Game Time - The Warriors Invade Cleveland

All of this talk about where LeBron will land in 2010 is getting pretty annoying. Don't people know that Cleveland has the type of team that can win a championship today? Doesn't LeBron know this? LeBron needs to table all the talk about 2010 and focus on the task at hand because the boys in Boston aren't going to give up the mantle easily.

I'm with Chuck.

If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up. I'm a big LeBron fan. He's a stud. You gotta give him his props. I'm getting so annoyed he's talking about what he's going to do in two years. I think it's disrespectful to the game. I think it's disrespectful to the Cavaliers.

Word.

The Warriors come to town and though they played Boston very well on Wednesday, this team is a frenetic mess. Jamal Crawford only adds to that. At least they're exciting.

1st Quarter

12:00 - I'm terribly annoyed that I can't watch this game in HD.

10:35 - Brandan Wright is starting again and blocked a shot, ran the floor, and got a dunk. Hopefully he continues to get a shot.

10:00 - I've known guys named Diante (I think that's my little cousin's name), Dante (also spelled Donte), and Kiante but I've never met a Delonte. He just missed a three.

9:11 - After Andris blocked Zydrunas' shot, Stephen Jackson tried to get the ball and jammed his finger. He's out of the game.

7:16 - Ben Wallace shoots his free throws like Purvis Short used to shoot jump shots. He tries to bring down rain. And missed them both.

6:12 - Mo Williams blocked Jamal Crawford's jumper and then hit one of his own. Warriors up 21-15. I just heard a Ric Flair, "Woooooo!" This isn't Charlotte.

5:30 - LeBron dunked in his first of what will probably be many alley-oops. Don't fake the funk on the nasty dunk.

4:25 - Boobie Gibson just missed a three. Sorry, I just wanted to type Boobie Gibson.

2:40 - Put back dunk by LeBron. He's just so much bigger and stronger than everyone else. It's not fair. I thought Corey Maggette was strong. LeBron poses on Corey.

:56 - A Wally Szczerbiak put back? You have to work hard to let him get an offensive rebound. And what kind of spelling puts z-c-z back to back to back? We'll call him Wally for the rest of the game.

:09 - Jamal Crawford hit a three and was fouled, but can't complete the four point play. He's a gunner and fits in perfectly with this rag tag team. But he needs to drive to the bucket if he wants to make a difference. Warriors up 32-29.

2nd Quarter

11:36 - Is there really a need to play the instrumental to I Got Five On It during a Cavs offensive set? Are they trying to get people to just smoke weed in the arena?

10:44 - Hey, Anthony Morrow hit an open jumper. Remember just a couple of weeks ago when Warriors fans thought they had a starting two guard? Well, he didn't even play against Boston.

10:36 - Did you know that LBJ is only one inch shorter than Big Ben but outweighs him by five pounds?

10:05 - Kelenna Azubuike is having a pretty good game so far. I don't get the pronunciation of his last name though. The announcers say it's a-zuh-bookie. It looks like a-zuh-bweek-ay. Doesn't it?

8:50 - LeBron's fingernails must grow at an amazing speed because he chews on them like he's looking for the tootsie roll center.

6:39 - When they throw the ball into Stephen Jackson, it's like throwing it into a black hole. You know how when Mike Jordan would get the ball, he'd turn, dribble a couple times before launching a beautiful fade away? Well that's just like Jackson except he doesn't make fade aways.

6:09 - LeBron just got a break away double pump tomahawk dunk. Cavs up 42-41.

5:35 - He just knifed through the lane and threw it down again. Who is he? Do I even have to tell you?

2:48 - Zydrunas beat Andris down the court. Andris must be either tired or dead.

1:48 - After missing outside shot after outside shot after outside shot, Jamal Crawford's brain finally told him to go to the hole. And finally, he made a shot.

1:14 - LBJ for three. Why not? He's making everything else.

1:00 - CJ Watson with the elbow pad just hit a jumper. He can probably throw a mean bionic elbow with that thing.

