By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Your (back from the New Year’s break) daily guided tour through the national and local media coverage of the always-entertaining Golden State Warriors.

PRINT MEDIA
San Francisco Chronicle (John Shea): I wonder how this Don Nelson quote from Shea’s piece on the wretchedness that is Oakland sports in general is going to go over at 1011 Broadway: “You don’t have a 20-year reign in which you’re going to win titles and contend unless you’re a team that functions over the cap, like the Lakers and other big-market teams. When you can’t function over the cap, you’ve got to do a better job managing your cap and money and selection of players that fit.”

So, basically, Don, you’re saying that until Chris Cohan coughs up more cash (which won’t happen), the Warriors have no hope of contending? Yeah, that’ll sell more tickets.

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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.

BLOGOSPHERE

Inside The Warriors/Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): Marcus has some thoughts on Anthony Randolph’s limited playing time: “Since the Warriors really can’t match up with the Lakers in the size category, Nelson presumably wanted to create an advantage on offense by going with either Maggette, who can score on the drive, or Radmanovic, who stretches the floor with his outside shot.”

Also included in the entry was this little nugget: “Randolph declined to comment. I think he was the first player dressed and out (he’s from Los Angeles, so he probably had people waiting for him).”

That makes perfect sense, all except for the fact that players have people waiting for them all the time and almost never rush to evacuate the locker room. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Randolph was pissed off, and mightily, at not getting more of a chance last night. We’ll see if Bill Duffy reaches out to the media in the upcoming days.

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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

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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