By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

With a 103-99 victory over Boston on Tuesday, the Warriors have themselves just their second winning streak of the season. The first one was pretty impressive, as you may recall; back in November, just after the Stephen Jackson saga resolved itself, Golden State beat Portland (before the Trail Blazers were wracked by injuries) at home, then spanked Dallas on the road.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

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

WEB MEDIA

CSNBayArea.com (Matt Steinmetz): Singing the praises of the Ronny Turiaf-Andris Biedrins tandem: “The Warriors forced Boston into 26 turnovers, which led to 31 points, many of which were committed on the perimeter with Watson and Ellis hounding the Celtics guards.

Both Watson and Ellis said afterward that the return of the Warriors centers has allowed them to be more aggressive and to gamble more on the perimeter.”

Also: The Warriors should use the next month to give themselves a thorough self assessment.

P.S. I disagree with Matt’s take in one major way: I think Kelenna Azubuike is a big loss — arguably, bigger than Biedrins and Turiaf have been. He’s a smallball 4 who can shoot the 3 (in the manner of Matt Barnes or Mickael Pietrus, something this roster sorely lacks, especially with Nelson at the helm) and an above-average defender (at least when compared to the rest of this roster).

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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): “(Don) Nelson said (Stephen) Curry is tougher on his post defense now, and he defends pick-and-rolls well. Perhaps his biggest asset is that he understands and executes the game plan, which sets him up to have the help he needs.”

I’ll admit, I’m not in the room for post-practice film sessions or present during the installation of game-by-game tweaks during morning shootarounds. And, indeed, much of playing perimeter defense in the NBA is simply a matter of guiding a player the direction you want him to go. Maybe Curry is grading out higher on these internal measuring sticks.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Some quick thoughts from watching the replay of the Warriors’ 132-127 win over Phoenix on Saturday:

** All hail the Warriors for breaking their seven-game losing streak, but let’s not lose sight of how bad the defense was: Golden State allowed a team on the second half of a back-to-back to put up a ridiculous eFG% of 61.4. On the season, the Warriors are back to being dead last in eFG% allowed at 53.0.

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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

San Francisco Chronicle (Bruce Jenkins): Bruce’s numbers about Anthony Randolph’s lack of movement on offense in the Warriors’ last two games are compelling, although they come without context. How many times did every other player stand around? Frankly, you could easily argue that every member of the Warriors stands around too much. This is a team predicated on the one-on-one (or one-on-two or even one-on-three) attacks of Monta Ellis. Stephen Curry is acknowledged by the general manager to be a better scorer with the ball in his hands. Anthony Morrow’s value is trolling the 3-point arc; ditto for C.J. Watson. This is a stagnant team both by design and by coaching, and singling out Randolph to grouse about his following suit is kind of silly.

Plus, it unfortunately masks what I think is a good and powerful point Bruce is almost hitting on – that Randolph does require some sort of go-to move. Where Bruce’s argument fails is with the assumption that such a move has to come with his back to the basket; if Randolph developed enough confidence with the one-step-crossover-and-pullup move that he has shown of late, he could create space with it (by getting his defender going backwards) at any time. Then, if he could consistently drain the open 15-footer that results from such a move, the guy would be damn near unstoppable (until defenses adjusted, at least).

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