.

    ** Keith Smart was mentioning the other day about Jamal Crawford’s wingspan, and he used it to make Sun Yue look silly right there.

    ** Wright heads directly to the locker room. That’s never a good sign.

    ** Break glass in case of emergency: Anthony Randolph.

    FIRST QUARTER:

    ** So THAT’S the answer — have Corey Maggette run the fast breaks.

    (All sarcasm aside, that was a great feed to Marco.)

    ** It’s so odd, seeing some other team’s big (hello, Andrew Bynum!) misplaying the S/R.

    ** Kobe’s scared of the Italian Lockdown?

    ** This is a best-of-all-worlds situation for Corey Maggette and the Warriors: They get to play him at the 3, rather than the 4, but still get a mismatch at the offensive end because Radmanovic can’t hang with him on the dribble.

    ** [Ed. note: Must hit "Publish" for people to see the post, dummy.]

    ** Marco gets bailed out on the lob, only to see Kobe drop a 3. That seems to sum up the luck the Warriors always have against the Lakers.

    ** That initial assist seems to have gone to Maggette’s head.

    ** Marco is having a rough go of it right now. Time for Azubuike. We’ll see how long he lasts coming off of illness.

    With Anthony Morrow absent and Jackson hurt, the Warriors are starting to run a little thin on wing players. Not to the extent where you’re going to see Marcus Williams play, mind you. But a little thin.

    – Geoff

38 Responses to “Game No. 37, live: Lakers (27-6) at Warriors (10-26)”

  1. 1and2 January 7th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

    Gotta love Wright tonight. I hope he’s OK.

  2. 1and2 January 7th, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    It’s great to see Wright and Randolph play well.

  3. 1and2 January 7th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    On the same night.

  4. SJ Jim January 7th, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    Good energy tonight. If we continue to hustle on D, shoot reasonably well and take care of the ball… who knows?

  5. SJ Jim January 7th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    The overplaying on defense has been great tonight. We’re showing nice confidence at the offensive end, but we have to be smarter and more under control.

  6. SJ Jim January 7th, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    … and four more turnovers (Turiaf, Randolph and two by Belinelli). There seems to be something about playing with high energy that ruins our fundamentals.

  7. SJ Jim January 7th, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    Gotta keep getting some steals now…

  8. SJ Jim January 7th, 2009 at 10:42 pm

    Too bad about Randolph’s miscues (and Nellie going small). The Lakers are having their way on the glass at both ends.

  9. SJ Jim January 7th, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    Crawford was something like 10 for 27 tonight, and his shot selection in the 4th was pretty bad. The epitome of streaky, and he doesn’t really seem like the clutch type.

  10. JoeSez January 7th, 2009 at 11:01 pm

    I’m no Crawford fan. He’s heyjamalcroawfordstoptakingsuchbadshots.com bad.

  11. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 12:41 am

    Belinelli is total garbage. This is not up for debate.

  12. James Online January 8th, 2009 at 12:53 am

    Kobe was held down primarily by Marco Bellinelli’s tough defense that was accomplished by denying him the ball most the night. Nobody can stay with him once he gets the ball and a pick. The difference maker was Gasol, not Kobe. More than ever the Ws need a tough inside player who can defend and score.

    Lakers respected Bellinelli by assigning Kobe to guard him. At courtside, it looked like Belli was intimidated at times by the situation. How many games has he really played since becoming a Warrior? 25? He’s a 22 year old rookie who will become a fine player. He’s a difference maker.

    Same for Randolph, of course. If Nelson starts Rob Kurz over Randolph in Portland, it’s time to mutiny. Randolph changes the game. Not always for the best, but he gives the other team someone to worry about. Nelson and the other coaches need to get him past that shuffle he does that gets called for a travel. A simple mechanical adjustment. C’mon, Nelson. Earn your ungodly salary and make something out of the talent you’ve got.

  13. Bob January 8th, 2009 at 1:06 am

    This is a tank job. I can’t get mad at the players for not rebounding better and giving up those 2nd chance pts in the 4th Q. Its all happening because NELLIE goes small. Its almost like when things are competitive Nellie plays small-ball to start the meltdown. Why else go small? All it does is make us lose. This is either genius tanking or flat out stupidity.

  14. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 1:23 am

    James, watch the game. Marco didn’t do jack tonight. It’s a myth.

  15. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 1:24 am

    James just ripped off his entire analysis form Adam Lauridsen, by the way.

  16. Frank January 8th, 2009 at 1:34 am

    Geoff,

    Where was Morrow??? I”d like to see him stroke it!!! (no Homo)!!!!

