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

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 - Warriors Give It Away Again

Warriors give it away
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now



The Warriors might've been listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers before the first two games of the season. If that's the case, I have one request for them. Please stop.

Hornets and Raptors fan could argue that their teams won the games rather than that the Warriors lost them and that's a valid argument. However, it doesn't go with the theme of this post, so I'll stick with my argument.

Nellie went with a much different type of lineup Friday night. It was actually bizarro-Nellie, and on Halloween Night. Rather than go small against Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, and Jermaine O'Neal, he went large to take advantage of Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, and Jason Kapono. Nellie's best line-up consisted of Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Al Harrington, Ronny Turiaf, and Andris Biedrins. Defensively, they were tremendous, especially Turiaf. It made me think that he needs to start at the 4 spot, even if they don't go big.

Much like teams without great point guards do, the Warriors turned the ball over in the clutch. Late in the 4th quarter with the lead, they took terrible shots, threw the ball away, fell down with the ball in their hands, and things like that. It seemed that Corey Maggette was the designated go to guy in the 4th, but he didn't work out. Kapono was guarding him and rather than take Kapono to the hole and go to the free throw line, he was setting for jump shots and fade aways. And then when he finally decided to go to the hole, he wasn't getting the calls.

Al Harrington seems to believe that the heavy minutes that the starters are playing is causing them to be tired by the game's end, in what I think seems to be a shot at Nellie.

In the preseason, we weren't playing 40 minutes. Right now we are, so it's something we've got to get used to, get adjusted to, and quick.

The preseason is usually a time where you're resting. It seems like we should have been playing a little bit more so we'd be prepared for now. It's going to take us a couple of games to get adjusted to and then we'll start knocking our shots down in the fourth.

It's a logical statement, but anything he says might seem a little tainted because of this now public feud with Nellie.

New Jack City brings people together
Truehoop has a great story about Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and how there was a tiff between them and they were brought back together because of a trip to Oregon for Nike. During the trip, they watched New Jack City (Odom was also on the trip, but he's a sleeper) together and found out that they were each huge fans of the movie. And then, because they didn't have cell phone reception, they just started talking and worked things out.

With Rodney King's resurgence (he's on Dr. Drew's second season of Celebrity Rehab), I was reminded of this quote. "Can't we just all get along?"

Gay/Mayo Update
Rudy Gay hit a buzzer beater to help his Grizzlies beat the Magic last night. But more importantly, he opened up a huge lead over OJ Mayo in the shots category. He took 26 shots last night to Mayo's 11. He now leads 48-31.

Consolation Prize

I was really hoping for an Andris Biedrins / Pau Gasol split screen commercial, but I guess this will do…

Baron vs. Zohan