:00 - LeBron got the rebound with four seconds left in the half, drove all the way down court, and if he didn't get trip, he would've probably dunked that one too. 58-52 Cavs at the half.


3rd Quarter

12:00 - Anthony Randolph starts for Brandan Wright. I guess the Warriors needed to go skinnier.

9:10 - Zydrunas traps at the top for some reason. Either that or he just couldn't get down court fast enough and decided to pretend.

8:00 - Maggette shoots a fade away 20 footer that missed the rim by about 3 feet. It's no wonder that Cleveland is up by 10.

5:59 - Ronny Turiaf thugged Zydrunas a bit and Zydrunas became very angry with him. What was funny about it is that it was Zydrunas who elbowed Turiaf in the throat. Zydrunas turned to Turiaf to yell some expletives at him but Turiaf couldn't say anything because he was trying to breathe.

4:32 - Maggette grabbed a rebound, jumped and hung in the air beautifully, but overshot the rim by two feet and now has three air balls. At least it looked pretty before he shot it.

3:03 - LeBron just hit his second three pointer in a row and the Cavs are now up by twenty points. I think you might be able to count the number of shots he's missed on one hand.

1:34 - Black Hole Jackson got to the hoop, put it up left handed and yelled, "And one!" The problem was that he not only didn't get the call, but he missed the shot. I think you have to wait until you make a shot before you can call that.

1:02 - LBJ found Anderson Varejao for a bucket and I think the song that came out of the speakers was Maniac from Flashdance. Is it because with his curly mane flopping over the top of his headband that Varejao looks like Jennifer Beals?

4th Quarter

12:00 - The Cavs outscored the Warriors 36-16 in the third quarter. I have a feeling we're going to see the youngsters for both teams.

11:39 - Brandan Wright just scored and was fouled. Announcer Bob Fitzgerald noted that all the young players were on the court and that it could be fun. Fun for whom? I used to screen calls for Bob back in my younger days at KNBR.

7:05 - How about this for a random CJ Watson stat? He's six for six shooting tonight and is ten for his last ten.

6:02 - Hey, Rob Kurz is in the game.

5:40 - Hey, Rob Kurz made a shot.

5:25 - The sound guy decided to play the music from Beverly Hills Cop for no reason whatsoever.

4:44 - This was immediately followed by the instrumental to Jay-Z's Encore. You're far too kind, far too kind.

4:44 - CJ doesn't miss free throws either. He just made two to cut the lead to 21.

3:14 - CJ just missed a shot. And here I was ready to call him the next great Warrior.

1:00 - It wouldn't surprise me if the sound guy was a real DJ. He just played Grindin' by the Clipse.

0:00 - The Warriors brought the deficit down to 15, but still lost 112-97.

LeBron photos by Scott Ableman and ben_lei and shared via creative commons

The Warriors Finally Trade Al Harrington

The big news out of Warriors land is that Al Harrington is no longer a member of the Golden State Warriors. It is well known around the Bay Area that Harrington isn't really a Don Nelson guy and he knows it. He made it public that he didn't want to be on the team. Nellie was quoted as saying that he thinks he's better than he is.

He thinks he's a superstar. I think he's a very good player. If he wants to be traded, we'll try to accommodate him.

ESPN.com reported that the Warriors and the New York Knicks have agreed in principle to a deal in which the Warriors would send Harrington in return for Jamal Crawford.

According to Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie, this deal helps the Knicks get all their contracts set up to clear by 2010, when they are expected to make a huge push to get LeBron James. GM Donnie Walsh also drafted and then later traded for Harrington, so he seems to be high on him.

I have mixed feelings about the deal. Crawford is more of a shooting guard in my mind, and the Warriors are waiting to get their star shooting guard back from injury in another couple months. Crawford is scoring nearly 20 points a game this season, which will definitely help the Warriors in the scoring department. The Warriors have had to turn to undrafted rookie Anthony Morrow for offense of late because of the lack of scoring from the back court. But what happens when Monta comes back? Crawford and Ellis play the same position and are both better shooting guards who will be asked to play point guard. Crawford likes to shoot the long ball more, while Monta likes the shoot the mid range jumper and go to the hole more. I'm not sure they can really co-exist on the court at the same time, but if Crawford was a 6th man, I could see Don Nelson putting together some interesting lineups. Also, Crawford can shoot the three, which the Warriors don't do very well outside of Morrow.

