SB Nation - Vladimir Radmanovic

RECAP: Warriors 102, Hornets 108 – Good Effort

Fantasy Junkie — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:21:13 -0000

Beaten by 7 year olds. Sigh, it's been a long season

Final Boxscore | Open Thread (550+ comments)

The Warriors almost won. Does that count for something? This is loss number 21, 7th in a row, 11th in the last 12 games with the one win coming against the Nets. So here's what we've established - the Warriors are better than the Nets and Timberwolves. Like I wrote in the preview, this is looking like the 1999 19 win season.

But wait! If you think the losing is bad now, close your eyes, the next opponents are Phoenix (18-11), Boston (22-5), @Lakers (23-4), @Portland (19-12), and then @Denver (20-9). Are any of those 5 teams going to slip up and lose to the Warriors? I don't think so. So we're looking at 12 straight losses. The game after Denver is @Minnesota. That's the best chance the Warriors have of winning but it's on the back end of a back to back and the very last game of a 5 game road trip. Won't be easy. I'm sure Minnesota is looking forward to that game as well since it's just one of very few they have a shot at winning.

If you think it's ugly now, just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Why does David West look like he's smiling?

Tonight's game saw the beginning of what will hopefully be some more minutes for Anthony Randolph. 36 whopping minutes! And he rewarded the team with 8 blocks, 6 of them in the first quarter. Glad to see him being more active in the paint. It's about time! He still had a poor shooting game (5-14) which is nothing new, but at least he was active in the paint. If he keeps that up and works on not shooting the ball outside of 5 feet, he'll get back to the success he had at the end of last year. Keep playing the young guy Nellie!

I think tonight's loss really exemplifies how badly injuries are hurting the Warriors this year. The Warriors got essentially nothing from the bench tonight while the Hornets played 11 guys, all 5 starters scored in double digits, and 3 of the 6 bench guys had 8 points. Distributed scoring, distributed minutes. Only David West and Chris Paul played more than 30 minutes.

Hornets bench = 90 minutes, 40 points
Warriors "bench" = 34 minutes, 11 points

Then you look at our bench.

Vladimir Radmanovic may well have not even played. 10 minutes, 1 point, 1 rebound, -19 plus/minus. If not for being one of a few healthy bodies, he'd most likely be getting DNP-CD's.

The other bench player, Anthony Morrow, had 10 points and 3 boards in 24 minutes. On a tangent, I'm glad to see Morrow is producing something again. Maybe not at the pace he was before, but in the games after he had to attend the funeral, he did not play well. These last 2 games we've seen him score in double digits and shoot 4-9 from the field. Is he back to where he was before? No, but at least it looks like he's getting his mind right again. The Warriors need him back.

Chris Hunter, DNP-CD.

The Warriors just aren't going to win many games, especially on the back end of a back to back, without quality minutes from the bench. Monta cannot play 48 minutes, Curry cannot play 47 minutes, and CJ should not play 37 minutes. That's just too much. But there's really no other choice if Vlad and Morrow don't start stepping it up.

Nellie resorted to the macarena and some sexy belly dancing to distract the Hornets.

When will Biedrins and Turiaf get back? This team will continue to get murdered on the glass until some more big bodies can get in the game. The Hornets had 14 more rebounds. Okafor had 9 offensive rebounds which helped the Hornets net 12 more shots than the Warriors. That was a big difference right there. Those extra shots kept the Hornets' possessions alive allowing them continual second and third chance points.

Speaking of rebounding though, I have to give props to Corey Maggette and Stephen Curry. They both had 10 rebounds. If not for their efforts on the boards, that rebounding differential would have been even worse and the Warriors would have had no shot at winning. Curry even had 7 assists and 17 points for a near triple double while Maggette chipped in with 22 points on 8-12 shooting.

Julian forgot this is basketball, not football. You don't need to tackle.

The starters played quite well tonight and just ran out of gas tonight. The Hornets didn't blow the Warriors away in any one quarter, they just beat them by a little each quarter. Overall, it was a good effort, the Warriors just don't have enough healthy bodies to win a game against a better team.

Monta Ellis. Kept the Warriors in the game with his high percentage scoring - 35 points on 15-26 shooting. The 5 assists and 4 steals are a nice bonus. But all these nice games are coming in losses. When are we going to win?

