When Is Enough, Enough?

This article was originally posted on Fanbase.

When I think of the 2009 season for the Warriors, it brings back terrible memories. It reminds me of the year 1994. Let me create the parallel for you.

In 1993, the Warriors traded the rights of their first round draft pick Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway (and some future draft picks) to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Chris Webber. For the Warriors, who were more "little engine that could" than truly good basketball team, this was a match made in heaven. Chris Webber gave the Warriors a post presence that they hadn't seen since the days of Nate Thurmond. But he was also athletic and could run, fitting into Don Nelson's uptempo style.

Even though those Warriors lost in the first round of the playoffs, 1994 looked bright. All-star point guard Tim Hardaway was coming back from injury and the team would be at full blast. But Webber and Nelson couldn't get along. Supposedly, Webber didn't like playing center. He didn't like Nelson's backhanded criticisms. And he didn't like the Bay Area because he feared earthquakes. For a guy who called himself "The Big Bad Wolf", he sure came off as a pansy. But that's what happens when you're completely catered to since you were in the 8th grade.

Nelson was the adult here. He could've changed up his style to accomodate his new meal ticket. But something just didn't vibe between the two guys. The Warriors even traded for center Rony Seikaly so that Webber wouldn't have to play the five spot. It's too bad they had to trade Billy Owens, one of Webber's best friends on the team, to get him. The miscommunication here was very transparent. Webber was traded to Washington and soon thereafter, Nelson was gone too. You've heard about the curse of the Bambino? Ok, I won't go that far.

It would take the Warriors thirteen years to get back to the playoffs after the Webber/Nellie debacle. Thanks to a shrewd move by Chris Mullin to steal Baron Davis away from the New Orleans Hornets, the Warriors were back in business. In 2007, the Warriors became the NBA's most fascinating team to watch and upset the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Mavs were the number one seed in all of the playoffs, but behind Davis, the Warriors were the story. Who was also apart of the Oakland revival? Well, none other than Don Nelson. Mullin's other shrewd move was to talk Nelson out of retirement to replace Mike Montgomery as head coach.

In 2008, the team won 48 games and just barely missed the playoffs. I believe 48 wins is the highest number of wins for a team to ever miss the playoffs. Though Jason Richardson was traded before the season for rookie power forward Brandan Wright, the rest of the group was still there. Monta Ellis came into his own and Andris Biedrins was continuing to improve. All they had to do was resign Davis, and the group would be ready to run again and they'd be able to add another young piece to the mix.

But the Warriors couldn't resign Davis. Though Chris Mullin was the man technically making the moves, the word on the street was that team president Robert Rowell was the man behind not resigning Davis. He thought that Davis was asking for too much money and for too many years. Nellie was also seemingly behind some of the personel moves and Chris Mullin was being pushed aside. There's your thanks for giving your old coach the keys to the car Mully. All of a sudden, everything that was so good was about to turn terribly bad.

Monta Ellis didn't help the matters by ruining his ankle playing pick up basketball and then lying about it. And all of a sudden, the Warriors were throwing money at broken down players when the one player they deemed broken down was the guy who lead them to their resurgence. Gilbert Arenas and Elton Brand said no. Plan F, Corey Maggette said yes.

How can a franchise who made all the right moves just two years prior become the laughing stock of basketball again? Well, they can do so by not learning from their own mistakes. They created the blueprint for all franchises to see how not to deal with your superstar athletes. They showed that when you give your head coach too much power, he can start tinkering with things based on who he likes personally and who he gets along with to make his job easier.

Nellie's had help in destroying their franchise twice now. Even if they have exciting young players like Ellis and Anthony Randolph, the management isn't right. The object should be to win as many games as possible, while also getting the younger guys to step in when you need replacements.

I've been here before. It wasn't fun the first time. And it's even more annoying going through it again. When is enough, enough?

Webber photo from Wikicommons
Nelson photo from miles5226

Who Is The Most Disappointing Bay Area Athlete Ever?

This was originally posted on Fanbase.

Ever since Barry Zito's recent failure of a start against the LA Dodgers, I started to think about Bay Area athletes who have brought the most disappointment.

