Warriors Come Out And Play

Man, this is going to be a tight finish and it’s going to be hard for me to believe that they don’t make the playoffs, but it could happen. Maybe this will inspire them just a bit.

Where’s the Utah footage? No comment.

Lick my balls

By Albert:

after last night’s loss, the GSW fans this morning were a bit too happy. granted it was an exciting win, but three of our bigs were on the shelf and Phil keeps insisting on giving Luke Walton minutes. it was another win on a back to back night. something that’s been huge for the Lakes this year, a feat not accomplished much the last couple of years. still not attacking the zone with dives and cuts enough and Ronny is too passive when he does get the ball in the middle against the zone. that’ll change when La Bestia gets back. way to many minutes for Mamba and Lamar too. they should be taking nights off, but with the west so cutthroat lose a game here and there you’re suddenly out of the Dance. good game tonight, a playoff atmosphere sans a Jessica Alba sighting (did catch plenty of Stratton glimpses though). see you chaps in the playoffs, stop with the hate already GSW fans. can’t we just all get along?

the 88’ retro jerseys are tits, but those Golden State joints make me pine for a Xzibit, Ras Kass, and Saffir album to the end!

Chris Webber Is Set To Retire

In January I wrote that we had to love Chris Webber or leave him alone. And left him alone I did. And I bet he was thankful because he brought absolutely nothing to the team. He wasn’t even a shell of his former self. More like a toe nail.

But, I will give him one thing. He didn’t let his injury linger and give the Warriors fans false hope. According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, the former All Star is set to retire tomorrow. While I have hated the guy since he left, and left him alone when he signed with the Warriors, it’s time for me to be ok with him now. He can’t play ball anymore and thus, I can’t hate him anymore.

NBA All-Star Game ‘08: Where’s B-Diddy?

In the year after the Golden State Warriors shocked the basketball world and beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs, one would think that they would finally get their due, especially after winning 32 games in the first half of this year. But no. Not only do they have the third best record in all of basketball since getting Stephen Jackson back in the lineup, but they also have possibly the most exciting team in the league. They definitely have the most exciting back court duo. So when it’s Baron Davis’ turn to be on the All-Star team, he’s passed by. Maybe Baron will use the frustration to help him when the Warriors beat someone in the first round of the playoffs again. You know it’s happening.

Also, no Young Randall, no Eddy Zucko, no HJ, and no Luchadors. They were with me last year, but this year, it’s just little old me.

Predictions:

I think the West will win, Carmelo Anthony will win MVP, and Antawn Jamison will win the Tyrone Hill award for least minutes played in the game. Kobe could possibly win it, but I think he’ll play at least 10 minutes.

I’m not sure that the Western team’s b-boy pose after the introductions can be topped. The smile on Yao’s face was priceless. The NBA, where “what do I do with my arms?” happens.

And before we actually get to the game, we might as well show the best part of last night’s All-Star Saturday Night. Superman was in the house.

• Every All-Star game I’ve blogged, the West has won. So you can pretty much bet the house tonight on the West.
  
• I wonder if Jason Kidd will accidentally pass it to Dirk Nowitski, thinking that he’s supposed to be on the Mavs?
  
• The East scores the first six points and all on dunks. Let’s just say defense isn’t on the mind of the Western squad.
  
• Kobe only played the first three minutes and I’m not sure if he touched the ball.
  
• So far, the story of this game is that the West likes to settle for jumpers and the East likes to dunk. Guess who’s winning?
  
• Thanks to Melo and AI, the West is back in this thing.
  
• Rip Hamilton is so old school, he caught an alley-oop and instead of dunking it, he laid it in.
  
• TO is in the house, but I don’t see any tears. I guess no one made fun of Tony Romo.
  
• David West is in this game? Oh yah, he took B-Diddy’s spot.
  
• The youngsters Brandon Roy and Chris Paul are working it together. By the way, Roy and West are the two guys in this game I couldn’t pick out in a police lineup.
  
• There’s been a Chest Hair Boozer sighting. He just grabbed a rebound.
  
• The East just threw three alley-oops on one play. I think it was Joe Johnson to Jason Kidd to Lebron James to Dwight Howard.
  
• David Aldridge mentioned earlier that it looks like the Jason Kidd trade is on. All they have to do is convince Keith Van Horn to play again after not playing for over a year as he’s a part of the deal. While they’re at it, why don’t they get Jimmy Jackson and Jamal Mashburn to come out of retirement and trade them as well?

 

Bring This Guy Back So You Can Trade Him

• Rasheed just nailed a three pointer from the top of the key. No biggie right? But he shot it left handed.
  
• At the half, Lebron has the Magic Johnson All-Star game stat line with triple double definitely in sight.
  
• Looks like Kobe and his pinkie finger are done for the rest of the game.
  
• AI is trying his hardest to keep the West in this, but Lebron and company have other ideas.
  
• If Chest Hair Boozer would make his layups, this game might be closer.
  
• Has Byron Scott always had the porn stashe going? Dude needs to buy some little scissors to trim that dirty thing.

 

The Dirty Stashe

• Paul is bringing these guys back. Amare Stoudamire looks like the East Dwight Howard and Dirk is finally playing well. The West just took their first lead.
  
• Big Play Ray Allen is killing it and wearing the new Jordan’s at the same time.
  
• Brandon Roy is getting some definite crunch time play over AI, Melo, and Stevie Nash.
  
