By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — It looked like a bad right ankle sprain for Warriors center Andris Biedrins when he suffered it on Friday in Golden State’s 115-105 loss to Phoenix, and that fear was realized Saturday. A team spokesman said that Biedrins will probably miss at least three games, not to return until Golden State’s first game after the All-Star break, at the earliest.

If that holds true, Biedrins – who has only missed seven games over the last 2 1/2 seasons, six due to an emergency appendectomy last year and one because of a sprained wrist last month – will be absent against Utah on Sunday, New York on Tuesday and Portland on Thursday. The Warriors’ post-All-Star opener is set for Feb. 18 against the Lakers.

Warriors coach Don Nelson said the team will start Ronny Turiaf in Biedrins’ place, and dropped enough hints that it seems clear his first option off the bench will be Rob Kurz, with Jermareo Davidson next.

Nelson said that while Anthony Randolph has not been placed back “on ice,” he’s not considered a 5 by the coaching staff – so don’t hold your breath waiting for a big uptick in the rookie’s minutes.

Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net

FOURTH QUARTER:

** Matt Barnes playing some solid D on Jackson with the Warriors’ first possession of the quarter.

** Turiaf with his fourth foul … I wonder who Plan C is at center: Davidson, Randolph or Kurz?

** And before I can hit “Save,” here’s the answer … Kurz. Of course.

** If you’re going to double Shaq from the top, then you have to keep him off the baseline, Rob.

** X-rays for Andris. Even if they’re negative, that sounds like it’s going to be a while before you see him again.

** Rolling the dice with Turiaf. My over/under: 90 more seconds of playing time before he fouls out.

** Luke: It looked like it was more of a cramp in his calf, but if Turiaf’s hurt, they might as well just walk off and take the forfeit.

** Credit where it’s due: That was a very nice interior dish by C.J. Watson to set up Maggette’s three-point play.

** Ronny Turiaf, 2006 graduate of the Bill Laimbeer School for Flopping Big Men.

** That makes up for C.J.’s nice pass.

** Jackson has exceeded his hero quotient for the evening.

** Watching that footage of Biedrins, unable to put any weight on his foot … my snap judgment: we won’t see him until after the All-Star break, at the earliest.

** /Watches Steve Nash torch Crawford for an 8 point lead with 85 seconds to go
/Shakes head

** Nash with the fading 16 footer, and that’s all she wrote.

** It’ll be fascinating to see what the Warriors do with regard to the center spot for the next few games. They’ve already brought in the D-League big man they liked the most, so it’s not like there’s someone else down there they can get. They could undo their move from earlier this season and finally set Marcus Williams free in order to clear room for Richard Hendrix, but it’s not like Nelson would be any more willing to play him this time around.

** CC: It’s 12 days until the Warriors’ first post-ASB game (Feb. 18 vs. the Lakers). I’ll admit, it looked like it could very easily be something that keeps him out until March, but he’s always been a fairly quick healer, so I’ll wait to hear what the diagnosis is.

THIRD QUARTER:

** Nelson starts with Biedrins and Turiaf paired together — I’m assuming that’s just until they run Shaq off the court.

** I have not been impressed with Terry Porter, both in…

FOURTH QUARTER:

** CC beat me to it: I’ll be much more impressed if the Warriors sweep this back-to-back with the Suns, rather than taking their usual 22-point thumping in Phoenix.

** Robin Lopez is really letting his inner Justin Guarini run wild, ain’t he?

** Triple-double for Jackson, and he’s deserved it tonight.

** Barnes with an ugly foul on Turiaf, and I don’t have any idea why Porter is complaining. Barnes delivered the message he wanted, and is paying the requisite price. End of story.

** world: C’mon. It’s almost like you’ve never watched this team before…

THIRD QUARTER:

** Amare’s removed his headband. Does this mean he’s getting serious now?

** Nice inbounds pass, Jack.

** And then Jackson knocks down a 3 at the other end like it was an 8-footer. Of course.

** Unlike Porter’s 20-second TO in the first minute of play, I like this timeout from Don Nelson. Early enough to keep things from really getting close, but with enough of a run that the players won’t just roll their eyes at what Nelson and Keith Smart are saying.

** Another offensive foul called on the Suns … I’m starting to put more stock in the conspiracy theories.

** Golden State’s jumpers are starting to go cold, and so the lead starts to shrink.

** Are the Warriors hitting an absurd number of open shots? Sure. But they are open shots, and you have to give Golden State credit for making the kick-out passes that lead to open looks, such as the one Turiaf fed to C.J. Watson in the final minute.

SECOND QUARTER:

** Ronny Turiaf snuffing out J-Rich at the apex of his dunk attempt. Somebody please forward that clip to all those folks who try to convince me that college hoops is better than the NBA.

** An interesting aspect of the Suns going zone is that it forces the Warriors away from the screen-roll game and actually invites more drive-and-kick action, as we just saw with Jamal Crawford feeding Jackson for a 15-footer.

** Azubuike forgot to follow his own 3 and missed a golden offensive rebound opportunity.

** CC: I don’t think they’re all idiotic, although there have been plenty of early jacks from Crawford, et. al. They want Azubuike to take open 3-pointers, and that’s what he was getting in the first quarter. (On a side note about Amare, that’s why he’s pouting right now — Azubuike was killing him on offense, but he…

Quick note from 1011 Broadway: The Warriors aren’t going full-court today — there’s a spirited 3-on-3 game with the youngsters (Jermareo Davidson, Anthony Randolph, C.J. Watson vs. Rob Kurz, Anthony Morrow and Marcus Williams) — but the veterans were out running various drills, and Monta Ellis does not show any after-effects of tweaking his left ankle in Monday’s 110-105 loss to the Spurs.

Even after most of the vets have gone into the locker room, Ellis is outside, practicing his shooting with assistants Stephen Silas and Rico Hines.

– Geoff

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

It’s too bad that Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was afforded the courtesy whistle given to all visiting dignitaries in San Antonio’s 110-105 win over the Warriors on Monday.

Not too bad because it cost the Warriors a win. Too bad because it obscured the real reason why they lost.

“I have to be careful what I say because I don’t want to get fined,” Golden State coach Don Nelson said. “I thought we had the game won in regulation, but the late whistle (on Turiaf) cost us the game, really.”

All the grousing about Sean Wright’s personal Argentinean bailout plan is not without merit. (Fun fact: if you watch the play again on slo-mo, you can see that, at the disputed moment of impact between Ginobili and Ronny Turiaf, Wright’s line of sight from 30 feet out is completely blocked by the bodies of both Tim Duncan and Corey Maggette. That’s quite some vision Sean’s got there.)

But what cost Nelson and the Warriors the game wasn’t Wright’s call. It wasn’t even Stephen Jackson not getting a call when his last shot was defended tightly by Bruce Bowen.

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