FOURTH QUARTER:

** Nice touch passing on that full-court sprint from Maggette to Morrw to Azubuike.

** Earlier, I was wishing merely that Randolph would get some run. Now I’m going to have to amend it to wishing that we could see Randolph playing regular minutes alongside Brandan Wright during these last 15 games.

** That spin move at 150 mph by Ellis was outstanding.

** Azubuike’s flight to the rim off of Anthony Randolph’s snuff-out of Davis was the Warriors’ fastest break of the evening.

** Maggette stood around and watched the miss by Novak, and that allowed Thornton to waltz right in for the tip-in bucket and free throw to cut the Warriors’ lead to 105-102. Again, bad results are one thing, but a lack of effort is just not acceptable.

** After watching Maggette draw a phantom charge on Zach Randolph by propelling himself backwards without any contact, I’ve got to say that Maggette’s game is so aesthetically displeasing that prolonged viewing could turn almost any basketball fan against the NBA. If I was being asked to pay thousands for season tickets, there’s no way I would want to watch that guy suck up 25-plus plays a game.

** To put it more succinctly: Maggette’s game — even when its effective — is not entertaining. In fact, it’s the polar opposite, in entertainment terms, from traditional Nellieball.

** Watching Anthony Randolph knock down that 13-footer reminds me of just how bad he has been from outside 5 feet this season. Inside that mark (coming into tonight), he was 92 for 155 (59.4%). Beyond that, the accuracy dropped to 34 for 124 (27.4%). If he could come back with a solid 15-footer after this summer, that would be huge.

** Is Mike Dunleavy just trying to be a douche with all these fouls?

THIRD QUARTER:

** I’m starting to suspect Gordon wants to embarass me with this 1-for-7 night.

** Letting Camby walk in for a putback on Davis’ missed 3 — and then a putback after Camby blew the first layup — is a callback to Sunday night’s total lack of effort.

SECOND QUARTER:

** How is it that the Warriors actually commit MORE turnovers when Stephen Jackson is in street clothes? I just wouldn’t think that’s possible.

** Ellis is putting together another big night offensively, but he should be able to dominate Mike Taylor defensively, and that’s not happening right now.

** I can see why Donald Sterling ripped…

There’s been a lot of chatter in the wake of Monte Poole’s evisceration of the Warriors’ two leading front-office lights — team president Robert Rowell and coach Don Nelson — about the Warriors cutting Nelson loose before the end of his contract, which has another $12M and two years to run, thanks to an extension agreed upon in October.

I don’t see it, for a variety of reasons:

** The allure of topping Lenny Wilkens’ all-time NBA coaching victories total is too much for Nelson and the marketing-obsessed W’s to pass up.

** Rowell didn’t ascend to his pinnacle of power by kissing off the majority of $12M on a guy who’s smoking cigars and watching for the green flash at the end of another Maui sunset.

** To fire Nelson would be for Rowell to admit making a mistake in choosing him over Chris Mullin. In four years covering this team, I’ve never even heard of that happening, let alone seen it displayed for all the ticket-going public to see.

** If Nelson moves from the bench to a corner office and replaces Mullin as the EVP in charge of basketball operations, what coach in their right mind is going to believe that they’ll be allowed to do their job without interfence from Nelson?

Read the rest of this entry. . .

FOURTH QUARTER:

** Jon: I don’t have the time to print my whole response, but suffice it to say that I think you’re discounting Barnes’ advantage as a rebounder and neglecting to mention entirely that Barnes is a better 3-point shooter and a vastly superior passer than Maggette. I’ll stipulate that Maggette is a better individual scorer, but this team is already overloaded with guys who do that. Frankly, that’s the LAST thing they need out of that position.

** I know Shaq has become more durable in Phoenix, but why would you risk playing him in the final seven minutes of a game you lead by 24 points? Someone text Alvin Gentry.

** Over-the-head pass from Shaq for the 10-foot baseline fade. Dreadful.

** As a print reporter, I have to admit — I loved a game like this because it meant you could write your lead and not worry about having to change it when there was a late comeback.

** If the Suns don’t get to 150 now, I’m going to be frankly disappointed.

** And to think, there were people claiming that Robin Lopez was going to be a better pro than his brother. Oops!

** Leave it Randolph to provide the top highlight of the night for the Warriors, after finally being unchained in garbage time. Of course, if he’d dribbled it out of bounds, he would have looked like a fool, but that’s OK. The bar for a highlight has been set pretty low today.

THIRD QUARTER:

** With Kelenna Azubuike starting the third quarter, that’s all we’re going to see of Wright and Randolph (except at the 5, backing up Turiaf). It’s too bad; I’d like to see Randolph especially (since he’s going to be best as a 3, according to Don Nelson) get a second chance at stopping Matt Barnes.

