(PROGRAMMING NOTE: No live conversation regarding tonight’s game in New Orleans. Check back in the morning for fresh, piping-hot Christmas Eve bon mots.)

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Your daily guided tour through the national and local media coverage of the always-entertaining Golden State Warriors.

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Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): Marcus pulls off an old favorite, the “glass-half-full switcheroo,” pointing out that the Warrriors made half their shots (yes, my in-game prediction was sadly made wrong by a late surge) and garnered 20 assists before driving it home with a Stephen Curry quote: “We had good stats, they had better stats.”

Also: It sure sounds like training camp invitee Cartier Martin is going to be rejoining the Warriors sooner rather than later, as Golden State nears getting a second injury exception.

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Transcribed from CSN Bay Area’s broadcast, it’s the Don Nelson Show. (Don’t worry, it’s short and to the point.)

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

According to Chris Broussard over at ESPN.com, the Warriors’ one-game experiment with starting Ronny Turiaf at power forward is over, with Anthony Randolph set to move into the lineup tonight in Phoenix.

Somebody cue Jim Nabors, and be sure to employ the “sarcasm” HTML tag:

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Don Nelson used Turiaf on Wednesday because the Rockets were a small, depleted team that looked like a good matchup. It didn’t turn out to be so, but even if it had, Turiaf would still be heading back to the bench, for a multitude of different reasons. The biggest is this one: With Amare Stoudemire and Channing Frye, the Suns have two legitimate big men on the floor, negating any perceived matchup advantage Golden State might get with a Turiaf-Andris Biedrins combination at the start.

Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Nelson puts Corey Maggette into the lineup for Game 3 against Memphis next Wednesday, looking to create a mismatch with either Marc Gasol or Zach Randolph.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

By now, you’ve undoubtedly read Marcus Thompson’s blog item regarding the report from Stephen Jackson that Baron Davis wants to be traded back to the Bay less than six months after bolting to go back home.

Aside from the usual eye-rolling that comes with most Baron pronouncements, there’s a very specific and immoveable obstacle to this scenario: BD can’t seriously think that the Warriors (i.e., team president Robert Rowell) — who didn’t want to be on the hook for four fully guaranteed years because of concerns about Davis’ health and motivation — are suddenly going to be willing to pay for FIVE seasons.

Here, then, is a helpful guide to 30 things more likely to happen than Baron Davis coming back to the Bay:

1) Barack Obama arrives at the White House on the afternoon of Jan. 20, spots George Bush ducking out the back door, tosses him the keys and says, “You can keep it. I just got Hank Paulson’s last report, and I’m outta here.”

2) Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter each play 82 games — in the same season.

3) Clay Bennett goes bankrupt and the City of Seattle picks up the Thunder for $42,598 plus court costs in an Oklahoma City repo auction.

4) Warrior fans make it through a broadcast without being reminded that they’re missing (insert number here) points per game.

5) Larry Brown quits the Bobcats out of sheer frustration with Sean May.

(Wait, that one could actually happen.)

6) The L wakes up to the fact that Kevin Garnett has crossed the line from “hard-nosed” to “wantonly overaggressive” and finally takes some punitive action.

7) Allen Iverson takes two weeks off from the Pistons, undergoes 274 laser treatments and comes back without any tattoos.

8 ) Jose Calderon misses a free throw. But only one.

9) Gilbert Arenas announces that he’s quitting the NBA to switch to blogging full-time.

10) Jamal Crawford starts to play lockdown defense.

11) Barry Bonds is named the San Francisco Giants’ new strength and conditioning coach.

12) Kobe Bryant drops 71 on the Suns, then tells a live ABC audience: “Shaq, your ass taste like chicken. At least, that’s what Steve Nash said.”

13) Al Harrington tells Jackson that he’d like to come back to the Warriors, too.

14) Erick Dampier acknowledges that he hasn’t played up to the seven-year, $73 million deal he signed in 2004 and gives Mark Cuban an oversized posterboard check for $30 million in a halftime ceremony at a Mavericks home game.

15) Cuban’s attorneys immediately take half as a retainer.

16) The San Jose Sharks…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Warriors swingman Stephen Jackson has always seen himself as a do-it-all performer in the NBA, yet even for him, this season’s list of responsibilities is getting a little out of hand.

Lead defender. Twenty-points-per-game scorer. Point forward. Point guard, possibly. Captain responsible for providing veteran leadership to one of the youngest teams in the NBA.

Is any single player capable of filling all those roles?

“I have to be,” a resolute Jackson said last week. “I’m not going to say I’m not, I’m not going to say I am, but I’m going to go out and give my best effort.”

No one doubts that. But after watching Jackson sputter to a halt in the final weeks of last season — when he set career-high averages in scoring (20.1 ppg) and assists (4.1) but also logged the most minutes played (39.1) in his eight-year NBA career — it’s fair to wonder how on Earth he can be asked to do more without burning out in similar fashion.

“He thinks he can handle it,” said Warriors forward Al Harrington, who did an old-man shuffle to illustrate his next point. “The thing about Jack is, as much as he walks like he can’t do it, and all that type of stuff, he finds a way.”

This year, that way may involve taking a different path. After previously serving as the big-shot sidekick to Baron Davis and Monta Ellis and the pick-and-roll partner of Andris Biedrins, Jackson will be the focal point at either end of the floor for the Warriors this season.

Whether he plays a true point guard for the first time since high school or simply initiates the offense from the 2 or 3 spots, Jackson knows it’s incumbent on him to do more in the way of shot creation — even if it means allowing his own scoring to wilt during what could be a contract drive if talks about an extension break down.

“I don’t think I’m going to average 20 points this year,” Jackson said. “I think I’m going to have to take away some of my points to be more defensive and make more plays for other guys, because BD was a big part of guys getting open shots. So I’m going to have to be more of a playmaker now and just try to sacrifice myself for the other guys a little bit.”

With Davis gone, Jackson will shoulder the burden…