» George Karl

  • Nov
    6

    By Geoff Lepper
    48minutes.net

    OAKLAND – On a night chock-full of revelations at Oracle Arena, second-year Warriors forward Brandan Wright supplied the exclamation point to Golden State’s 111-101 victory over the Nuggets.

    With 1:12 remaining and Denver trailing and desperate for a hoop, veteran Denver forward Kenyon Martin tried to sneak an extra step closer to the basket. That was all the chance Wright needed to spring forward, bat Martin’s jumper into the air and eventually tap it to C.J. Watson to help seal the victory.

    It was one of three blocks on the evening for Wright, who also tallied a career-high 18 points and 13 rebounds.

    “I just wanted to be a spark and do positive things and hope we get more Ws like tonight,” Wright said.

    Wright was active and assertive on the offensive end, hitting his first seven shots and grabbing six offensive boards. But it was those blocks that stood out the most.

    The Warriors reached double digits in blocks only twice last season, a deficiency they hoped to address by seeing improvement from Wright and signing free agent Ronny Turiaf.

    Andris Biedrins finished with five blocks and Turiaf had two of his own, although they were all upstaged by Kelenna Azubuike, who simply laid waste to a fast-break dunk attempt by Dahntay Jones in the second quarter.

    “Their length inside really allows them to help us out on the defensive end,” said Azubuike, who played the entire second half and finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists. “When we get beat, they are always there in the middle to block or change a shot.”

    Combined with the Nuggets’ almost pathological desire to pass the ball out of bounds — I understand Denver was down to one true point guard (Anthony Carter) while awaiting the arrival of Chauncey Billups, but this was ridiculous — the Warriors showed signs of being a potentially dominant defensive team.

    “They blocked 11 shots, with 20 turnovers that they created,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “That’s a lot of shots and possessions that they had control over.”

    ** While Wright was setting all kinds of personal bests, fellow 2007 first-round draftee Marco Belinelli and this year’s first-rounder, Anthony Randolph, were put on notice by Nelson that they won’t see significant playing time until their work improves in practice.

    Watson, who set a career-high Wednesday with 14 points and tied another with four assists, rookie starter DeMarcus Nelson and even recently re-signed Rob…

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