** The talk for more than a few days has been about Warriors guard Anthony Morrow making the 3-point contest, but Don Nelson doesn’t think he should limited to just that portion of All-Star weekend. The coach is pushing for Morrow to take part in the Rookie Challenge as well.

“Well, I think that he should make the rookie team. For me, that would be a bigger honor than shooting in the 3-point contest,” Nelson said. “It would be nice to be represented by somebody. What he’s done as a rookie, I don’t know there’s 12 better rookies in the league than Anthony Morrow. . . . He is leading the league in 3-point shooting, and he is having an awful good year for a rookie. Especially when you guys say I don’t play rookies. It must be unbelievable, huh?”

Despite Nelson’s glowing recommendation, Morrow’s chances would seem to be fairly slim. The nine-player roster is made up of four guards, four forward/centers and one wildcard entry, so there will be at most five guards.

Chicago’s Derrick Rose, Memphis’ O.J. Mayo and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook are three guards with guaranteed spots. That leaves Morrow fighting with Portland’s Rudy Fernandez and Miami’s Mario Chalmers for the last guard spot and the wildcard position. (Morrow may be helped there by Fernandez’s inclusion in the dunk contest; although the Rookie Challenge is set for Feb. 13 and the dunk competition isn’t until the next day, Fernandez may want to concentrate on not getting blown out by Dwight Howard.)

** Jamal Crawford (right hamstring contusion) took part in the Warriors’ light practice on Monday (mostly shooting drills), but how he does on Tuesday will determine whether he can play Wednesday in Dallas.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Corey Maggette had an early growth spurt, so as a three-time All-American at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Ill., he manned the low post.

More than a decade later, he’s going to be doing it all over again.

Small ball is back in vogue (if it ever could be said to have left) in Oakland, thanks to the Warriors putting together their first winning streak of the season via a 111-106 victory over Portland on Tuesday.

Coach Don Nelson cited the emergence of rookie guard Anthony Morrow, who led all scorers with 25 points, as the driving force behind the change. But none of it would work without Maggette at power forward, giving the Warriors a mismatch that they exploited fully, and surprisingly, against Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge.

“If (Maggette) is able to play the 4 position, that really can change our team for the better,” Nelson said. “That’s where we like to have him. He’s strong enough to guard. We’ll give him a lot of help when he has mismatches. But I don’t know how they guard him with a 4. I just don’t. They can’t.”

They certainly didn’t on Tuesday, when Maggette scored 20 points against an assortment of forwards: primarily Aldridge, Channing Frye and Travis Outlaw.

More importantly, Maggette drew three offensive fouls on Aldridge, helping to drive him from the game after 19 1/2 Teddy KGB-like minutes (“I feel so un-say-tis-fied”): 2-for-7 shooting, four points (13 off his average) and four rebounds.

When Aldridge was matched up with Maggette, the Blazers looked for him practically every time downcourt. But when he got the ball (usually 12 to 15 feet out on the left wing) the Warriors would often run a second player at him — not in a hard trap, but a soft double that allowed them time to get back and recover. It was meant to convince Aldridge to give up the ball early in the possession, rather than allowing him the opportunity to back Maggette down, and it often worked.

But even when Aldridge did try to attack Maggette, it failed. He couldn’t get any traction, and settled for an 0-for-4 performance in head-to-head matchups with Maggette. (Aldridge’s buckets came over Morrow and Stephen Jackson).

“I think I’m going to be in a position, as well as Jack, where we might play 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5,” Maggette said earlier this season. “Am I ready for that? Yeah. I’m going…