  17. James Online January 8th, 2009 at 9:52 am

    Hadn’t read Adam’s blog and still haven’t. It was just obvious.

  18. Geoff Lepper January 8th, 2009 at 10:52 am

    Frank: Morrow is on family leave (GF’s having a baby.)

  19. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 11:17 am

    James persists in his delusions and theft…

  20. Eddie January 8th, 2009 at 11:43 am

    Don’t worry James, CC is all fluff and no substance. His short term thinking only hates while providing zero insight. He acts like he as all the answers, yet has none whatsoever. To make up for his lack of basketball knowledge, he merely tries to stir the pot. This is not up for debate.

  21. M.Squared January 8th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    Watching Crawford late in the 2nd quarter last night- it was so frustrating to see how good he can be offensively if he attacked the rim more frequently. His handles are unreal and he can get by most NBA guards with regularity- but he gets hung up on his jump shot way too much. If you take away 5 of the three’s he shot last night- his shooting line would have been a lot better. I remember Baron having games very much like this.
    The bigger problem is that maybe he shoots like this because Nellie doesn’t tell him not to and doesn’t effectively convey how he wants him to play. I know Nellie has the “shoot whenever” philosopy, but when it’s not falling…. …i mean…come on….. you gotta be able to instruct a guy to put his head down and get into the paint. Nellie has gotta know when to put the breaks on a bad shooting display.
    It will be interesting to see what Crawford does with Ellis in a backcourt together. If he would continue to attack ( and embarass defenders ) with his dribble - he could create so many open looks for good mid-range shooters like Ellis and Maggette.

  22. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    Eddie just wasted all of our time with the ongoing Spam War BS I called a week ago.

    I’m ALWAYS right about ALL of you, online hackazoids!
    Just give in, you’ll feel better…..

  23. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 12:34 pm

    M.Squared: +1

    Crawford heated up a bit and we were riding his scoring hard to keep our lead.
    Then he was back to Cold Crawford and no one was taking good shots, especially not Belinelli and Turiaf (ugh). But building around Crawford is not the winning move.

  24. M.Squared January 8th, 2009 at 12:37 pm

    James-
    Agreed. Lots of development on guys like Marco and Randolph.
    And it is proven that if you give Marco an assignment- he will put his best effort out there to try to accomplish it. Lots of nice pieces to his game are emerging.
    Randolph has been getting a bad rap all season long. Nellie needs to extend the olive branch a bit and encourage that guy instead of slamming him to the local media.
    Nellie has never liked over confident young players that don’t go out of their way to kiss his ass. Webber was the same way- he knew he had talent and wasn’t going to be Nellie’s soldier. He could command attention without it. Randolphs quiet cockiness and indepenence is what makes him and Nellie at odds.

  25. Eddie January 8th, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    CC starts the war and keeps it going, yet blames everyone else. Typical hypocrisy from our resident grouch. I called your bitterness and ignorance BS three weeks ago.

    Please provide some actual insight as to how you would fix this team so we don’t have to be continually diluted on every Warrior blog by your one singular thought about this team (that Belinelli sucks, we got it….the first 10,000 times you posted it).

  26. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    I’ve got all the insight anyone needs, Eddie, but you don’t actually care about this team.
    I’m on this team more than everyone but the professional coverage folks like Geoff and Matt and I’ve laid it out in plain, unmistakeable, correct English:

    Don Nelson and Robert Rowell are bad, but Chris Cohan as an owner is a completely unworkable situation for the fans’ best interests. The trickle down is well documented but, again, you’re not actually invested in anything but your own verison of the snide I made fmaous.

    You can’t keep up. Don’t try.
    Turning to the “What would you do that’s POSITIVE” trick, which everyone tries at some point, sounds like some bogus AA-style confessional self help book BS. If you were actually on this, you’d already be feeding us your brilliant B-Ball insights.

    Good luck ripping it off form other sites…..

  27. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    Sory for the noise, Geoff. Some people…

    In other news: Oh S–t, Tim’s doing that “more info than the teaser story suggested” trick again:
    http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2009/01/08/monta-ellis-and-his-agent-planning-to-evaluate-his-status-later-this-month/#comment-133582

  28. Eddie January 8th, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    Wow. So basically you just take what all the “professionals” have already said and regurgitate it in your own words and take all the credit for it. And rather than show any actual proof of basketball knowledge you take the “holier than thou” route and rip everyone else for having an opinion, even if that opinion matches your own. What a cop out. Not that anything you’ve ever posted has ever been relevant, but what little credibility you’ve ever had is completely out the window now.