Right now, it looks like a good fit for the Warriors. I just worry about what happens when Monta comes back.

Photo by ssshupe and shared via creative commons

Last Night's Run - I See Promise

Can the Warriors get Gerald Wallace?
Before I get to last night's game, there was an article written yesterday that put a twinkle in Warriors fans' eyes.

The Sporting Blog talked about a potential trade which would net the Warriors Gerald Wallace and get rid of Al Harrington. Too good to be true? Probably.

Wallace would thrive in Oakland and give me a national holiday, while opening up PT for Brandan Wright. Al Harrington is kind of a bum, but he's also a 6'9" jump-shooter, which means on some basic level he'd fit with D'Antoni. And that buzz has been there for a minute.

But then not too soon thereafter, Tim Kawakami broke my heart worse than Hulk Hogan.

There’s a temporary–and perhaps serious–wrench in Al Harrington trade speculation:

His agent, Dan Fegan, says that Harrington has been nursing a back injury since late last month and that Harrington is scheduled for an MRI later today.

I'm still slobbering myself at the idea that we could get Gerald Wallace. But I won't believe it until I see it.

Warriors lose to the Grizzlies again
Rarely would I ever be in a good mood after the Warriors lost twice to the Memphis Grizzlies in one week. But after last night's ball game, while I was disappointed that they couldn't pull it out, I liked what I saw. They are still a Monta Ellis away from really competing at any decent level, but there was some young talent on that court last night. Brandan Wright, Anthony Randolph, and Andris Biedrins give the Warriors a long set of legs and arms to seemingly challenge any shot on defense, and dunk back any miss on offense. And though I've stated before that I'm not the biggest Jack fan when it comes to him controlling the offense and being the money guy, no one plays harder. While you cringe when he takes the "I have a dream" three pointer, you give him the benefit of the doubt because he plays so hard, guards the best perimeter player, and owns up to his mistakes.

We didn't play hard enough. Down the stretch I am the leader of the team, so I've got to be smarter and can't give up a wide open three to their best player at the end of the game.

They still have this logjam of odd guards trying to find time on the court. DeMarcus Nelson fits much better as a swingman coming off the bench for defensive purposes. CJ Watson looks like a decent back up point guard who can come in and spot up for jumpers. I'm not sure what Marcus Williams is quite yet, but at least Nellie let him on the floor.

If we can't get someone like Wallace, I'm not opposed to trying to bring in a starting point guard in a trade for Harrington. I actually like Ellis better as a two guard and it would allow Corey Maggette to come off the bench, where I think he'd excel.

More from last night
Devin Harris spoils AI's Detroit debut.
But Chauncey's homecoming goes a lot better.
The Hawks are 4-0. Where's Dominique Wilkins?
The Bobcats upset the Hornets. J-Rich and Raymond Felton each go for 20.

Blame It On The Boogie

Don't blame it on the sunshine
Don't blame it on the moonlight
Don't blame it on good times
Blame it on the boogie.

Tim Kawakami wrote in his blog today that Monta Ellis might be close to telling the Warriors to either love him, or leave him alone.

If he feels his recovery is coming along, Ellis could say by mid-December: Either void my deal or trade me, your choice, because I’m never playing for a franchise that would do this to me after I admitted my mistake and was ready to accept singular punishment.

That Ellis judgement is a very live possibility.

And there are teams that would take Ellis, if his deal was voided (basically, a release) or if the Warriors shopped him for trade.

I understand why the Warriors would feel like they were lied to. Well, because they were lied to. I understand that contracts have clauses and you're not supposed to do things that you are forbidden to do in your contract. That's all gravy. But 22 year old people make mistakes. Where's the forgiveness? Because the fans have already forgiven Monta. Why haven't the Warriors? And at what point do they push too hard and alienate him from the team?

