By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

After Wednesday’s 108-107 season-opening loss to Houston, Warriors Don Nelson called out the non-passers on his team — i.e., everybody except Stephen Curry and (when the spirit moves him) Stephen Jackson — for not keeping Anthony Morrow high enough in their thoughts.

Morrow, the NBA’s best 3-point shooter last season, uncorked only seven shots in 22 1/2 minutes on the floor, an attempt rate that ranked seventh out of the nine players Nelson used, behind Curry, Jackson, Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette, Kelenna Azubuike and Anthony Randolph. Only Ronny Turiaf and Andris Biedrins managed to keep themselves from outgunning Morrow.

“If you don’t get him the ball when he’s open, it doesn’t do much good to have him in the game,” Nelson said. “We have to do a better job of understanding he’s our best shooter, and you’ve got to know where he is at all times.

But the rest of the players on this roster are who they are — and they will resolutely remain so if there are never any consequences for them to face.

To wit: If you’re going to let Maggette, who went 3-for-14 in a little less than 25 minutes, jack up a steady stream of no-hope 19-foot clanks without recriminations, why on Earth should he even give a fleeting, momentary thought to passing off to Morrow?

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[Ed. note: As you might have seen in the post below, some technical difficulties knocked 48minutes.net off the air for a long while Wednesday. So here is the collection of Tweets that substituted for our typical live in-game entry. Start from the bottom if you want to read in chronological order.]

POSTGAME

** INSTA-STAT OF THE NIGHT: GSW assists in the second half? A whopping seven. That’s not an offense. That’s complete stagnation.

FOURTH QUARTER

** FINAL HOU 108, GSW 107. Morrow with a tough miss over 2 Rockets at the top of the key for the tie. Curry with the meaningless putback.

** Morrow in. Azubuike out, so it’s Morrow, Jackson or maybe Curry.

** 4Q, 6.6 seconds. HOU 108, GSW 105. Brooks’ travel gives W’s a final chance. I assume they have to bring in Morrow. Maybe Azubuike?

** It’s a comedy of errors: Scola bricks two FTs, Ariza ORebs but loses handle, Curry tries oop to Biedrins that falls 3 feet short.

** Of course, HOU goes right back to Scola, who drives and draws FTs on Turiaf.

** Curry with a second straight pullup J after good D forces ball out of Scola’s hands, cuts lead to 5.

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(PROGRAMMING NOTE: Due to a prior engagement, there won’t be a live blog from the Mavericks-Warriors game this evening.)

The NBA unveiled the 18 players scheduled to participate in the Rookie Challenge, and despite the fact that nearly half of the Warriors’ roster was eligible to partake, no Golden State representative will take the floor on Feb. 13.

The omission of Anthony Morrow is ultimately unsurprising, as he simply hasn’t played enough (he’s 20th on the list of total minutes for rookies, sandwiched between San Antonio’s George Hill and New Jersey’s Ryan Anderson).

C.J. Watson’s failure to earn a berth on the Sophomore team is a little more head-scratching, however, given who made it. Watson compares favorably in pretty much every category with Sophomore team member Aaron Brooks of Houston, especially in terms of his efficiency – Watson is shooting 46.0 percent to Brooks’ 39.7 from the floor (44.3 to Brooks’ 34.6 on 3-pointers) and has a better assist/turnover ratio, better PER score and more Win Shares.

But Brooks plays on a team that’s 28-18 instead of 14-31, and that’s why he’s going to Phoenix. I get that.

Yet there are only two true guards on the team – Brooks and Detroit’s Rodney Stuckey. The league’s assistant coaches filled out the other seven spots with forwards and/or centers. (Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant has played some 2 but is still primarily a 3, and though Wilson Chandler has filled in as an emergency guard for the Knicks, according to 82games.com, he’s had less than 100 minutes there all season).

Now, I’m a Jeff Green fan, but if you’re going to vote using team record as a criteria, you can’t reward the 10-35 Thunder by putting him out there instead of a third legitimate guard. That’s just ridiculous.

– Geoff