RECAP: Warriors 108, Grizzlies 121 - Life without Monta?

dj fuzzylogic — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:23:10 -0000

(Like the Grizzlies, the cheerleaders came with it)

The battle of the Randolphs quickly gave way to what I saw as a bigger story line: life without Monta. No, this isn't about the trade rumors circulating about the Warriors supposed liquidation, a liquidation that might be equivalent to a dollar store going out of business. But with ZBo's domination not just of Randolph but almost everyone who tried to guard him, the second quarter Grizzlies steamrolling of the Warriors with Monta sitting out with foul trouble made me think, "If the Warriors traded Monta, this team might be really difficult to watch...even more so than they can be now." The 15 point swing that ended the half with the Warriors down 10 showed us some troubling signs about the current make-up of this team.

This isn't to say that Monta is our savior or that he's completely untradeable. You can tell by watching the last few Warrior games that the team is a complete work in progress as we're beginning to see different players take on different roles with and without the ball. But watching a game where Monta didn't log 40+ minutes shows us how much more work this team needs to put in to stay competitive with or without Andris Biedrins, Ronny Turiaf, and Kelenna Azubuike.

Warriors vs Grizzlies boxscore | Preview/ Game Thread (725+ comments) | Warriors Web Links

(A kick to the groin couldn't stop ZBo! He is unstoppable baby!)

Life without Monta in the second quarter showed us what happens when your team is comprised mostly of unseasoned rookies, bloody-raw talent, and bargain bin players. Don't get me wrong, the Warriors, for the most part, are all lovable and have potential if they figure things out. But the second quarter domination, which we should just called "Z-Bo time," showed the quick unraveling of this team without a clear floor leader to corral the troops.

The second quarter seemed to sum up all that has gone wrong: a stalled offense with very little movement, slippages in defensive intensity, poor perimeter shooting, and even worse interior defense. ZBo was literally unstoppable as no one was able to put a body on him. For some reason the green-light came on and he just continually attacked at will (33 points and 6 offensive boards). Both DeMarre Carroll (+25 what!??) and Sam Young out muscled and out hustled Anthony Randolph and Vladimir Radmanovic on several occasions, with one particular sequence standing out where Sam Young went baseline trying to dunk on Randolph, leaving him sprawled on the floor. It was nice to see Randolph showing no fear, but it was also disheartening to see the replays of Sam Young bopping Randolph on the head as he tried to throw it down.

(This is just a weird picture. I'll let you create your own captions)

But if that wasn't frustrating enough, there were also the frozen half court sets where each Warrior on the floor seemed to want to take 5 dribbles, thinking they could take the man off the dribble, only to pass away when they realized it was futile. Curry, Morrow, and Watson are all culprits to the idle dribbling and poor shot-selection that is not making good use of the shot-clock.

What happened to the give and go between Maggette and Curry in the first quarter? What about the one play in the first quarter that was replayed about 5 times where Monta set up Curry who set up Hunter who set up RadVlad for the dunk? I understand that teams learn to make adjustments but it seemed like once Monta stepped off the floor, this team struggled to initiate anything, even if Monta wasn't the sole initiator of the offense to begin with? Is it a confidence issue? Is the team trying to find a way to score and be effective even if their leading scorer isn't on the floor?

At any rate, the game was difficult to watch. It wasn't necessarily difficult to watch given how much they struggled. It's difficult to watch given how you can visibly see a lot of frustration in the body language from almost player and you wonder if this team even likes each other. At one point in the first quarter, RadVlad threw up his arms when Monta directed him to clear the side. When a poor offensive sequence happens, such as Randolph chucking a 20-footer on a fast break which clangs hard off the back iron, you can see Curry in the corner of the screen with his shoulders slumped for a second as he trots back on defense. The typically stoic Monta Ellis has become extremely riled up to the point of looking like he wanted to fight the ref after getting called for a foul, only to have Chris Hunter bear hug him. It's clearly a team that's struggling and it shows. As calm as Anthony Randolph looks on the court, I also feel bad for him as he's always falling on the ground getting hammered inside by multiple bigs. I mean, it's his job to defend the hoop, but at some point you just feel bad for a 20 year old who wearily gets up after getting banged around by men like Marc Gasol, Sam Young, and ZBo.

I'm not quite sure why I feel so sorry for the Warriors, but I do. And I want to be supportive as they navigate through the inconsistencies that come with increased injuries. For instance, today it was nice to see Chris Hunter finally showing us what he can do on the offensive and defensive end. His size, length in the interior was impressive as he bodied up bigs like Gasol and Randolph (in the first quarter at least). This all leads us to ....

I'm going to give it up to Chris Hunter. Not just because he was statistically impressive (14 points, 6 boards, and 3 blocks) but he also hustled a bit tonight too.

