The Chaos Continues with the Warriors

No less than two days after the ABA-style, lack of defense, disaster loss by the Golden State Warriors to the Phoenix Suns, the team has some more detrimental drama on their hands.

We all know that this season is over, and has been since the Monta Ellis "moped" injury. And we also all know that Don Nelson has requested that the recently acquired point guard, Jamal Crawford (who came over in the Harrington to the New York Knicks deal) should either inform the Warriors that he will opt out of his contract at the end of the season or the Warriors will attempt to trade him. While I don't have a problem with this decision from a long-term team standpoint since Crawford is due 20 million over the next two years, making him quite an expensive commodity given that the Warriors have already locked up almost 150 million in the contract extensions of three players (Ellis, 66 million, Biedrins 50-something million, and Jackson, 40-something million). The problem I do have is why make such a statement by the head coach towards the tail end of a worthless season. It just adds more negative vibes to the already uninspired team.

Nellie announced earlier today that Crawford will be benched for the next two games. This is definitely a direct result of his recent statement regarding the long-term position the Warriors have with Crawford. Not sure if it is going to get the intended results. Crawford would be smart by sticking with his current contract given the economic conditions present. There is no way that a team is going to give him more money, especially is such a short amount of time. Yes I know that he has the best handles on the team. Yes I know he has put up more than a few 50 point games in his career. Yes I know he leads the league in 4 point plays this season. The fact remains that his expensive contract and shoot first approach does not work for what the Warriors need in their point guard of the future.

There is no doubt the warriors need a PG, as well as a PF who can score. Watson is a nice D-league addition, but his size and ability will limit him to a solid backup role at the point. Golden State does have the emerging Anthony Randolph and Brandon Wright, but both of those kids need to put on the some serious weight/muscle to bang down low with the premier, front court players in the league. A guy like Amare Stoudemire would have been a nice addition before his optical nerve damage, but even then his contract was running out and even then he was not a long-term solution.

So once again, the Warriors continue their state of chaos and dire straits. Marco Bellinelli will be coming back from missing a couple games with a turf toe injury and will start in place of Crawford. If Bellinelli learns to take care of the ball and play better defense, he could be a good point guard solution, but then again it is not his natural position. The team needs a slasher and distributor, not one who is going to be tempted to hoist up the three-ball when he starts the offensive set. There are too many scorers on this team, and not enough defense and creating with the intent of distributing. Oh well. Maybe we can look to the draft and pickup a PG or PF, but then again it will be an adjustment process for the young player regardless of who he may be.

Warriors Tonight: Los Angeles Clippers @ the Golden State Warriors Oracle Arena, 7:30 p.m.

GAME NOTES:

• Stephen Jackson will not be playing tonight due to exceeding the limit of technical fouls allowed per player per season by the NBA.
• Kelenna Azubuike takes Jackson's spot in the lineup
  
• Baron Davis will be playing at Oracle for the first time since leaving the Warriors this offseason

Warriors Show Their Holes, But Find A Way To Win Ugly Against the Nets

Source: ESPN

The Golden State Warriors were able to snap their three-game losing streak Wednesday night against the New Jersey Nets at home. Stephen Jackson scored 29 points. The return of Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins to the starting lineup added an obvious boost. Ellis added 19 points and Biedrins contributed 10 points and 13 rebounds. At times beautiful slash-and-dish plays and other quick passing combination seemed to hint at the potential good times to come. It is just a matter of when.

Ironically, the Warriors would not have been able to hold onto this game if it weren't for the stellar plays made by Jamal Crawford, who scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, including six free throws in the final 24 seconds. He finished with team high 29 points in 46 minutes, the most of any Warrior. Coach Don Nelson had recently voiced his displeasure for keeping the former New York Knicks point guard in terms of how he fits in the Warriors long-term plans and insisted that Crawford should opt out of his contract or the team will be forced to trade him.

Ronny Turiaf also had a nice game, with a number of key blocks and hustle plays (as usual) throughout the game. His role on this team looks so much better when he doesn't have to star and be a significant scoring option. His 15 points on Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks is something that Turiaf has the ability to do on any given night, I would just prefer that the majority of point scored by the Warriors come from somebody else on the team. But then again a team can always use that extra, unexpected scoring from a role player like Turiaf, Azubuike, Bellineli(in street clothes tonight), Morrow, or Watson.

With 5 players in double figures (four of them starters), this balanced scoring attack that is still lacking some pieces (Brandon Wright, Marco Bellineli, or a true Point Guard)

Maybe it's Don Nelson's Ellis-Jackson-Azubuike-Randolph-Biedrins idea that was unveiled Wednesday against New Jersey that should be credited with the win tonight. There hasn't been a single game this year that this combination has been used for the starting five, and so far so good.

Even though it still has all the typical Nelsonian advantages of minimal defense and rebounding, the scoring potential combined with balance and depth seem to give the Warriors enough firepower to compete with any team on any given night. As long as one of their bread and butter aspects of the game (three-point shooting, net points off turnovers, fast break points, scoring 140-or-so points) show up in the stat sheet, the Warriors will continue to be a fun team to watch.

Source: ESPN

Note: Corey Maggette has been flourishing lately off the bench, and he continued that tonight in his usual fashion, but with an unusual twist: essentially nonexistent shooting from the field (1 for 4), but he got to the foul line TWENTY TIMES and cashed in on SIXTEEN of them from the charity stripe. Although at times the pace of the game was slowed by constant whistles (which obviously doesn't favor the Nelsonian Style), the Warriors were able to heat up at just the right time in the fourth quarter, and then hold on late for the win.

As for the Nets, Devin Harris torched the Dubs with 31 points and 12 assists for the New Jersey, who have lost five of six on the road and missed a chance to move into eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

NEXT GAME

Opponent - Dallas Mavericks
When - Friday March 13, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m.
Where - Oracle Arena