By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

My first paying gig as a sportswriter, as an intern at the late, lamented Peninsula Times Tribune, found me covering the 1992-93 Warriors. I haven’t saved a lot of the press materials I’ve used over the years, but I kept the media guide from that season as a remembrance.

I pulled out that media guide this morning because of the cover, which features a stylized illustration from local artist and graphic designer Larry Hausen (who would later provide the Warriors with their current logo). In Hausen’s composition, you can see some of the tools of a journalists’ trade — the corner of an old Mac keyboard, an NBA press release, a Styrofoam cup of Diet Coke and a few of the blank notebooks the Warriors were giving out that year, featuring images of Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway and Billy Owens on the cover.

There is a point to this whole shaggy-dog story, so just hold on. . . . Right in the center of the frame, one of the notebooks is flipped open, and you can read the reporter’s notes, presumably from Don Nelson’s latest postgame press conference. Here’s how it reads:

NELLIE: WHAT CAN I SAY ABOUT OUR EFFORT TONIGHT? OUR GUYS NEVER QUIT!

Our guys never quit. Heh.

If you watched either of the Warriors’ last two games — back-to-back thrashings at the hands of the Clippers (at home on Friday) and the Kings (in Arco on Sunday) — then you know why that fictitious quote stuck out in my mind.

The play that summed up the whole weekend took place with a little more than 4 minutes left in the third quarter last night. Donte Greene jacked up a 3-pointer in front of some listless Warriors defense but missed.

When the ball hit iron, there wasn’t a King within 16 feet of the basket. There were four Warriors stationed around the edge of the paint.

And yet somehow, Corey Maggette walks within 6 feet of the basket for no good reason, the ball unsurprisingly ricochets over his head (long shot = long rebound is not exactly quantum physics) and Ime Udoka picks up the gift, eventually finding Grene for a layup.

Our guys never quit.

It’s just so typical of what the Warriors have shown in their 1-4 start: No energy. No drive. On offense, everybody (with the possible exception of Stephen Curry) plays for their own stats. On defense, nobody plays at all.

In the third quarter against the Clippers, the Warriors were outscored 34-16. Sunday, they managed to give up only eight points to the Kings (31-23), which is good until you realize Sacramento also had a 10-point advantage in the second period (35-25).

Basically, the Warriors can stay in a game based on sheer talent, but when things start to go wrong, they have no reserves to call on, no impetus to recover that lost ground and make a game of it.

Open a 10-point lead on these guys, at any point, and it’s over.

Our guys never quit.

I’m not going to be out in Oakland this evening, so unfortunately, I can’t ask Don Nelson this question:

Why didn’t you get run from one of these last two games, pick up two technicals and go out in a blaze of passionate glory? Sure, it would have been a pointless gesture from the perspective that it wouldn’t change any of the calls going against you, but still, wouldn’t it have sent a message to your players (and fans) that you never quit?

People can’t help but notice that Keith Smart is running entire timeouts. They can’t help but notice a lack of reaction by Nelson to some of the more egregiously lazy displays from his players.

(I actually had an NBA executive ask me recently if it was true that Nelson’s out playing Frisbee with his dog Lucky on the roof of the Warriors’ facility while practice is ongoing. I said no, not to my knowledge, but the fact that the story is making the rounds speaks volumes about the assumptions out there.)

After this evening, Golden State is facing a five-game road trip. They’ve historically not fared well on those long East Coast swings, been even worse on the butt end of all-road back-to-backs (of which there are two) and generally just stink like fish on ice right now.

I don’t mean to be too much of a pessimist, but if the Warriors don’t beat Minnesota tonight, this team easily could be looking at 1-10 before they get back to Oracle.

Our guys never quit.

Too bad the same thing couldn’t be said for this year’s team.