Recap: Spurs 103, Warriors 91- Oh the humanity

jae — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:21:37 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Monta Ellis frames Spurs' center Tim Duncan's head for a photo shoot while Bad Vlad Radmanovic trys to help keep the ball out of the way. Thanks Vlad! (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Browse more photos »

Originally posted Dec 17, 2009 12:21 AM PST

Spurs vs Warriors coverage | Spurs vs Warriors boxscore | Spurs vs Warriors recap

Preview/ Game Thread: I Love GSoM + Dysfunction Junction (1050+ comments)

Warriors Web Links: Nellie's back, Moore's out

I had not heard that Mikki Moore was injured until well after the game, so it came as something of a surprise that he was not in the starting lineup. He wasn't at the shoot-around either. Was this it? Had a big deal gone down where he and the rest of the expiring contracts had been packaged for something resembling the foundation of a basketball team? Sadly, no.

Moore's absence simply meant that someone else would have to pick up the slack of being on the court for a quarter and a half without accomplishing a thing. And try as they might, the rest of the team found out that such was no easy task. That level of inconspicuous nothing takes more than most of this rag-tag crew had in them.

Vladimir Radmanovic, who pretended to be a big man for much of the game, tried, but in his time on the court, Vlad simply missed too many shots. To accomplish nothing one must find quieter means of futility. Miss one or two and you can be forgotten, but fire up miss after miss like he did and you're likely to stand out.

Stephen Curry's noble attempt also failed to capture the essence of Moore, as (and I'm operating off of memory since I've yet to check a box score) his 458 fouls (plus or minus a few) attract too much attention.

And while eyes are still on Anthony Randolph, he's unlikely to fill out as many empty, unnoticed minutes. He should still try to take most of his shots no more than an arm's length from the rim. With even fewer big men to compete for playing time with, Randolph appeared to settle for jumpers above the key. If he took a shot in the paint, it was while I was distracted by the guys behind me making up stories about golf. ("So, you know Mike is a real good golfer I'd heard, but he hasn't been playing in years. Still he went out and shot a... [pause to make up a number that's not so low as to be unbelievable, but not so high as to possibly not sound impressive enough] ...a 73 [nailed it!] on a course in Phoenix on our last business trip there. Apparently, Mike played at Dook [where they have their own course, and it's real hard to make the team there. The only way to make the team is to shoot 7 under par or better for 3 rounds in 3 days, while also dragging a Volkswagen around the course using only your teeth or some other ridiculous rite of passage suggesting that in most years they'd never actually field a full squad]. So you know he's gotta have a whole lot of talent!") Anthony does have a real nice stroke from the right elbow though. He's deadly there. Unfortunately, from the *left* elbow and more or less anywhere else on the court, he may as well just hand the ball over to the opposition. It's not going in and we're not getting a rebound.

No, if there was a Warrior Wonder as in "I wonder where he was because I didn't seem to notice him at all tonight" it goes to Anthony Morrow. I didn't remember him doing anything in the second half, and wondered why, when we could have used the shooters to try to stay in the game, he wasn't playing more. That was until my friend in the seat next to me pointed out that he was actually in the game, and had been for much of the second half.

It's tough to really call this a team right now. It's more of an entourage where all the members just happen to be Turtle. Monta certainly shined above the rest. The ball seemed to find his hands in the right place and he seemed to be moving just that much faster and that much more smoothly than anyone nearby him (which was good when that guy is a Spur, but not so good when that guy is a Warrior). All critique of his ball-hogged ways that have been too frequent of late, tonight, *just watching him play*, it's clear that he can do quite a bit of good on the court and remains one reason to watch. He may not be an "all-star" and as a centerpiece of a winning team, he may always be lacking in some important regard, but he's also capable of dazzling grace on the court. We can lose games without him, but we'd miss out on some true on-court poetry in the process.

The Spurs made it interesting. They aren't particularly exciting and the Warriors led at halftime, but they just played with a quiet confidence where you knew that inevitably, they'd be around when the third quarter collapse hit. It did. They were. Even knowing that you are watching a certain future Hall of Famer in Duncan, his hand heavy with championship rings really doesn't spice up the methodical Spurs. If there's a player who actually caught my attention, it was DeJuan Blair. If he's "undersized" he sure doesn't look it in terms of his presence on the court. Maybe his head is a few inches below that of a "legitimate NBA bigman" but his presence is no shorter. When there's a shot off the rim to pull down, he looks like he's about 8 feet tall. And sure, his knees are held together with duct-tape and zip-ties and looking at him you get the impression that he's bound to be corpulent sooner or later, at which point he may no longer be fit for NBA duty. But until then, he's there where he needs to be, looking huge and doing what needs to be done.

