48minutes.net

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

SACRAMENTO — Stephen Jackson realized a while ago that there’s a very basic problem at the heart of the Warriors’ struggles so far this season.

“Guys are going to have to understand that I can’t be the only guy out there making plays for other guys to get open shots,” Jackson said on Wednesday. “Everybody has to be accountable for that. And that’s what was a big part of our success last year. Baron (Davis) got guys open shots. Monta (Ellis) got guys open shots. I got guys open shots. Right now, it’s just me getting guys open shots. So until we figure out that everybody has to try to make the extra pass or worry about making a play for somebody else, then we’re going to be in the same position.”

Despite a change in location, the Warriors found themselves back in that same position Sunday. With Jackson effectively removed from the game by aggressive, early double-teaming from the Kings, Golden State’s offense once again fizzled, and Sacramento ran away with a 115-98 victory.

“We would expect that that’s going to happen,” said Warriors coach Don Nelson, who admitted that he “packed it in” after three quarters with his team trailing by 16 points. “When you’re limited as far as your star players go, that’s a pretty smart thing (for an opponent) to do, don’t you think?”

So what can you do in response?

“Then somebody else has to step up. It’s his job to make the proper pass, not try to fight it. And it’s up to the other players then to deliver.”

In that case, go ahead and rename them the Golden State Postal Service, because there were no deliveries made Sunday. C.J. Watson and DeMarcus Nelson combined for five assists and four turnovers in 51 minutes. (Marcus Williams had three assists and no TOs in 9 minutes’ worth of garbage time.)

The Warriors shot 41.1 percent, and even the shots they made had a much higher degree of difficulty than the open layups that Kings such as Kevin Martin (27 points before a third-quarter spill knocked him out for the evening.

“I think we just need to share the ball more,” said center Andris Biedrins, who had the team’s second-highest assist total with four. “We always just do one pass and shoot. You don’t really need to be a playmaker to get somebody open. Just drive, pass it out, next pass and the next pass.”

** Jackson said he’s working hard to maintain his poise despite a 2-5 record because the Warriors “have got a lot of young guys playing right now, and it’s frustrating to them. But I can’t be frustrated because it turns into a domino effect and they all get frustrated.”

It looked like Jackson was venting some frustration on referee Dick Bavetta when he picked up a technical foul in the second quarter, but he denied that was the case.

“I was trying to talk to him, he had attitude and one thing led to another,” Jackson said. “I got a million techs in my career. That’s nothing. I’m fighting for my young guys when I’m out there. I’m going to support them. If I feel like they got fouled or I got a bad call, I’m going to talk about it, because I’m the captain, and before the game, referees tell you you’re allowed to talk to them, being a captain. So that’s what I did.”

** The offense wasn’t spectacular, but Don Nelson was even more disappointed with the defensive work his younger players displayed.

“I didn’t think they followed the game plan, they lost their concentration, and (did) a lot of things that young players are going to do,” Nelson said. “I think they listen. Somewhere in between going to the scorer’s table and getting on the floor, they forget. And some of these game plans are fairly complicated. Maybe a little different than we’ve been training them.”

My semi-educated guess: After drilling people for so long on switching as often as possible (usually anything between the 1 through 4 positions on the floor), it was difficult for the youngsters to adjust to a game plan in which the point guard was tasked with doing nothing defensively except chasing Kevin Martin through a thicket of screens.

** Insta-prediction: Warriors diehards will want to see more Anthony Morrow after the rookie guard’s 3-for-5 shooting performance during the fourth quarter.

“I liked Morrow when he came in the game,” Nelson said. “He’s been playing extremely well in practice, and it was the first opportunity he had and I liked him in the game.”

** Of course, the coach also lauded the play of rookie forward Rob Kurz, which seemed to fly in the face of all available evidence. He went 1-for-6 with a turnover and three fouls in 23 minutes.

“I liked Rob on the floor a lot,” Nelson said. “I know his numbers weren’t real good, (but) there’s a guy who doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and moves it. This was his first game. He probably was a little tight on a couple of his shots, but we know he can make that shot. I felt real good about his performance and his presence on the floor.”

Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

STOCKTON — Prior to the NBA draft in June, the rumor mill was consistently churning out talk that Rider big man Jason Thompson would wind up playing an up-tempo style in Northern California.

But that was supposed to happen in Oakland, not Sacramento.

At 6-foot-11 and 250 pounds, Thompson had the size the Warriors lacked. And as a do-everything star for the Rider Broncos of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Thompson showed the versatility — and range on his jump shot — that seemed to make him a natural big man for Don Nelson’s system.

Except the Kings stepped in at No. 12 and snatched him up, two spots before the Warriors. The Warriors, who were giddy about the prospect of having LSU’s Anthony Randolph drop to them at No. 14, did nothing to dissuade the impression that their interest in Thompson was meant to drive up his value and help them acquire Randolph.

But even though the 19-year-old Randolph may be the better player when both their careers are done, there’s no doubt that Thompson, 22, is the one who will contribute immediately to his NBA team.

“He’s been very good,” Kings coach Reggie Theus said. “He’s learning a lot, he can play multiple positions. I think he’s exactly what we thought he would be.”

Thompson said he wasn’t fazed by all the pre-draft talk.

“There’s always going to be rumors, but I just stayed focused,” Thompson said. “It would have been a great opportunity anywhere I went. I kind of had that up and down style, and people said I would fit in (with the Warriors), but we do the same thing here. Once we get the rebound, we’re out.”