With that horrid contract that pays him $18.5 million this year and one that ranks him 12th in all of baseball as far as total value, Barry Zito is a very disappointing player. In his two years as a Giants' pitcher, he has twenty one wins and thirty losses. The last time he had a sub 3.80 ERA was 2003.

I started to think about other disappointing Bay Area athletes.

I can think of three who played for the Golden State Warriors immediately.

Chris Webber was the golden child for one season, feuded with coach Don Nelson (does this sound familiar?), and then forced a trade. The golden child was gone. He was one of the most talented power forwards in the history of the NBA, had a very good career, but did it in another jersey.

Latrell Sprewell went from fan favorite to one of the most hated players in the history of Bay Area sports in all of six years. I guess that's what happens when you choke your coach. But at least Spree became an All-Pro with the team. He brought his lunch pail to work nearly every day, but it just didn't end very well.

Joe Smith was the number one draft pick in the same draft that also featured Kevin Garnett. Smith was actually a really good rookie, but by his second year, forgot what it was like to play defense, stopped rebounding and decided to become a jump shooter. By his third year, he was gone.

With the 49ers, one player immediately came to mind. Alex Smith was the first pick in the entire 2005 draft. It was a pick that Mike Nolan and the 49ers' brass couldn't whiff on. They didn't only swing and miss. They swung and missed so hard that they dug themselves into a hole. But Smith was a rookie. He hadn't played a down in the NFL and everything we expected about him was based on a college career and everything the 49ers were selling us about him.

I didn't think there was a player who I could despise as much on the field as much as I despised Chris Webber on the basketball court. He and Don Nelson were just as equally to blame for their selfishness, and they both destroyed what was an up and coming franchise.

Barry Zito hasn't done that. He was brought in because the Giants were trying to save face. They didn't want to be known as Barry Bonds' team anymore. They wanted to find a new identity. So a lot of this isn't even really Zito's fault. But what is his fault is that he's now one of the worst starting pitchers in the National League.

Who is most disappointing? Because of what it meant to me as a high school basketball fan, I'll still go with C-Webb. He was going to be one of the greatest athletes in the history of the Bay Area. Zito never had that responsibility. He just has to take the ball every five days and give the Giants a chance to win. But he didn't help destroy an entire franchise. That responsibility goes to Webber.

How I Almost Walked Into Jennifer Azzi (And More Important Facts About Her Great Career)

This was originally written at Fanbase.

One thing that I miss about reading newspapers and specifically, The San Jose Mercury News, is the local coverage of some college sports like women's basketball. Back in the mid to late 80s, I loved reading about the Stanford women's basketball team just as much as I loved reading about the men's team. For every Todd Lichti and Adam Keefe, there was a Val Whiting and Jennifer Azzi.

What I loved about Azzi is that she didn't need to score in order to help her team win. In fact, as the point guard, she directed her offense like a quarterback. What also stood out about Azzi is that she was such a great clutch player, due in part to the great condition she was in. She was able to play hard every minute.

In 1990, Azzi lead her team to the NCAA Championship. The Cardinal beat Auburn and during the same year, Azzi won the Naismith Award as the college player of the year.

In 1994, she was a part of the gold medal winning US women's basketball team at the Goodwill Games and also helped Team USA win the big one in 1996 at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

That win in 1996 helped jump start women's professional leagues in the US.

In 1996, she joined the San Jose Lasers which was in the ABL, a women's league that started the year before the WNBA. Behind Azzi, the Lasers would lose in the semifinals of the playoffs in the two years of the league's existence. The league started a third year but didn't complete it.

It was during Azzi's one of Azzi's seasons with the Lasers that I nearly walked into her on campus while I was attending San Jose State University.

I was a Radio/TV Journalism major at SJSU, with dreams of becoming a baseball and basketball play by play announcer. The Lasers not only played their games on campus at the San Jose Event Center, but they also practiced there.

I had a dream one night that I was doing the play by play of a Lasers' game and Azzi hit the game winning shot. The very next day while walking on campus, I nearly walked right into Azzi who had just finished practice. Was it a sign?

Well, no. Even though I worked at KNBR, which is one of California's top sports radio stations, my dreams died when I learned how radio worked and how little I enjoyed the business. The Lasers also wouldn't be in San Jose for much longer.

