Warriors coach Don Nelson said at Golden State’s shootaround this morning that, with Stephen Jackson hurt, Marco Belinelli would open on Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

Then he smiled and joked, “My defensive stopper.”

But in the Warriors’ 130-113 loss to the Lakers in LA 10 days ago, Belinelli was no joke – or, at least, no more a joke than Jackson or Kelenna Azubuike when it came to trying to corral Bryant, who scored 31 points in 32 minutes before sitting out the entire fourth quarter.

Here’s the breakdown between Azubuike, Belinelli and Jackson when it came to defending Byrant ma-to-man in half-court sets. (A few notes: “Poss” is the number of possessions where Kobe touched the ball while that man was guarding him; “Stop” is the number of times the defender forced Kobe to pass the ball or turn it over, as opposed to dropping an assist or just passing off to another teammate in the triangle while not under duress.)

Azubuike gave up the fewest points per possession, but Belinelli did the best job of pestering Bryant’s shot. He was almost a Bruce Bowen Lite against Kobe. My notes from one of the misses reads, “Belinelli does a good job of anticipating moves at screens, bumps guys just enough so they’re off kilter, but not enough to be a foul.”

Belinelli also forced Bryant’s only turnover against man-to-man coverage (Ronny Turiaf created a steal as the Warriors were in a zone), reaching around and using his left hand to poke free the ball from Bryant’s blind side.

Of course, there were also showdowns that finished like this: “Kobe breaks down Beli R wing with crossover, followed by shimmy-shake, drives to his left and hits 10′ floater.”

We’ll see which happens more frequently tonight. If neither Belinelli nor Azubuike can handle the job, I think Nelson’s only other option is the zone. I can’t imagine Corey Maggette matched up against him. At least, I can’t imagine it without my head exploding.

– Geoff