    You have no clue about basketball and if anyone needs the self help book it’s you.

    Look, I can spout hyperbole just like Chris Coward!

  29. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    ~yawn~

  30. Eddie January 8th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    Correct. You bore everyone with your useless drivel.

  31. M.Squared January 8th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    I agree that building around him is probably not the best idea but it would really be interesting to see what kind of player he could be if he had a good coach/ good system. With some restraints on his game and a coach that could harness his talents, he could be a very good player rather than the streaky one we have today.
    I am willing to give him a bit more time but we really have no other options right now- so we just have to see what happens and hope.
    Meanwhile- answering Eddies question about how I would fix this team, I would offer the following:
    1) Fire Rowell and Nelson respectively.
    2) Hire Eddie Jordan ( good coach, is patient enough to deal with personalities- i.e.-Arenas- and strong enough to stand up to them - i.e.-Arenas.
    3) Let Mullin continue as the GM with ALL personel decisions under his control- He started out rocky but made some pretty good moves over the past year.
    4) 3 for 1 trade. Could we pkg- Maggette and two others- (take your pick- except for Ellis, Beidrens and Randolph) and land a guy like Caron Butler. Someone who can get you 8 boards and 5 rebounds even when his shot is not falling. The Wizards do this because they have gone nowhere with him and can’t add new talent with him, Twan and Arenas under the cap.
    They get 2 starters and a 6th man in exchange for 1 starter and chance to make it past the first round of the playoffs for once.
    5) for us it gives a true “GOTO” guy.( not a player they are trying to force into the role like Jack….) Butler excelled when ball hog Arenas was hurt last year. He took over. In Oakland- we pair him with a good big (Andris), another scorer ( Ellis) and a mix of Vets ( Jack, Turiaf), young role players (Buike, Morrow, Watson) . If the Wiz wanted any 3 of - Maggette, Wright, Marco , Crawford…. I do this deal and continue my rebuild.

  32. LA Ball Talk January 8th, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    Just wanted to stop by and say that last night’s game was great. Biedrins pulling down 17 rebounds and Crawford going off for 25 points was fun to watch. When the Warriors offense is flowing smoothly, they are a lot of fun to watch. It feels as though they are missing structure though. Hopefully Monta Ellis can help get that in place as he dictates the action and tells the other guys where they belong. It seems like Corey Maggette is firing up too many random jumpers (he was making them but still unnecessary) and was disrupting the flow of the team’s offense.

    You guys gave us a hell of a scare coming back from 17 down. It seemed like we were done with. Fortunately, Kobe is still on our side and brought it back. Either way, I’m not looking forward to the next time we play you guys when Ellis is back healthy and ready to trample our defense.

    Good luck the remainder of the season!!

  33. Twinkie defense January 8th, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    OMG, Chris Cohan = ROWELL.

    Wonder where you had slunk off to ROWELL.

  34. Chris Cohan January 8th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    You don’t know me, but I know you Jeff Hester…
    Don’t eff with the man. He’ll cut you.

  35. JoeSez January 8th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    How can the GSW rebuild without a proven foundation? There’s Andris and Ellis (who is currently going to file a grievance unless GSW blink). That’s it.

    Dump Nellie - 15 M down the drain. Easy to say if it ain’t your money but not realistic. Rookie coach Del Negro is 2M/yr and he’s cheap.

    Develop the youth? Randolph and Wright are raw, young guys that need extensive off season workouts to improve their game. If they do what Andris did, hang around and work hard, we’ll know by next year if they’re going to be good. They’re not Darius Miles guys but I’m not convinced they’re smart and hard working enough to reach their potential.

    Players need to look at film, practice and listen to the coaching. Whining about playing time for young guys isn’t going to help them. Playing into shape on the NBA court without doing homework off the court will ruin the guys.

  36. Twinkie defense January 8th, 2009 at 11:53 pm

    LOL

  37. Chris Cohan January 9th, 2009 at 12:09 am

    Jeff, another RealGM regular tried this a week or two ago.
    I’ve been Chris Cohan at the Merc for years on end.

    Are you just mad because Belinelli is such a useless poon?

  38. M.Squared January 9th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    Much easier to dump the 15 Mil than to deal with this for the next 3 years…. others teams have and continue to do it, and they have to when they make BAD decisions.
    Cohan can afford it and if he can’t then he should sell the team. In fact- that would be the first thing that should happen, before all those clowns get canned.

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