Azzi was drafted by the Detroit Shock in the first round (5th pick) of the 1999 WNBA draft and then was traded to the Utah Starzz. She retired from pro basketball in 2004.

If I have a favorite women's basketball player, it's Azzi. Even though I don't follow the Cardinal at all anymore, I'll always remember watching Azzi highlights and her championship season of 1990. And I'll also always remember the day when I nearly bumped into her on campus the day after I dreamed that I was calling her winning shot.

Photo from Jennifer Azzi's press kit

Tim Hardaway - The Golden Years

In 1986-1987, the Golden State Warriors made the playoffs and upset the Utah Jazz in the first round thanks to players like Sleepy Floyd, Purvis Short, and Joe Barry Caroll. But a year later, Don Nelson would replace George Karl as coach, and Floyd and Carroll would be traded for Ralph Sampson. They'd go from being a playoff team one year to only winning 20 games the next.

After drafting Mitch Richmond in 1988, the Warriors now had two-thirds of what would become Run TMC. Richmond joined sharp shooter Chris Mullin, making one of the more dependable offensive twosomes in all of the NBA. Richmond was the rock. Michael Jordan once called him one of the toughest match-ups of his career. Mullin was the veteran and someone who led by example, showing dedication and effort after nearly squandering the early part of his career with personal issues. In 1989, Nelson drafted someone who would fill out the remaining piece Run TMC. Tim Hardaway brought the free spirit and toughness of someone who spent his early days playing in the playgrounds in Chicago. And he also brought a wicked crossover.



When the Warriors drafted Hardaway out of the University of Texas at El Paso in 1989, one of his main roles was to stop Kevin Johnson. Actually, if I remember correctly, one of the first questions that Hardaway was asked after he was drafted was if he could stop KJ. I think his response was a simple, "Yeah." Johnson had destroyed the Warriors in the playoffs in the 1989-1990 season. Johnson was one of the quickest players in the league and was pretty much unstoppable facing the likes of Winston Garland. But it wasn't really Garland's fault. No one was stopping KJ in those days. It made sense for Don Nelson to draft Hardaway, who may have never stopped KJ, but sure made it hard for KJ to stop him.

Hardaway was easy to like. He played the game with a smile on his face, but with a chip on his shoulder. He was measured at 5'10, but would always claim to be six feet tall. If you tried to call him Timmy, he would remind you that his name was Tim. But you could call him by his nickname Tim-Bug, or just Bug and he'd be fine with that. He was one of the most competitive players in the league, but he allowed you to see the joy on his face when he was playing the game he loved.

Hardaway averaged nearly 15 points a game and dealt out nearly 9 assists a game in his rookie year. The only reason he didn't win the Rookie Of The Year award is because a man by the name of David Robinson was a rookie that year as well. Even though Hardaway energized the team, helping them lead the entire league in scoring, they didn't make the playoffs and finished with an under .500 record. You could argue that Hardaway's sophomore effort might've been the best of his career. He averaged nearly 23 points per game to go along with 9.7 assists per game and the Run TMC triumvirate together averaged nearly 73 points combined per game. The Warriors upset the San Antonio Spurs and David Robinson in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the LA Lakers in five games in the second round.

Hardaway was quickly becoming one of the best and most exciting young players in the game. He was known for his great first step and also for his crossover dribble. It was originally called the "killer crossover" and somewhere along the lines, it was then dubbed the "UTEP 2 step", which I always thought was lame. The crossover was sick and he was getting to the hole at will. He had an awkward jump shot which came out of his hands like a knuckle ball, but he didn't need it very often early in his career. He was taking guys to the hole.

Before Hardaway's third campaign, Don Nelson broke up Run TMC. He traded Mitch Richmond to the Sacramento Kings for rookie Billy Owens right before the new season was about to start. With Owens, Nelson saw a versatile guy who could get up and down the court who had some size and could pull rebounds and then run the break himself. Even though the trade wasn't all that popular with the fans, you couldn't argue with the results. The Warriors won 55 games in 1991-1992 and Hardaway's third year was comparable to his second. He increased his scoring and assists, but he started to take more outside shots, hurting his shooting percentage along the way. But his his body was already starting to slowly break down. Even though the Warriors were one of the NBA's dandies, they would be upset by a hungry Seattle Supersonics team in the first round of the playoffs.