• Thanks to a Lebron dunk in traffic and a D-Wade layup where he hit the floor and got the foul (what’s new?), the East is back up by four with 30 seconds to go.
  
• Big Play Ray and LBJ put the game away, though the West made it fun in the end. Lebron is the MVP and he just missed a triple double. And my predictions were terrible.

Chris Webber’s First Game Back

I know what’s exciting for GS Warriors fans who are looking forward to Chris Webber’s return. It will be that no look pass or that trail dunk or maybe that rebound and snarl. But for me? I just want to see Webber go at it with Joe Smith in the battle of former highly touted Warriors rookies who lasted on the team 3 years or less.

Let’s just say that Joe Smith played like a former number one pick and Webber played like someone who hadn’t picked up a ball in a long time.

The Warriors played terribly for the about the first 20 minutes of the first half. But in the last 4 minutes of the half, they played brilliantly. I’ve definitely been keeping up with them this season but have only watched them on TV a handful of times. The one thing that stands out is Monta Ellis’ confidence. There were two plays where he took the ball right to the hole and dunked, where last year I’m not sure he doesn’t either pull up for a short jumper or pass. Maybe last year’s failures in the playoffs helped in his growing up. With the exception of Baron Davis, he looked like the best player on the court. The Bulls played without Kirk Heinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng and played above their heads, some in part due to the lack of Warriors defense. In the second half, the game was more stable, but the same things that plagued the Warriors in the first half (terrible at stopping penetration and not getting into defensive position), killed them in the second. They even had the lead for a short time, but played lazy on both ends and couldn’t come back. 

Superstar In The Making

As for Webber? He looked like a guy who hadn’t played in a long time. He looked achy. He looked like a guy who doesn’t want to run or jump. On offense, he can still pass from the post and get a blocked shot when you need it on defense. But the Warriors play so rag tag that Don Nelson is going to have to take Webber out when they need to change it up. And they always seem to need to change it up. Webber was a non-factor and I wonder how many times he’s going to be just that this year.

There was one telling play for Warriors fans that didn’t even mean anything in the game. Early in the first quarter, Joe Smith took a fade away sideline jumper that missed, but went to the free throw line because he was fouled by Webber. There were a lot of hopes and dreams involved in that play that seemingly went down the toilet when Webber forced his trade and when Smith turned out to be softer than toilet tissue.

In the end, the Bulls looked like the rested team, even though they were playing the second game on a back to back. Chris Duhon tried to be Michael Jordan and the Warriors didn’t do anything to stop him. The Warriors played defense like it didn’t matter. They had every chance to win it too. Every time they penetrated, it resulted in a great look or a layup chance. But for some reason, they wanted to shoot 25 footers all night. They’re going to give me a heart attack before this season is over.

Chris Webber: Love Him Or Leave Him Alone

On Sunday night, John Cena came back to the WWE from injury, rumor got out that The New Kids On The Block were reuniting, and in the worst news of the three, Chris Webber was coming back to the Warriors.

I’m not sure that I’ve hated any non-LA Dodgers, non-Dallas Cowboys player more than I’ve hated Chris Webber. When my childhood basketball team, the Golden State Warriors were on the brink of greatness, he turned his back on the team and the fans, and forced a trade. Usually, I can understand the athlete’s point of view in these types of instances. But not with Webber. He feuded with Don Nelson over things that many modern day athletes feud over coaches with. But the bottom line was that he couldn’t get along with Nellie and decided that rather than do things the coach’s way, he wanted out. It killed me. It really was the start of what became putrid basketball in the Bay Area. They’ve had some good players come through the system since Webber like Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, and Jason Richardson, but none were so relied upon to change the face of basketball in the Bay Area like Webber was. Maybe he wasn’t ready. But how could he not be? He had a veteran club. You had Chris Mullin who was just two years removed from playing on the greatest basketball team ever assembled at the 1992 Olympics. Tim Hardaway was in his prime (though he did tear up his knee that year) and Latrell Sprewell was blossoming into a superstar. Everything was pointing in the right direction for the team. Until C-Webb couldn’t handle the pressure and forced a trade.

The Warriors brass at the time chose Nellie over Webber and most times in those kinds of situations, management chooses the star. I wish they would’ve this time because soon after Webber was gone, so was Nellie. And basketball was horrid in the Bay Area until last year. So now that the Warriors have a fun team again, who comes back into the picture? Mayce Christopher Webber III. I still don’t like the guy. But I don’t hate him as much as I did in the past. I remember that when he came back to play the Warriors as a member of the Washington Bullets, he hurt his shoulder and had to leave the game. I cheered wildly. The hate ran strong. But today, he’s not even half the player he used to be and all that’s left is a past memory for me. What I now worry about is what he can actually bring to the team. I’m not sure he can bring much. Matt Steinmetz interviewed Webber and it seems that Webber himself isn’t sure if he exactly fits in.

Steinmetz: How did all this come about?

Webber: At the beginning of the season I knew I was going to take a break to be with my family. I wanted to wait until later to think about where I wanted to go. Early on in the season I got a call from the Warriors, but I didn?t take it too serious. A month or so ago, they pursued me and let me know how much they wanted me, that it would be a good marriage and a good fit. Nellie and Mully won me over with their persistence.

If you have to beg a guy to play for you, what does that tell you? Well, I won’t jump to conclusions, but it doesn’t seem that he truly wanted to come here. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t have the same disdain for Webber as I once did, but I don’t love the signing. Until he proves to me that he can help them win ball games, I’m leaving him alone.