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    23

    Game No. 44, live: Cavaliers (32-8) at Warriors (13-30)

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    FOURTH QUARTER:

    ** J.J. Hickson blows the dunk, but kicks Maggette in the head while doing it.

    ** And Maggette gets his revenge at the other end with the pull-up J.

    ** Nelson has mentioned Ellis’ ability to run down long rebounds repeatedly, and it paid off right there. (Although, to be fair, Varejao should have had the offensive board there.)

    ** Painful point-blank miss by Maggette with the lead on the line.

    ** Did Monta yell “Let me play!” after that dunk?

    ** Based on tonight, I’m believing Monta when he says the ankle’s at 100 percent, physically.

    ** If Cleveland keeps settling for jumpers, the Warriors can very easily steal this one.

    ** That’s the problem with depending on Maggett down the stretch — if he doesn’t get a foul call, he comes up empty far too often, depending far too much on the referees.

    ** Last possession wins?

    ** Wow. That’s a hell of a play by Biedrins, stopping LeBron on the drive without fouling.

    ** When your opponent is passing up an open 3 to hit an even more open 3 … man, that’s painful to watch.

    ** Pavlovic did a great job to keep Maggette from getting the ball in the lane, but Jackson just stuck the dagger in James’ neck.

    ** No Crawford to muck up this inbound D.

    ** Of course LeBron hits it. Wouldn’t expect anything else.

    ** Pure conjecture on my part, but, with Turiaf guarding LeBron from the inbounds pass and Jackson on Varejao, it looked like Jackson was supposed to be lending support on LBJ. With 2.5 seconds left, Jackson floated across the lane, and I think if Maggette had slid up to cover Varejao by the right elbow (which would have been fine because Maggette’s cover, Pavlovic, was deep in the right corner and never could get the ball in time to do anything with it), Jackson would have come on a double.

    Like I said, pure conjecture, because I don’t know if that’s a rotation that was supposed to happen or not. What did happen was that Maggette stayed home, Jackson sagged back into the lane to keep Varejao from getting an open flash to the rim, and James rose up over Turiaf for the game-winner.

    THIRD QUARTER:

    ** Another good sign with Ellis: Even when the Cavaliers force Monta to go left, he crosses over and hits the right-handed layup.

    ** After an entire season of watching the Warriors’ guards giving up penetration that forced Biedrins out of rebounding position, Ellis creates a switch and blows by Ben Wallace, freeing up Biedrins for a putback gimmie.

    ** It’s amazing that LeBron encompasses Maggette’s entire offensive game, but where the drive-crash-and-create-contact move is often all Maggette’s got, it’s just one of a dozen ways James can kill you.

    ** As 1and2 pointed out, Biedrins is clearly affected by the wrist. How much will he play in the fourth quarter?

    ** When Bad Results Happen To Good Defense: Kinsey gets a lucky shot to fall at the shot-clock buzzer and draws a foul on Morrow.

    ** Not only is it a three-point play for J.J. Hickson, but with 30.8 seconds left, it gives Cleveland the 2-for-1 advantage instead of Golden State. Awful.

    ** Well, that’s one way to make the most of your final 4.5 seconds: Ellis with the 32-foot triple at the buzzer.

    SECOND QUARTER:

    ** Corey Maggette delivering the object lesson of why you have to stop the ball in transition defense.

    ** Anthony Morrow is 2-for-2 from that right elbow extended spot on the break.

    ** Nice change of hands from Morrow to get by Pavlovic and create an open layup for himself.

    ** There’s few people left in the League that Wally Szczerbiak can effectively cover. Corey Maggette: not on that list.

    ** Monta back in with 6:14 left; looks like it’ll be a 17-minute first half for him.

    ** No, no, no: Maggette shooting a 3. Don’t care if it’s open. Just stop.

    ** And he’s a good sport, too (helping Azubuike up after being fouled)? Does LeBron James have no faults?

    ** That’s a third no-hope pass from Jackson in traffic. That’s gotta stop.

    ** Ben Wallace steps on the end line while trying to collect an air ball from Ellis: Selfishness in action.

    ** I still remember when Taurence Kinsey was the flavor of the month two years ago in Memphis. How far he has fallen.

    ** Maggette hits an 18-footer, but it’s waived off on an unforced shot-clock violation. Talk about deflating.

    ** If nothing else, Ellis has proved that if you don’t force him left, he will get to that spot on the right side of the lane where he can elevate and bank home a 10-footer while flying sideways to the hoop.

    ** And with 1.8 seconds left, Ellis shows that he can still get the star calls.

    FIRST QUARTER:

    ** Well, shelving Jamal Crawford with a hamstring problem is one way to make room for Monta Ellis. :)

    ** It is interesting that Don Nelson went with Kelenna Azubuike and Anthony Morrow rather than Corey Maggette, but I like it — it puts two of the Warriors’ three best 3-point shooters on the floor at the same time for Ellis to find, assuming he can and will beat Mo Williams off the dribble.