The following year was a bad one for the club as the injury bug bit them hard. Owens, Mullin, Hardaway, and Sarunas Marciulionis would all miss significant time with injuries. There was a bright spot to that 1992-1993 team. His name was Latrell Sprewell. With Sprewell, they finally had someone who matched Richmond's defensive intensity and he was athletic enough to be good on offense, even though he didn't have very many offensive moves. He just flew past and jumped over guys. Hardaway and Sprewell were going to be one of the best backcourts in the league.




The following year, the Warriors traded for the draft rights of Chris Webber. Webber would bring a certain dynamic that the Warriors hadn't had since the days of Nate Thurmond. He was going to be a dependable post scorer, a tough rebounder, and someone who put fear in the other team. As a power forward, he had the talents to be one of the all time best. But Nelson had him playing center because he was athletic enough to, but also because he didn't have anyone else. With Webber at center, Owens at power forward, Mullin at small forward, Sprewell at shooting guard, and Hardaway bringing up the rock, the team was going to run and not too many other teams would be able to stay with them.

But just as the basketball gods giveth, they also taketh away. Hardaway would miss the entire season after tearing his ACL in training camp. The Warriors would never get to see their dream fivesome on the court at the same time. With Avery Johnson as the point guard, the Warriors won 50 games and Sprewell came into his own. Webber didn't have dominating statistics but he was a game changer. It didn't matter in the playoffs though as they were swept by Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns. Webber and Nelson weren't geting along and Webber didn't want to play center. He also didn't want be on the West Coast. Nellie was able to trade for Rony Seikley so that Webber didn't have to play center, but that only made it worse because he traded one of Webber's best buddies in Owens to do so. Owner Chris Cohan backed Nelson and gave him the ok to trade Webber to the Washington Bullets for Tom Gugliotta and some draft picks. It would go down as the darkest day in franchise history.

Hardaway returned from injury the following season and he his stats were ok, but he wasn't himself. He wasn't driving to the basket as much and heaved up over 7 three-pointers a game, which was eye opening because his game was all about quickness and getting to the basktet. By shooting so many three-pointers, it showed a small dent in the armor of one of the most confident players in the league. He couldn't get to the basket as easily anymore. Even though Webber and Owens were gone, a lineup of Hardaway, Sprewell, Mullin, and Rony Seikley should've been good enough to compete for a playoff spot. But Hardaway wasn't 100%, Mullin only played one-fourth of the season, and Seikley was a disappointment. Nelson quit, leaving Warriors fans with neither Nelson or Webber, which was terribly frustrating since it was both of their egos that caused the problems in the first place. There was also some discontent between Hardaway and Sprewell. While Hardaway was away, Sprewell became the go to guy. There was a bit of an alpha dog struggle in the backcourt when Hardaway came back from injury.

I remember reading Slam magazine and Hardaway and Sprewell were the focus of the cover story. They acted like they were the unstoppable backcourt that they were expected to be. Hardaway even said that Sprewell was like Mike (Jordan) except he just had smaller hands. But they didn't get along or play all that well together and the Warriors only won 26 games. Hardaway was traded the following year to the Miami Heat.

Hardaway only played 5 1/2 seasons with the Warriors (he sat out one full year) and played 6 years with the Heat. And even though he was in the playoffs with the Heat consistently and even helped them get all way to the Eastern Conference finals in 1996-1997, he's far more famous for being one of Run TMC. It was because he helped ignite a suffering franchise and was a part of one of the most entertaining teams in the NBA in the 90s.

While his reputation suffered late in his Warriors career because he was the old dog and Sprewell was the new dog, I never felt that it was deserved. You only need to look at the 1992-1993 season when Hardaway stepped aside to allow Magic Johnson to start in his place in the All-Star game. Johnson was out of the league after contracting the HIV virus, but had won the popular vote. Hardaway was probably the best point guard in the league. It was Hardaway's year to shine, but he knew Johnson's accomplishment was bigger than the game. And when Magic thanked him, he looked like a kid in a candy store. That's how I remember his style too. He played basketball like he was a kid in a candy store.

