Traded some Q&A material with Daniel Sagal of Laker-devoted LABallTalk in advance of tonight’s game, which should be fascinating on many fronts, including most especially whether the crowd will turn on the team when the Lakers go on their inevitable 20-4 run to seize command of the game.

Other things to watch for:

** The number of fans wearing bags on their heads.

** The number of fans holding signs, a la Guns ‘n’ Roses, asking “Where’s Monta?”

** Whether Bob Delaney will continue his streak of Warriors-Lakers games.

In any case, on to the Q&A:

48minutes.net: So, does Mitch Kupchak highlight Andrew Bynum’s line on the boxscore after every game and then leave it in Kobe Bryant’s locker? And, more seriously, is Bynum the piece that puts this team over the top this season?

LABallTalk: I highly doubt Kupchak is too happy with Bynum right as he has proven to be somewhat lazy and immature. You hear about all the guys working their butt off in the gym and in practice trying to improve while Andrew only does what he is asked. I’d like to see him grow up a bit more but I supoose that will come with age.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — In his pregame talk Monday before facing Miami, Warriors coach Don Nelson acknowledged the obvious: “Your small team has to be better than the other team’s small team. When it’s not, that’s not going to work that much.”

He forgot to mention: Your small team also has to be able to rebound. Or else that’s not going to work that much.

Yes, it’s time to dust off that old Warriors chestnut, the rebounding deficiency storyline. Because it cost Golden State a victory that the Heat snatched up in overtime, 130-129.

On this seven-game losing streak that shows no sign of ending soon, the Warriors have been outrebounded in every game but one (they managed to tie Chicago, 39-39). Golden State is dead last, and by a wide margin, in terms of defensive rebound rate.

Even so, Monday’s numbers were especially painful down the stretch, when Nelson finally gave in to the allure of small ball.

The Warriors led 94-93 when they went small for the first time all night at the 11:03 mark of the fourth quarter. Golden State had been alternating Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph at the power forward spot up until then, and the youngsters had given the Warriors this combined line: 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting (3-for-4 from the free-throw line), seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

But when Wright threw up an ill-advised runner with his off hand — a shot that crashed high off the glass and never had any chance of going in — Nelson immediately sent Corey Maggette into the game in Wright’s place. With the exception of a 91-second stint after Maggette sprained an ankle in overtime and some last-second offense-defense exchanges, the Warriors stayed small the rest of the way.

The move was somewhat defensible in context. Miami went small first, moving 6-7 Shawn Marion to the 4, which meant that Maggette was not being asked to guard a man with 2 or 3 inches and 20 or 30 pounds on him, as he had been doing in previous games.

Nevertheless, the Heat managed to pound Golden State on the glass when it counted. In the fourth quarter and overtime, Miami had 20 rebounds (eight offensive) to the Warriors’ 13 (10 defensive). The Heat also notched 11 second-chance points to the Warriors’ four.

Included in those 11 points was Miami’s game-tying bucket at the end of regulation, where Miami utilized not one, not two…