By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Not much upstages LeBron James these days, but the Warriors managed it Thursday, announcing on their Web site that Monta Ellis will return Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After one moped accident, two surgeries, hundreds of hours of rehab, six practices and one critical meeting to discuss the six-year, $66 million contract that he placed in jeopardy, Ellis is set to step back onto the floor at Oracle Arena.

Warriors coach Don Nelson said on KNBR that Ellis will start Friday — presumably alongside Jamal Crawford — at the point and expects him to log somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes.

“I was very concerned that he would maybe never be the same player again, because it was a very severe ankle (injury) — he severed two tendons in his ankle, and they had to surgically repair them and put pins in them and a whole bunch of stuff — and I was thinking he may never be the same again, but I can assure you that he will be,” Nelson said. “I’m watching him in practice and he’s coming back way faster than I thought. . . . I think he’ll be the same Monta we’ve grown to love and enjoy watching.”

Ellis only began practicing in 5-on-5 drills nine days ago, but has long felt that his ankle was 100 percent physically and that it was merely a matter of getting into basketball shape. In a sign of his anxiousness, he famously yelled, “Let me play!” after dunking at the Warriors’ shootaround Wednesday morning.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

The departure of assistant coach Sidney Moncrief — who took leave of the Warriors on Thursday so he could join the Beijing Ducks as a consultant — should prompt a second look at Golden State’s stats from the free-throw line, since Moncrief was in charge of raising them to seldom-reached heights this season.

Golden State is converting 76.0 percent of its foul shots through 37 games (823 of 1,083), a mark that, if it holds up, would be a 4.3 percent jump from last season and the team’s second-best free-throw figure in the last 11 years (the Warriors of 2002-03 knocked down 77.8 percent).

But a closer examination of the numbers shows the increase is due more to roster moves than anything else; adding Jamal Crawford (99-for-111, 89.2% this season, career 83.9%) and Corey Maggette (130-for-155, 83.9%, career 82.0%) while subtracting Baron Davis (318-for-424, 75.0% last season) and Mickael Pietrus (66-for-98, 67.3%) will provide a spike in any team’s success rate.

That’s not to say Moncrief did a poor job. Comparing the six players who have spent the last two seasons with the team, four of them have increased their FT% from 2007-08, although some of the sample sizes from last season are so small as to make the comparisons silly.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

The Warriors zoned. The Timberwolves just zoned out.

Thanks to a 9-0 run at the end of regulation — fueled by a 2-3 zone that took Minnesota star Al Jefferson completely out of the game — Golden State managed to come back Tuesday for a 113-110 victory.

After surging ahead by double-digits in the second half behind a frontline featuring three of the players expected to carry them into the next decade — 22-year-old Andris Biedrins, 21-year-old Brandan Wright and 19-year-old Anthony Randolph — the Warriors squandered that lead and then some in allowing the one-win Timberwolves to take command in the fourth quarter.

But with Minnesota holding a nine-point lead and less than four minutes remaining, Golden State clamped down with a zone that was designed to keep Jefferson in check.

Jefferson never even touched the ball. The Timberwolves missed their last eight shots. And perhaps most importantly, Minnesota — which had 20 offensive rebounds on the evening — only got one during the final 4:30, and that was on an ineffectual tip from Craig Smith with 30 seconds left.

Wright finally secured that rebound, fed the ball to C.J. Watson, who zipped a cross court lead pass to Stephen Jackson, who tallied the game-tying layup with 22.2 seconds left, part of his season-high 30 points.

“It was kind of hard for Jefferson to get the ball and make plays when we collapsed on him in the zone,” Jackson said. “We got rebounds, got out and ran, so I think the zone was very successful tonight.”

** This was the first time all season that the Biedrins-Wright-Randolph trio was on the floor together. The unit had stints in each of the first three quarters. The first was a move made out of desperation; Randolph came on in place of an ineffective Watson and Jackson took over at the point.

But the last one was a deliberate choice on the part of coach Don Nelson, who sent them out to start the third quarter together. That group helped Golden State reel off a 9-4 run to build an 11-point lead 3 minutes into the half.

“There are so many young guys on the floor, but it’s kind of fun because everybody is playing with such energy,” Biedrins said. “Everybody is running, defending, blocking shots.”

The Warriors were able to make the big and young lineup work because the Timberwolves weren’t equipped with the kind of point guard who…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Warrior fans were treated to a tantalizing glimpse of the future Friday — at least until a couple of deficiencies dredged up from the past blotted out the landscape.

The sight of second-year player Brandan Wright and rookie Anthony Randolph holding down the power forward slot in the absence of veteran Al Harrington (sore back) was a welcome one to fans who want to see the team build around those two potential stars.

But a 55-41 rebounding deficit and 13 missed free throws — hallmarks of Warriors losses from throughout the 2000s — cost Golden State in a 109-104 loss to Memphis.

“That’s a game we could have won,” guard Kelenna Azubuike said. “We’ve just got to take care of the little things down the stretch. We’ve got to knock down free throws, play defense. You can’t win like that. It’s that simple.”

Fourteen offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points in the first half served as a lifeline for the Grizzlies, who shot 37.5 percent from the floor but still were down just 50-48.

That half nevertheless featured the first significant playing time for Randolph, who made his NBA debut Monday in Memphis with a meaningless 87 seconds. He came on with 4:24 left in the first quarter in place of Wright. He missed his first shot, a 19-foot jumper, and was called on the next possession for a foul trying to push Hakim Warrick off the block.

“I was over excited,” Randolph said. “I’m not even sure how to describe it. It was more than excited. . . . I was probably having a little panic attack.”

Randolph calmed down enough to collect eight points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes. After struggling with his outside shot for much of the exhibition season, it was gratifying for Randolph to gather all four of his buckets between 17 and 21 feet from the basket.

“I thought he looked pretty good tonight,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “He had some nice moments, and he definitely has a presence to his game. . . . He got some consistent minutes and made his presence felt a little bit.”

Wright, making the first of what’s expected to be many starts as the Warriors hand him the keys at power forward, finished with only six points, two rebounds and one chipped tooth in 21 minutes.

Nevertheless, the framework was laid in place for a Wright/Randolph partnership.

“I think once me…