Thanks to sportsecyclopedia for the timeline.

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/goldst/gswarriors.html

The Legend Of Sleepy Floyd

The Golden State Warriors were a great team in the decade of the 1970s. They had a winning season for eight out of the ten years in the 70s including winning the NBA Championship in 1974-1975 season. The following season, they won 59 games but the Phoenix Suns came back from a 3-2 deficit to beat them in the Western Conference finals. But in the 80s, what those Al Attles coached teams did in the 70s became overlooked because of the terrible teams that defined the decade for the Warriors. Also, the NBA was so much of a bigger league thanks to Magic, Michael, and Larry.

It wasn't until George Karl came in (and then later Don Nelson) that the franchise found its respectability again. Being that I started to watch basketball in the mid 80s, I grew up watching some bad Warriors basketball. But there's something about the underdog Warriors that I've always loved. Being on the same coast as the Los Angeles Lakers, the Warriors were always had low visibility and for good reason. The Lakers were the toast of the 80s with big stars and long postseason runs. I was happy if the Warriors stayed with them until the fourth quarter where I expected the Lakers to pull away. There was one player that I loved watching on my lovable losers and that player was Eric "Sleepy" Floyd.

If you took one look at Floyd's eyes, you'd understand why his nickname was "Sleepy". But his play was all but tired. Floyd had a great career at Georgetown. It is he and not Patrick Ewing or Alonzo Mourning who is the career scoring leader for the school. Floyd also has the second highest scoring per game average in school history. He was on the opposite end of one of the most famous NCAA championship games in NCAA hoops history. Floyd was on the Georgetown team that lost to a late Michael Jordan jumper that gave North Carolina the 1982 NCAA Championship. Floyd had 18 points (to Jordan's 16) and five assists in the losing effort and would've had a better end to his storied Georgetown career had they not given that game away on a silver platter.

He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets later that year but was soon traded to the Warriors along with Mickey Johnson for Micheal Ray Richardson. His career blossomed with the Warriors and in the 1986-1987 season, made the All-Star team, which was big time for me. The Warriors rarely had an All-Star representative in those days and I was very excited to watch him play with the NBA's biggest stars. Floyd scored 14 points in 19 minutes for the Western squad.

Floyd's NBA coming out party was in 1987 playoffs when the Warriors had to play the Lakers. The Lakers would go on to win the NBA championship that year. In the first round of the playoffs, the Warriors beat the Utah Jazz in five games while the Lakers swept the Denver Nuggets in three. The Lakers were expected to sweep the Warriors as well, except Sleepy Floyd didn't let it happen. In game four in Oakland, Floyd went crazy. Even in that game, the Lakers led most of the way until Floyd exploded for 29 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Warriors to their lone victory in the series. That's how good the Lakers were that year. As a 10 year-old basketball fan, I was ecstatic. When everyone pretended to be Magic, Michael, and Larry when we played basketball, they now knew the guy I was pretending to be.

For some reason that I still don't necessarily understand over 20 years later, Floyd and Joe Barry Carroll were traded to the Houston Rockets for Steve Harris and Ralph Sampson the next season. It turned out to be a terrible trade for that season and the Warriors went back to being a league doormat winning only 20 games. Sampson couldn't stay healthy and we soon found out that without his twin tower brother Akeem Olajuwon, he was terribly overrated offensively. Even though Floyd was no longer the focal point offensively for his new team, he went to the playoffs with the Rockets during the next four seasons after only going once with the Warriors. He also played with San Antonio for a year and then finished his career in New Jersey, the team that originally drafted him.

Like many good NBA players, Floyd's circumstances prevented him from becoming the star he should've become. He wouldn't have been the type of player to sell basketball shoes like Jordan or carry a team on his back like Larry Bird, but he was just as good as some players who are very well known because of the teams they played on. Floyd spent the prime years of his career playing for the Warriors, who were a floundering franchise and had zero visibility. He was also a tweener guard at 6'3'' who played both guard positions, but showed that when necessary, he could run a team as evidenced by his 10.3 assist average in 1986-1987. That season, to me, Sleepy Floyd was Superman.

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