Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Recap: Warriors 99, Hornets 83

Just like they did against the Raptors, the Golden State Warriors handled their business against the Hornets. The first half was a close battle with the Warriors struggling to hit their shots, but the third quarter proved to be the decisive time as the Warriors went from being up 3 to being up 15. The Warriors upped their record to 10-6, putting them 1/2 game behind the Clippers for first in the Pacific and 6th overall in the Western Conference.

Boxscore


AP Recap
Warriors.com Postgame
Mercury
SF Gate
MVN- The City Recap










Last night's win was Baron's payback to the Hornets. If you missed his two electrifying dunks and alley oops to JRich here's a recap. Chris Anderson of the Hornets throws one down viciously on the Warriors. But this is Baron's house and you don't embarass this team in our house. So, Baron goes right by Chris Paul as if he was never even there, jump stops on two feet, then elevates over PJ Brown and bangs it home with a thunderous dunk. Crowd roars. But he's not done. Less than a minute later, he again drives the lane as if no defenders are there, jump stops on two feet, elevates and posterizes Chris Anderson. This was the better of the two dunks. It was a powerful dunk, one where his knees seemed to be at the rim and Chris Anderson was helpless. Even if he had got a hand on the ball, the ball was still going through the hoop. To top it all off, Chris Anderson fouled BDiddy and he converted the three point play. This is the new brand of Warriors basketball. This is one of the many positives that Baron brings to the team. Confidence. Swagger. The not in my house attitude.

I love Ike. Yes, I'll admit, I was wrong about wanting the Warriors to draft Granger and not being happy with Ike. After seeing him play last night, I want to say I'm sorry for doubting him. He will be a force in the paint. Last night, he battled down low on the offensive glass, pulling down 5 offensive boards. On one of them he grabbed the board with the defender draped all over him, then dunked it. Unfortunately they called the foul before the shot, but it was great to see some power in the middle. A couple of possessions later, he corralled another offensive board, went up for the shot, got fouled and in dropped the bucket. To think that this is his training camp is scary. He's just getting into the groove of the pro game, but already he's looking like he could potentially challenge Chris Paul for rookie of the year. By January, he should be playing close to 30 minutes per game and probably averaging around 14 and 8.

The defense was strong yielding three 20 points quarters and never allowing the Hornets to get any sort of rhythm on offense. The Warriors forced 17 turnovers with Chris Paul recording 4 and he also did not shoot the ball well. JR Smith shot just 1-10, Speedy had 9 assists but shot 1-8, and Desmond Mason was limited to just 10 points.

I was a little mad when I entered the Arena though. I thought it was Mike Dunleavy posterized night, not Mike Dunleavy poster night. Who the hell wants a Mike Dunleavy poster? (By the way Atma, I got you one since we all know he's your favorite Warrior) So the whole game I was hoping for Mike to get posterized by Desmond Mason or Kirk Snyder (who by the way has springs for calves, had an alley oop and a putback dunk). But noooo, Mike didn't want to cooperate and get posterized, so he just faked an injury.


For those of you who were just like me and showed up to the game thinking it was Mike Dunleavy posterized night, here's what we all wish we could have seen:



Warrior Wonder
Derek Fisher: Despite the fact that he continues to make poor decisions when trying to create and pass with the ball, he hit three big 3's to put the Hornets away. In the 3rd quarter of last night's game, as the Hornets were making their run, Fisher knocked down 3 straight 3's to keep the Warriors ahead by at least double figures and squash the Hornets chances. The Warriors ended the 3rd quarter up 15 points thanks in large part to DFish's big shots.


7 Comments:

At 2:25 PM, Blogger Hotspur said...

Wow. Mike D puts in two good games in a row (the injury sucks, but 10 points and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes and all you can do is rag on him?

Look, everybody's disappointed at how he's played so far this year - but what, are you guys rooting against him or something? You want him to suck? Every time he has a bad game (which has been far too often) you guys throw up his numbers. Hardly a mention of his vastly improved (but still has room to go) defense. He shoots 5-8 in 20 minutes, being more aggressive, getting boards, doing all the things we've wanted to see him do ...

and you cheer when he gets an injury?