** Since Dallas lost earlier tonight, this is a HUGE game for the Suns. If the Warriors manage to come back and win this one — although Phoenix played last night — I will be legitimately impressed.

** Check that — we won’t even see Wright/Randolph backing up Turiaf, apparently.

** I don’t get the Suns’ zone against this Warriors lineup — Golden State has three good 3-point shooters (including Azubuike at the 4) on the floor, and Phoenix is not stopping Ellis in the least.

** That’ll be a one-game suspension for Jackson, and I don’t think it was any one thing, because you could…

POSTGAME:

** Technical difficulties with the WiFi, so we’ll skip straight to the end…

** I loved Anthony Randolph’s game overall, but what I loved the most was the lack of any turnovers. That’s the first time in his career that Randolph’s played at least 20 minutes and has put up a zero in that category. (For the season, he’s averaging 1.8 TOs per 20 minutes.)

** Jamal Crawford’s status is such a no-win situation for this team right now; when he plays 34 minutes (as he did Friday) and helps the team win, it’s like, “That’s great, but since he’s not part of your plans for next season, why not play someone who is?” But if he doesn’t play, you’re killing (what little remains of) his trade value.

** Kelenna Azubuike had arguably his strongest game since the All-Star break, which was good to see.

THIRD QUARTER:

** The hang-and-hit for Ellis — another sign of his recovery, because he wouldn’t have done that earlier in the season.

** Wright with the spinning jumper from the “wrong” side of the lane over Nowitzki. Very, very nice.

** It feels like every time Jamal Crawford gets the ball in the half-court tonight, all he’s doing is dribble, dribble, dribble and hoist his own shot. It’s getting stale.

SECOND QUARTER:

** Brutal call by Greg Willard on that “offensive foul” by Crawford. That was just a ridiculous flop by J.J. Barea.

** The Warriors are doing a much better job, as a team, of closing out on shots now that Dirk Nowitzki is off the floor. I wonder whether they can keep that up once Mr. Former MVP comes back.

** Ellis has got that right-handed mid-air scoop working well. That’s another sign of his recovery.

** Nice delayed cut from Randolph. That was a wrinkle we didn’t see much from him earlier in the season.

** I predict that’s going to be the first, last and only time Jason Terry dunks on Anthony Randolph. Ever.

** That end-to-end play — a block at the rim on Wright after being shunted almost out of bounds by James Singleton, followed by a 94-foot sprint for a flying putback layup and extra foul shot — is why guys like Bill Simmons say things such as, “Only eight current NBA players qualify for ‘There’s No Way I’m Missing Them If They’re In Town’ purposes: LeBron, Wade, Paul, Duncan, Kobe, Durant, Howard and, strangely, Anthony Randolph.”

FIRST QUARTER:

** Brandan Wright with…

FOURTH QUARTER:

** Biedrins needs a rest, Turiaf’s left leg is a useless lump — why is Randolph not getting a shot at the 5?

** So, Ryan, is Crawford endearing himself to you at all with this performance?

** One thing about Anthony Morrow that makes him a great asset to have is that he can thrive even while playing disjointed and limited minutes.

** Wow. Harris didn’t think there was any way that Turiaf would get back in his one-legged state, and Turiaf pulled his best Kerri Walsh on that weak sauce.

** The Nets are pulling a Warriors from two years ago — live by the 3 in the first half, die by it in the second.

** That flagrant foul by Harris looked worse than it was — I originally thought he raised that R elbow up as Maggette crashed into him, but he didn’t.

** Jackson has taken over, while Carter has just flat-out disappeared. Is he still on the floor? Oh, there he is.

** Turiaf pulled a Jackson on that play, hanging behind everyone else to complain about a non-call, but the Nets jacked up an early jumper to negate any advantage.

** Crawford HAS to come get that inbounds pass, rather than leaving the ball with Maggette to turn it over in the backcourt. HAS TO.

** Crawford makes up for it at the free-throw line. I asked him Tuesday about the need to finish strong, and he said there was a reason to do so — for the fans. I wonder if the fans wouldn’t have liked it more if Crawford had missed those foul shots and maybe helped out Golden State’s draft status. . . .

THIRD QUARTER:

** Yi can’t handle Randolph’s quickness, but all that means is that Lawrence Frank will be quicker than normal at pulling Yi for Bobby Simmons — and the Nets’ small ball lineup is better than the Warriors. As per usual for this team this season.

** Mark it down at the 7:04 mark: Ellis smokes Harris with a little semi-palming move far out on the left wing, then zooms past Lopez and takes off on that left foot for the soaring layup. That’s as close as we’ve seen him get to his old form so far this season.

** As Harris calls his own number for a third straight possession, you can see Vince Carter starting to pout.

** And they finally give to ball to…