    ** Having said that, not EVERY shot needs to be a trey for the Warriors.

    ** 9:16 remaining: Monta takes the inbounds pass off of Pavlovic’s made 3 and fires a baseball pass ahead to Azubuike for a foul at the rim. That’s exactly what Nelson was envisioning.

    ** Anthony Morrow: You can’t foul LeBron over the back like that on a putback attempt. Yao Ming can, maybe, but not you.

    ** 7:10 remaining: Monta bumps into Mo Williams at the right elbow, absorbs the bump and hits the runner.

    ** 6:50 Next possession, Mo Williams gets bailed out on a poor charge call.

    ** 6:36 Monta gets revenge by blocking Mo at the other end.

    ** Will Nelson voluntarily sub for Monta, or will Tom Abdenour eventually have to step in?

    ** I would think with Maggette on the floor, you could bring C.J. Watson in for Ellis and get him a few minutes rest. And here he finally is at the scorers’ table.

    ** That’s the second time Jackson has tried to thread the needle in the lane and had it stolen. You can do that against a team that’s poor defensively. The Cavaliers, however, are not that team.

    – Geoff

16 Responses to “Game No. 44, live: Cavaliers (32-8) at Warriors (13-30)”

  1. CazzieRussell January 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 pm

    Morrow>Crawford

  2. 1and2 January 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 pm

    Morrow back about 6 minutes too late…

  3. JrHonda January 23rd, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    I’m already starting to wonder when Crawford gets back how Monte is going to get his fair amount of shots. With Jackson’s high risk passes, Magatte’s 3’s and Crawford wanting to “keep up”.

  4. 1and2 January 23rd, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    AB’s wrist…not healed.

  5. JrHonda January 23rd, 2009 at 9:50 pm

    Kind of a tough game for Monte to come back too. I’m sure wanting to get to the rim while stareing at Big Ben and LJ is a much different look than he is use to in practice.

  6. Jon January 23rd, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    Is Don Nelson ever going to get a clue and realize that Maggette and Jack don’t work on the court at the same time?

    Maggette needs the ball in his hands to be utilized most effectively (instant offense), but Jack’s been given free reign so much he’s a ball hog now.

    Both are turnover prone.

    Neither is a PF, together at the 4/3 spots you’ll likely get below average rebounding.

    It’s probably not a coincidence that the offense stagnated during that 2nd half because the two were on the floor at the same time.

    Before the trade deadline or this summer, at least one of the two must be traded. At this point, I’m so sick of Jackson’s 4 TO/game and below 40% shooting I think I’d prefer to keep Maggette, who at least excels as a bench nuclear weapon.

    How beautiful will the offense look when we can run it through Crawford, Belinelli, Turiaf, and Biedrins without Jack and Maggette as ball stoppers?

  7. Gill January 23rd, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    Epitaph: Here’s lies the Warriors “motion offense.”
    Age: 5 games (if that)
    Cause of Death: Don Nelson, Maggette, and (at times) Jackson

  8. Margaret Cho January 23rd, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    It’s cute how Wally tries to defend Maggette…

  9. Gill January 23rd, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    It’s cute how Maggette tries to defend anybody

  10. Jon January 23rd, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    Sadly, Gil is correct. In that 4th quarter, our offense was so painfully predictable:

    dump it to Jack in the elbow
    ellis cuts

    rinse repeat fail, lose.

    Get Jackson off this team, i guarantee our offense will skyrocket

    People said Maggette was a ballhog, but Stephen Jackson running your offense is like running a relay race with a blind paraplegic elephant as your key man.

  11. M.Squared January 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 pm

    Some thoughts:
    -Very nice game for Morrow tonight. Where the hell was he down the strecth- especially during that ugly 90-94 point where no one could score? Nice job Nellie.
    -It is impossible for the Ws to develop/play Morrow and Bellinielli with Crawford, Jack, Maggette and Buike out there. 2 or 3 gotta go. In a perfect world - I’d dump the 3 highest paid players and keep the Italian, the rookie and Buike.
    -Tonight- with all the turnovers, i would have liked to see Williams get into the backcourt to let Ellis come back and just play and to cut down on Jackson’s TO’s.
    -At least Nellie figured out Maggette’s role. Corey even found time to play D tonight too.
    -Randolph still should have gotten at least 10 min somewhere tonight. Gotta keep consistency with him.

  12. Bob January 23rd, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    These last two losses took two years off my life atleast. PAINFUL!!!

  13. the dude January 24th, 2009 at 12:29 am

    noticed you on the TV tonite there Geoff…it was during the “jax interviewing monta part” at the shootaround…

  14. JrHonda January 24th, 2009 at 9:52 am

    Yea, saw that too. Geoff actually smiled

  15. SJ Jim January 24th, 2009 at 11:26 am

    Margaret Cho… lol.

    I have to agree with Jon re the blind paraplegic elephant (stand around crybaby blind paraplegic elephant). Stephen Jackson, you are NOT Chris Paul. Give it up.

  16. norm January 24th, 2009 at 6:00 pm

    Lep was that you on-camera when SJax was asking Monta questions?

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