This is a drastic change for a Kings team that had long been dominated by half-court specialists such as Mike Bibby and then Ron Artest. But with Bibby in Atlanta, Artest in Houston and a remaining roster devoid of significant post-up threats, Theus decided to dip back into his own history as a player, as chronicled by the Sacramento Bee, and speed things up a notch or three.

There were elements on display Wednesday against the Clippers that would be familiar to any Warriors fan: Fast breaks after made buckets by the opposition, big men dribbling the ball upcourt, a constant search for runners leaking out ahead of the defense for easy points.

“It’s a way I like to play, but it’s more (about) personnel,” Theus said. “They’re making a little bit more of it than it is. We want to play up-tempo, but we’re not running and gunning. We want to push the basketball because our bigs are not great post players, so we’ve got to get them the ball in transition down in the blocks when there’s less help around them.”

That includes Thompson, who started at power forward Wednesday while incumbent Mikki Moore got the night off. Thompson’s 18-minute stint — which led to six points and rebounds — showed some promise but also exposed areas that need polishing.

He grabbed a couple of nice rebounds in traffic and also completed a nifty spin move to earn a trip to the line. But he wasn’t able to establish low-block position on the Clippers’ Paul Davis very effectively, and Davis had an all-too-easy tap-in when Thompson failed to box him out.

“He’s starting to be more aggressive, and that’s what we need him to do,” Kings guard Kevin Martin said of Thompson. “They told me when I started playing a lot, not to always look to score for yourself but be aggressive for other teammates, and that’s what he’s doing, helping our post players like Brad and Spence, open things up for them. That’s what he can do at his size.”

Theus has talked about playing Thompson at center in a small-ball configuration, but Thompson also logged several minutes at small forward Wednesday alongside Spencer Hawes at the 5 and Shelden Williams at the 4.

“The more positions he talks about, the more playing time he brings up, it’s just more opportunities for me,” Thompson said. “I don’t feel like if you’re (labeled as) one position, that you’re that stereotype. Like, ‘5-men are just guys who are stiff.’ I can play the 3, I can play the 4 as well, and if I’m playing the 5 and have to guard a 5, then I’ll do that, too.”

Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net

So, I trekked out to Stockton last night planning to sit down with Baron Davis before his Clippers played the Kings and discuss a few items, namely: how things are going with his new team, the departure from his former employer and his reaction to Monta Ellis’ remake of “Quadrophenia.”

Then I got to University of the Pacific and found out he’d bagged on the trip to stay home because of the flu.

That means you’ll be getting a story on the Kings and rookie forward Jason Thompson — the would-be Warrior, if you believe all the pre-draft talk — a little later today. But in the interim, some random thoughts from the Clippers’ 116-112 comeback win in the Spanos Center:

** Without Ellis, the Warriors are going to be hard-pressed to check Kings star Kevin Martin, who darted all over the floor en route to an extremely efficient 29 points (9-11 FG, 2-3 3FG, 9-12 FT). I like DeMarcus Nelson’s defense an awful lot, but I’m not positive he’s got the quickness to chase down Martin.

** Martin barely played in the second half (5:42) and not at all over the final 18 minutes, when the Clippers outscored the Kings, 55-34. Sacramento coach Reggie Theus rightly declined to bring a cold Martin back into the game to try and secure a meaningless victory, but it was kind of shocking to see how fast things slipped away from the Kings’ second unit.

** It would have been nice if Clippers rookie Eric Gordon would have passed the ball ONCE at some point during the proceedings (24 shots, zero assists). That being said, he proved he can fill it up in a hurry, with 21 fourth-quarter points and 33 on the night.

“The play sets we were running were designed to get him shots, because he had the hot hand, and we go with whoever’s got the hot hand,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “You know, he’s been injured for us, so he’s only had about three practices. Guys were joking around in practice when he was blowing by people; ‘Well, it should be like that. He’s been off for two weeks. He’s got fresh legs.’ I don’t think that’s going to be the case (anymore). He’s really talented, he’s great off the dribble, he gets to the free-throw line and he makes 3s. And he’s a good defender. We were dying to get him in the draft, and he played well for us.”

** Gordon aside, the real rookie revelation for L.A. was point guard Mike Taylor, the No. 55 overall pick who spent last season in the D-League. He had 21 points, nine assists and three steals and looked exceedingly poised throughout the evening.

Given that they still had Baron and a healthy Monta on draft night, it’s hard to fault the Warriors for taking Richard Hendrix instead of Taylor or Chris Douglas-Roberts with their own second round pick at No. 49. But Taylor might very well be starting if Golden State had selected him.

Dunleavy was asked if Taylor has been playing like this throughout camp:

“Every night. Twenty against the Lakers, 14 last night against Oklahoma City but eight in the fourth quarter and made about four big plays down the stretch of the game: Picked a guy’s pocket in the backcourt, we get a layup off of it. Hits a jumper from 17. Goes down the middle and dunks on somebody on a pick-and-roll and then hits two free throws at the end of the game. . . . The question about him was, could he play point, and I thought he could.”

So, can you get Baron’s money back?

“I don’t think we’re ready to go there.”

** Chris Kaman (0-6, 5 fouls in 25 minutes) did not look spry, shall we say. Hell, he even made teammate Jelani McCoy (who I didn’t even realize had made it back onto a training camp roster) look good by comparison.

** I remember predicting the Warriors would take Donte Greene, who slipped to No. 28 before being traded twice and winding up in Sacramento. Based on last night (four fouls, two turnovers, two points in nine minutes), that would not have been the right call.

– Geoff