(PROGRAMMING NOTE: No live conversation regarding tonight’s game in New Orleans. Check back in the morning for fresh, piping-hot Christmas Eve bon mots.)

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Your daily guided tour through the national and local media coverage of the always-entertaining Golden State Warriors.

PRINT MEDIA

Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): Marcus pulls off an old favorite, the “glass-half-full switcheroo,” pointing out that the Warrriors made half their shots (yes, my in-game prediction was sadly made wrong by a late surge) and garnered 20 assists before driving it home with a Stephen Curry quote: “We had good stats, they had better stats.”

Also: It sure sounds like training camp invitee Cartier Martin is going to be rejoining the Warriors sooner rather than later, as Golden State nears getting a second injury exception.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Don Nelson focused his (quite brief) post-game comments after Washington’s 118-109 win Friday night on how the Warriors couldn’t stop Gilbert Arenas, but frankly, as his own team has proven, one player often can’t win by himself, regardless of how good he is individually.

Case in point, obviously: Monta Ellis has quite simply played his ass off since Stephen Jackson left, and the Warriors have nothing left to show for it expect for fourth-place status in the John Wall Sweepstakes.

Did Arenas close out the game, scoring 10 of the Wizards’ 14 points in the final 5:13? Sure he did. But all Washington did in the fourth quarter was nurse home the seven-point lead they had brought into that period. And that lead was built on the back of Caron Butler straight-up abusing the smaller, weaker defenders Nelson kept throwing at him in an orgy of smallball fun.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

When Monta Ellis came into the league, there was a school of thought (with his own coach being one of the adherents) that he wouldn’t succeed in the NBA because all he did in high school was just break down some poor, under-equipped defender from the Jackson Public Schools league and get to the rim.

He can’t do that in The League, the doubters said. Not regularly, anyways.

OK, so that myth just exploded on Tuesday.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Your (mostly) daily guided tour through the national and local media coverage of the always-entertaining Golden State Warriors.

WEB MEDIA

NBA.com (Geoff Lepper): Yes, it’s an absolute, bald-faced abuse of power in the interest of self-pimpage. And your point is what, exactly?

NBA FanHouse (Chris Tomasson): Even from across the country, Stephen Jackson keeps on bashing the Warriors’ commitment to winning. You’ve gotten out, Stephen. You won. Just let it go, man.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

I have to admit, I didn’t think much of all the praise being lavished upon the Warriors in the wake of their two “close” defeats in Cleveland and Boston earlier this week. I thought the only things missing from all the happy chatter were some freshly-sectioned oranges and homemade Rice Krispie treats, because it all had that air of youth-soccerdom: Good job, way to go, you tried hard and that’s what matters.

Read the rest of this entry…