By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

And so begins the great Stephen Jackson exodus from Warrior land.

How else to interpret the scene Friday night at the Forum during the first quarter of the Warriors’ 110-91 win over the Lakers, where Jackson allowed his physical battles with Kobe Bryant to turn into a five-foul, one-technical, banished-to-the-locker-room-by-the-coach, all-in-the-space-of-nine-minutes meltdown?

I’ve joked to a few people in the weeks since Jackson’s trade demand that no one’s going to be able to tell if he’s tanking it. After all, this is a guy who hoists up 3-pointers with 18 seconds left on the shot clock three or four times a game — and that’s when he’s playing at the TOP of his game.

But after last night . . . well, that’s certainly one way to make it clear you don’t want to be around.

The Warriors face a dilemma heading into tonight’s outdoor exhibition game against the Phoenix Suns: What to do in response to Jackson’s actions?

Simply ignoring the outburst runs the risk of giving Jackson carte blanche to run roughshod over the Warriors. It’s one thing to pout your way out of a meaningless exhibition game in a long-abandoned former NBA arena. It’s quite another to do that on Oct. 28 against Houston when the regular season begins.

Jilted fans who feel Jackson has stabbed them in the back with the very pen he used to ink his three-year, $28 million extension would love to see him suspended, but that would almost certainly turn this into an open war that makes the Al Harrington break-up look like an amicable divorce and rivals the insanity that was Stephon Marbury’s final season in New York.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

It was the end of a difficult five-games-in-seven-days road trip. Their captain and team leader was on the bench in street clothes because of a badly swollen and sprained left wrist. They were facing a highly motivated ex-teammate who wanted to prove a point.

The Warriors better hope one of those excuses holds water. Because when Golden State dropped a not-nearly-that-close 138-125 decision to the New York Knicks on Saturday for its sixth consecutive defeat, it wasn’t just a loss.

It was comprehensive surrender. Total capitulation.

So total, in fact, that Lowell Cohn of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat said he saw Warriors coach Don Nelson leaving the bench several seconds before the final horn sounded. Honestly, I didn’t catch that, but I can’t say it would shock me if it was true. Whenever the camera caught showed a glimpse of Nelson on Saturday, he looked to me like a CEO who was stuck testifying before a Congressional sub-committee — someone supremely interested in being anywhere but there at that moment in that time.

New York Knicks guard Chris Duhon drives on Golden State Warriors center Andris Biedrins (AP photo/Frank Franklin II)

Of course, you’d probably look like that, too, if your team was allowing a mid-level talent such as Chris Duhon to break a Knicks franchise record that had stood for nearly a half-century. Duhon had 22 assists, or one more than Richie Guerin notched on Dec. 12, 1958.

“Wow, what a player,” Nelson said. “He looked like Steve Nash out there. Unbelievable performance. Whether we zoned him, switched him, it didn’t matter. He still found a way to hurt us. Really impressive performance.”

The utter inability to even hint at an effective countermeasure to the Knicks’ high pick-and-roll — which David Lee rode to a career-high 37 points and 21 rebounds — was enough to render a Warriors fan nonsensical with rage.

The Warriors consistently tried to stop Duhon (or Anthony Roberson) by having the big man step out on him, either to switch fully, or merely to impede his progress momentarily. But one of two things would happen:

New York Knicks forward/center David Lee in a familiar pose from Saturday: Readying himself for a two-handed jam (AP photo/Frank Franklin II)

A) The smaller defender would fail to properly cover Lee on the roll, providing an engraved invitation for Duhon to find Lee immediately with a pass for a two-handed dunk;

or B) Duhon would sail right around…

Marcus Thompson is reporting that Warriors captain Stephen Jackson is sitting out Saturday’s game with a sprained left hand. Assuming that’s true, I’ll be fascinated to see who sucks up Jackson’s 18 shots per game.

I’m betting half go to Jamal Crawford, trying to stick it to Mike D’Antoni, with another 5-6 going to Marco Belinelli, who’s starting in place of Jackson.

Also, the Warriors have shown fairly conclusively that they don’t have good enough wing play right now to make smallball work in their favor. Taking Jackson out would dilute that talent even more. Will Nelson still try to outgun the Knicks?

Lastly, if the Warriors come out with spectacular ball movement tonight, how much will that fuel the fire set by Jackson’s “I know it ain’t me” quotes from last night?

BTW, I forgot to add: Belinelli starting? Can you say “showcase”?