What's frustrating from a Warriors fan perspective is that the franchise was back. We believed right? Even though they didn't make the playoffs last year, they had an excellent season for Warriors standards. We wanted them to resign Baron. If they couldn't resign Baron, we thought someone like Elton Brand could be good. Our eyes twinkled slightly at Josh Smith. We settled for Corey Maggette, knowing that we'd get Monta and Andris back. And now, you're telling us that we might not get Monta back and if we do, there's a possibility that he's going to be unhappy. It's far too reminiscent of Chris Webber, Latrell Sprewell, Joe Smith, and Gilbert Arenas. I thought we were moving forward, not backward.

So I came to this conclusion. Let's work together. Let's stop doing things that set the franchise back.

Warriors' brass, don't blame it on Monta.

Monta, don't blame it on the Warriors' brass.

Make up. Live happily ever after. You need each other. If you need someone to blame it on.

Do like Michael said. Blame it on the boogie.

Last Night's Run - The Rims Get Small

The Warriors can't shoot
It was one of those games. But it wasn't supposed to be one of those games. It was supposed to be high scoring, up and down, not fundamental, and wild and crazy. But it was none of those things. It was one of those games. It was one of those games where the home team plays a bit harder than the other, even if there were tons of fans dressed like seats in the arena. It was one of those games where one team simply couldn't make an outside shot so instead of taking things to the bucket and getting closer, they just kept shooting outside shots. Because you know, the percentages should even out right? How's this for shooting?

Bad Shooter	FGM	FGA
S. Jackson	6	21
C. Maggette	4	16
A. Harrington	3	15
T. Hardaway	0	17

I know, Timmy didn't play tonight even though if he did, it would've been an improvement. But the reason I put Timmy there is because if you remember that game, the Warriors still won even though Timmy couldn't find the broad side of the barn. Why? Because he was only one player. Chris Mullin was able to bail him out and the Warriors won. Here, when you have three guys who feel the need to chuck up shots without much success, it's detrimental to the team. At least Andris Biedrins came to play as he scored 14 and pulled 22 boards. Also, we had an Anthony Randolph sighting for one minute.



Marc Gasol, Pau's angry little brother, was the only player for Memphis to really play well, at least offensively. He went for 27 and 16 and looked smooth and rough at the same time, if that makes any sense.

OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay both went 6-13 shooting and neither got to the free throw line so Gay still leads Mayo by a large margin in shots taken.

I almost forgot. The Grizz won 90-79.

More on Iverson for Billups
Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie has a really good recap of why this trade is much better for Denver than Detroit.

Detroit's taking another chance, and though there's the possibility the team might whiff in free agency, it hardly matters. They've cleared cap space and developed even more options. If nothing happens this summer, then they can run the kids for a year before trying to clamp down on the 2010 free agent market. After all, only Tayshaun Prince ($11.1 million), Jason Maxiell (reportedly about $5 million), and the backcourt tandem of Stuckey and Aaron Afflalo (combined to make $4.7 million) will be on the books that summer.

Nobody, not even Joe Dumars or Iverson himself, will be able to anticipate what sort of impact his presence will have on this year's Pistons team. AI's game is that unique. But given the far-reaching implications of what this deal could do for Detroit, again, it hardly matters in the long run.

Geoff Lepper says that Denver might've received some short term cap relief, it won't help that much in the long run.

The Nuggets save some $8 million in the short term; Billups ($11.1 million) and McDyess ($6.8) represent more than $4 million in savings over Iverson's cost ($21.9 million), which is doubled because the Nuggets are — even with this cost-cutting move - slated to go several million over this season's luxury-tax threshold of $71.15 million.

The deal could get even sweeter if the team is able to negotiate a favorable buyout with McDyess, who reportedly won’t play anywhere but Detroit.

But unlike Iverson and his soon-to-expire deal, Billups is on the books for another $25.2 million in '09-'10 and '10-'11 combined (there's also a player option for $14.2 million in '11-'12) and McDyess - unless a buyout is reached - will pull down $6.8 million next season.

