By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — There was plenty to make a Warriors fan giddy Wednesday at the Arena, what with seven Golden State players reaching double figures for the second straight game, the ball zipping around the floor, an improved performance on the defensive glass and the grand opening of Marco Belinelli’s Trick Shot Emporium.

What might have been the most impressive, however, was also the most basic.

The pick-and-roll, and its multitude of permutations, is a bedrock piece of every team’s arsenal. And in their 119-96 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Warriors showed off a renewed ability to run their pick-and-roll sets with aplomb.

Golden State put up 11 points in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter, a span of seven possessions in which they ran some form of the two-man game on each occasion.

What made it interesting was the diversity of pairings the Warriors used. This wasn’t simply the Stephen Jackson-Andris Biedrins tandem that has become a focal point of opposition scouting reports.

Instead, you had Jackson in the opposite role, setting picks for Jamal Crawford, who zinged passes to Jackson for consecutive layups against the defensive tandem of Ramon Sessions and Luc Mbah a Moute.

Then it was Anthony Morrow using the looming presence of Ronny Turiaf to free himself for a wing jumper. Turiaf was repaid the next time down, when Jackson took a turn as ballhandler and spoon-fed him a bucket.

Finally, it was Crawford and Turiaf working together. After the first, ill-advised pass — a looping lob into a lane packed with three Bucks — was stolen, Crawford came right back with an adjustment. As the Bucks once again had the angle to Turiaf covered, Crawford, who was heading towards the right wing, smartly fed the ball back to Jackson at the top of the key, and the captain whipped it down the wide-open lane to Turiaf for a pair of free throws.

The run of screen-rolls ended when the Warriors had a fast-break opportunity that led to a missed jumper for Morrow, and it was truly over when Kelenna Azubuike took the ball at the top of the key the next time downcourt and went on a solo drive to nowhere.

“The films that we watch, we thought that was a good area for us to attack,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said.

Even Belinelli got into the act. Two of his most circusy shots in his 11-point fourth quarter…

There’s no denying it: Anthony Randolph has star power. The only question is how quickly he can learn to harness it.

Friday night (Saturday afternoon in Beijing), Randolph looked a bit like the NBA’s answer to Amy Winehouse. To be sure, there were lapses in judgment (the traveling call for no good reason and the wild, off-balance 17-footer come to mind), but there were also plenty of instances of an incandescent raw talent on display.

Foremost on that list — even better than the ridiculous hops that led to putback dunks or the defensive rebounding, which has historically been such a weak point for this franchise — was Randolph’s shot-blocking ability.

He had four on the night, the first three in rapid succession during a 2 1/2-minute stretch of the first quarter.

Randolph kept his feet when Bucks rookie Joe Alexander — who was selected six spots ahead of Randolph in June’s NBA draft — tried to shake him on the box, and totally snuffed Alexander’s 5-footer.

He zoomed in as a weakside help defender when Andrew Bogut tried to flip up a hook shot, and quickly deposited that attempt behind a row of camerapeople arrayed along the baseline.

Finally, he blasted a scoop runner from Luke Ridnour as though this was beach volleyball and he was trying out to be Kerri Walsh’s new partner. The ball crossed midcourt on its first bounce, whereupon Corey Maggette scooped it up for a breakaway dunk.

Last season for the Warriors, of the nine players who got more than 400 minutes on the floor (i.e., at least 5 per game), Andris Biedrins was the most prolific shot-blocker at 2.17 per 48 minutes. This year, he could easily end up fourth behind Randolph, Brandan Wright and Ronny Turiaf. And that would be fantastic news for Golden State.

** As much as I liked several things Wright did at the offensive end Friday, the fact that he was one of the Warriors’ worst scorers on the +/- scale (-8, tied with Richard Hendrix) for a second consecutive game is a little worrisome. Wright did not seem comfortable defensively when matched up with Alexander. I think we’ll see is Randolph playing against smaller guys he doesn’t have to worry about defending in the low block, while Wright gets the heavier defensive assignments.

** Anyone who thinks Al Harrington is not going to play is deluding themselves. He’s the only power forward the Warriors have who…

Thoughts from the Warriors’ 98-94 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Guangzhou, China early Wednesday morning (thank you, TiVo).

** I would love to ask what the hell was going on with the Warriors’ final inbounds play, when they were down by four three points (EDIT: It seemed they were down three points. Apparently, the scorekeeping was so faulty that they were actually down four) with 1.8 seconds remaining. For those who didn’t see it: DeMarcus Nelson took the ball out of bounds deep on the left wing, near the mid-court line. Marco Belinelli came from below the hoop, curled around the top of the key and headed away from Nelson, hoping to catch a long lob from Nelson and fire up a game-tying shot. Except Belinelli was looking over his right shoulder for the ball and Nelson threw it over his left, where it bounced and skittered out of bounds on the opposite sideline.

** Nelson looked OK at point guard on the break (he had one very nice drive and kick out to an open Corey Maggette, who missed from the right corner) or in scramble situations (he grabbed an offensive rebound, cruised into the lane and fired a bullet to Kelenna Azubuike for an open layup) but had a pretty rough time running the half-court sets and was not very effective on screen-rolls. Whatever scoring he’s going to do will come in transition or from breaking down his man.

** Maggette really has fantastic body control. He’s able to pivot away from an attempted charge, create glancing contact for a blocking foul and still have the momentum to get off a decent shot attempt. I haven’t heard much one way or the other about Maggette’s rep in the Warriors’ locker room, but if he’s such a cancer (per his L.A. reputation), why was he working so hard to give Azubuike some last-second advice before the Warriors’ final play?

** Solid game for Azubuike, coming back from the sore hip. He looked even better compared to Belinelli’s diffident outing.

** Not a good night for Dan Dickau, who started the second half. He lasted only 3:13 before being yanked, never to be seen again, and here were the final four possessions with him on the court:

Ill-advised corner-to-corner pass by Dickau, meant for Belinelli but easily picked off by a lurking Luc Mbah a Moute;
Luke Ridnour drive right past Dickau for a running 12-footer;
Maggette miss;
Ridnour again…