What's wrong with you?

 
At 4:56 PM, Blogger Hotspur said...

Who said he was a great player? Where is this multitude claiming that he's the second coming of Larry Bird?

One of the knocks on him is that he's lazy - that he hangs out on the perimeter and is content making jump shots. So, he's supposed to go to the paint, right? Well, he does that, and now you rag on him because his shots were all layups?

Isn't that what he's supposed to be doing?

 
At 5:24 PM, Blogger dj fuzzylogic said...

richardson and murphy are two players--both drafted later than the 3rd pick--who have consistently improved their game and its noticeable in the things they have done, whether it's dribbling, shooting, passing, defense, etc. with dunleavy, saying that he had two good games in a row (something we haven't seen in 4 years) warrants praise suggests that you've totally lowered your standards for this particular player ONLY. putting up points, droppin' dimes and grabbin' boards is what he SHOULD be doing with REGULARITY. But getting paid 25 million less than richardson and murph and being the 4th option doesn't mean he can't be criticized for not showing up to games. to say he's vastly improved to where he's at now in defense now is another excuse people continue to make for him.

in response to your question about why we shouldn't rag on him:

cuz laughing keeps us from crying

 
At 5:29 PM, Blogger atma brother #1 said...

2 good games? Let's not debate if they were really "good". We can all agree that these numbers came against 2 GARBAGE teams.

I just saw some Dunleavy posters going on eBay from last night's game. People will pay you take the poster from them!

 
At 7:52 PM, Blogger Fantasy Junkie said...

C'mon hotspur, 10 points and 5 boards in 20 minutes is a good game? You can't really be serious. But yes he did have one of his better games this season, thank you for pointing that out. He was more aggressive, hit the boards and shot well. But by no means does that mean he played a good game. Just because he's improved does not mean that he's playing well. Anyways, from here on out, if he averages 10 points and 5 boards, you will be happy with his season? I hope not. I expect bigger things from him.

Also, I didn't really rag on his game. I just saw him walk to center court with a pronounced limp, the trainer and Taft came to help him out, so now the attention is no longer solely on him, and all of a sudden he can walk just fine. It looked a little fishy to me. And I didn't cheer when he got injured, I would never do that. Even if I don't like the guy's game, I'd never want him to be hurt.

Also, I was just mad that I got a stupid Dunleavy poster when there are clearly better posters to be had, i.e. JRich, Baron, Pietrus, Murphy, Diogu, Foyle, Zarko, Cheaney, Miles, Taft, Biedrins, Ellis, Fisher. I'd even take a Monty poster. Or maybe a throwback Mullin poster. Or a Thunder poster. Or a Warrior Girls poster. Or poster of the young kids who do the acrobatic dunks. Hell I'd rather have a poster of the ballboys.

I digress...We're not rooting against him, I want him to play well. I want him to earn that money. If he can be a valuable member of the team, then I'll be happy with him. But so far this season he's proven to be anything but that. As we've said the whole time, we'll give him praise when he earns it:
Golden State Warriors BLOG: Recap: Warriors 100, Bulls 82 and Golden State Warriors BLOG: Recap: Warriors 117, Raptors 91

By the way, I'm not going to praise anyone's vastly improved defense if they still suck at it. That's just stupid. That's like, "Hey Mikey, you only gave up 30 points today rather than the 40 last year. Good job." Uhhh no.

If Dun starts to play well, I will be the first one to point it out. But I'm also the first one to point out that he has been bad and needs to play better. Goes both ways my friend.

 
At 9:02 PM, Blogger atma brother #1 said...

Man, I'd rather have a poster of the GToe Band (the Band outside of the Warriors cafe in the Arena) than a Dunleavy poster!

 
At 5:53 AM, Blogger dj fuzzylogic said...

on dunleavy poster night, they should give out pictures that remind us most of him--like the one with him getting kicked in the face or the ones where he's making weird faces or the one of him wearing his warmup suit--not ones that are totally set up and mediated by a photographer and totally airbrushed.

 

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