So, in exchange for some short-term relief, the Nuggets have cast their lot with a 32-year-old point guard who has never led an up-tempo attack before in his life.

Tim Kawakami says that Denver got better, even if it doesn't make them a lot better.

The Nuggets aren't good enough to challenge in the West, but the Nuggets weren't going anywhere with AI and, in their spot, desperately needing new talent around Carmelo Anthony, it’s probably better to add Billups and his longer money than it is to let AI walk away next summer just to save some cash.

If I have this right, since the summer, Denver basically has traded Marcus Camby (given away a few months ago for cash purposes) and Iverson for Billups and McDyess plus some extra salary savings to use on Linas Kleiza's new deal and maybe some other things.

Again, nothing spectacular, but it's better than Denver sitting around and letting that roster atrophy and watching Carmelo get nasty and pretty soon he's ready to get the heck out.

Kobe Goes All Out For Guitar Hero

This my favorite TV commercial going. You have an awkward Alex Rodriguez, a goofy Michael Phelps, and a left out Tony Hawk which leaves Kobe Bryant as the most charismatic person in the spot. Where's Ronny Turiaf? Couldn't he have at least chest bumped Kobe at the end?

Joe Dumars Isn't Messing Around

The word around sports websites today is that Allen Iverson is going to Detroit in a trade for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess. Iverson is in the last year of his contract, and TrueHoop says that Joe Dumars' long term vision is to create cap space for next year when guys like Lebron James, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Tyson Chandler, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Redd are going to be free agents.

After Detroit lost to the Boston Celtics in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, Dumars stated that he didn't have any "sacred cows" and then fired coach Flip Saunders less than a week after the series loss.

For Denver, I'm not sure if it makes them all that much better, but it does show that the Iverson/Carmelo Anthony experiment didn't really work. Billups is more of a true point guard and he's a more dependable three point shooter (39% to 31% career wise) but Iverson's overall shooting percentage is higher than Billups'.

Also, the word is that McDyess might choose retirement over going to Denver.

Photo by bronwyn and shared via creative commons

Last Night's Run - Is Jack Really The Guy?

Warriors beat the Nets in New Jersey and I couldn't find it on TV
I was only able to listen to about half of the third quarter last night on KNBR. But my question is why, in this day and age, are there still radio only games? With all the cable channels in the world, why can't I get a Warriors game on TV? Even though New Jersey isn't a sexy pick, I'm sure some Bay Area fans would've wanted to see Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson play with their new team. Lopez had 10 points and 8 rebounds, though fouled out in only 19 minutes of action. Anderson had 12 and 4 in 18 minutes. Compare that to Yi Jianlian who started and didn't even score. After watching two heart breakers, it would've been nice to see what was a fairly easy victory.

Is Jack the guy?
The Merc had a Stephen Jackson quote that I'm struggling with.

I just know I've got to make plays. I've got to be more demanding of the ball to get myself going. I'm 30 years old. I can't just stand there and break a sweat.

Stephen Jackson is really good in his role of being the third option on offense. But the guy? I'm not so sure. He has terrible shot selection, can't really create his own shot, and is much better without the basketball. His role today without Baron Davis and Monta Ellis is that of more importance, but in no way is the type of player who can be the guy on a winning team. I'm all for Jack's attitude and I'm glad that he wants the ball. But he's going to have to change his style of shooting without responsibility in order to lead this team.

Nellie says Al is on the block
Chris Sheridan of ESPN says that Al wants to be traded and he's definitely on the block.

He thinks he's a superstar. I think he's a very good player. If he wants to be traded, we'll try to accommodate him.

That quote came from Big Don.

Other news
Joe Johnson has the Hawks 2-0 in the early season.

The Celtics get their first loss while the Lakers are still undefeated.

Derrick Rose had a big game to lead the Bulls over the Grizzlies. Rudy Gay now leads OJ Mayo 67-46 in shot attempts.