– Geoff

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Well, give Don Nelson credit for one thing: He said that benching Al Harrington wasn’t going to hurt his trade value, and he was right on the money.

Given what the Warriors’ options were, getting Jamal Crawford from the Knicks is probably the best available option.

In the short term, dealing Harrington for any useful player is an unquestioned win for the Warriors. Once Harrington left town, it was clear he wasn’t ever coming back. The situation had deteriorated beyond repair, as evidenced by Nelson and Harrington’s agent, Dan Fegan, trading barbs through the media.

Getting a player of Crawford’s caliber back for a nonentity is pretty much a no-lose situation.

In the long term, it’s a totally different matter, of course.

The Warriors are now locked into a core of Crawford, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins — imagine that, a perfect small ball starting five! — beyond the summer of 2010, when a historic crop of free agents is due to hit the market. And because each of those players (unless Crawford crazily opts out after this season) is due $8.5 million or more in 2010-11, it’s highly doubtful that any of them can be traded until after the ‘10 feeding frenzy is over.

This deal makes a whole lot of sense in the wake of the extension Jackson signed earlier this week. That contract had already pretty much knocked Golden State out of any significant change-making ability in 2010. So using the salary-cap space that remained ($7.5 million is my rough estimate, if the league can maintain its recent revenue growth) to add a quality player for basically no cost was a no-brainer.

(As for the luxury tax in 2010-11, unless the league’s revenues well and truly crater, the Warriors should be able to get under that threshold fairly easily, even if they keep a core of Crawford, Jackson, Ellis, Biedrins, Maggette, Ronny Turiaf, Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph.)

And hey, on the plus side, Warrior fans can go ahead and buy that $230 authentic jersey and know it won’t become outdated anytime soon.

Other thoughts after a day of contemplation and research:

** Crawford gives the Warriors a couple of things they’ve been missing this season: A guard who can drive and kick, and another jump shooter that must be accounted for.

According to NBA.com’s Hotspots, Crawford shot 40.4 percent last season from outside 15 feet; the Warriors as a whole, even…

Without even a pretense of having something at the top, here’s today’s installment of your faithful reporter’s quest to prognosticate all 1,230 NBA regular-season games this season:

76ers (2-5) at Raptors (4-3), 4:05 p.m.
Pick: Raptors -6
Kevin Garnett? Pfffft. Now, if Jose Calderon can get the ever-placid Elton Brand to wag a finger in his face, that’d be something impressive.

Hawks (6-0) at Celtics (7-1), 4:35 p.m.
Pick: Celtics -10.5
If Atlanta really can be this good for 82 games, I might have to seriously revise my opinion of Mike Bibby.

Pacers (3-3) at Nets (2-4), 4:35 p.m.
Pick: Nets +1.5
I shouldn’t fall into this trap, but I’m going to anyway.

Lakers (6-0) at Hornets (4-2), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Lakers +1
L.A. is 5-1 against the spread this season, and the only loss was by one point (they beat Denver by 7 while laying 8).

Trail Blazers (4-3) at Heat (4-3), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Heat -1.5
Greg Oden comes back, but for how long? Three games? Six?

Spurs (2-4) at Bucks (3-5), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Spurs -2.5
So, was that win over New York an aberration, or a return to form for the Spurs’ shooters?

Magic (4-3) at Thunder (1-6), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Magic -7
Nick Collison should get paid double for the abuse he’s about to take.

Jazz (6-1) at Wizards (0-5), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Jazz -4.5
Has a team gone from splashing out huge wads of cash to fighting to keep from falling into inevitable rebuilding mode faster than the Wizards?

Knicks (4-3) at Grizzlies (3-5), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Knicks +4.5
I hadn’t realized until right now that the Knicks really don’t have a single legitimate shot-blocker. They’re still in single-digits as a team (9), through seven games. Makes me wonder if Mike D’Antoni told Chris Duhon on the day he signed, “Welcome aboard. Don’t ever, ever, EVER, EVER, EVER let your man get by you.”

Kings (3-5) at Clippers (1-6), 7:35 p.m.
Pick: Clippers -7
The Kings disappointed me last night by kicking away what should have been a sure cover in the final minutes. I’m not sure if this is the right response, but so be it.

Rockets (4-3) at Suns (6-2), 7:35 p.m.
Picks: Rockets +3.5
This is one of about four games I’ve flipped back and forth. I’ll be fascinated to watch Matt Barnes and Ron Artest, two of the league’s more combustible personalities on the floor, going head-to-head.

Yesterday: 6-2
Season record: 50-54-1

– Geoff

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