Other observation: there are a whole lot of fans in jerseys of players who now play elsewhere around the association. Particularly cute was the couple sporting the (his) Jackson and (her) Richardson models walking hand in hand out of the arena after the game. Unlike about 60% of the attendees, they stayed 'til the bitter end.

Game Preview #23: San Antonio Spurs @ Golden State Warriors

CapHill — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:09:12 -0000

Thank you, Suns. Why don't you stomp on it too.

Well, that was fun. I hate losing, especially when you manage to crawl out of the abyss, but then fail to close out on the best 3-point shooters in the League!

More doom and gloom after the jump.

Please, FSM, I can't take much more.

I thought that I would have some time to distance myself and do a real preview, but no, this is a SEGABABA. Crap. It's Game #23 and, according to Lauri, it's okay if I start panicking. Time to redo that poll, dfjmed. (My "Now" vote isn't looking so crazy, is it?)

San Antonio Spurs @ Golden State Warriors
Where: ORACLE Arena - Oakland, CA
When: December 16, 2009, 9:30 PM Spurs time
Watch: FSNSW

How They Stack Up


10-4	Home	4-5
2-6	Road	3-12
101.8	Offense	107.0
96.6	Defense	111.7
48.0	FG%	47.1
39.2	3-pt%	36.9
73.8	FT%	78.2
42.0	Rebounds	37.0
14.2	TOs	16.3
7-3	Last 10	2-8
Lost 1	Streak	Lost 3
2nd, Southwest	Position	5th, Pacific


Country/Time Zone	Game Time
Argentina	12:30 AM
West Coast	7:30 PM
Philippines	11:30 AM
Central Europe	4:30 AM
Palestine/Egypt	5:30 AM
East Coast	10:30 PM
Last Night's Massacre	8:30 PM
Perth, AUS	11:30 AM
Tokyo, JP	12:30 PM
Sydney, AUS	1:30 AM

Spurs (12-10)	Matchups	Warriors (7-17)
Tony Parker Meh	Point Guard Tony still seems to be having trouble integrating to the new offense. Plus, he seems a step slower. However, he actually is a point guard, unlike Curry, who's a shooting guard (emphasis on shooting) in a supermodel's body. Advantage: Spurs	Stephen Curry Not a Point Guard

Keith Bogans Meh	Shooting Guard Bogans is another one of those players whose contributions don't always show up in the box score. However, his non-boxscore contributions haven't been showing up lately either. Ellis isn't really big enough to play the 2, having a supermodel frame just like Curry. However, dude can shoot the damn ball. Advantage: Warriors	Monta Ellis Not a Point Guard

Richard Jefferson Meh	Small Forward RJ is still not showing up during some games. Morrow is a young kid who hasn't been starting the whole year. I could probably figure out who has the advantage by looking at advanced statistics, but I don't feel like it. Advantage: Neither	Anthony Morrow Summer League Stud

Tim Duncan Spurs' Savior	Power Forward I don't know why we even bother with rating this position. Timmeh is far superior to any Power Forward out there - don't even try arguing. Hollinger's PER compooper can't comprehend the greatness that is Tim Duncan, even though he's old and can't play anymore. Take that, you freakin' "experts". Advantage: Spurs	Vladimir Radmanovic Laker Cast Off

Antonio McDyess Meh	Center McDyess has been down lately. We need to see the boards and the pretty jumper come back. Mikki Moore has the height to play the center position, but not much else. With the way Dice has played the last few games, no one deserves the advantage here. Advantage: Neither	Mikki Moore Token Big Man

DeJuan Blair BAM	Bench & Role Players Corey Maggette seems to be the first player off the bench, but the Dubs also have Anthony Randolph, the other Summer League Stud. However, we have DeBeast, who will promptly dive on the floor to recover the flailing arms that he has ripped out of the sockets of the Warriors' front court. I love this guy! Oh, and we have Manu Ginobili and George Hill too. They're not bad. Advantage: Spurs	Corey Maggette Who Knows

Gregg Popovich No Beard for Mojo	Coach Even though we don't always agree with Pop and his crazy small ball lineups, at least we don't have to deal with Nelson and his game-by-game, throw the dice decision-making process when filling out the lineup card. Advantage: Spurs	Don Nelson Mr. Crazy Lineups
	images via yahoo.com

	Other Factors
Intangibles
We really, really, really, really, really need a road win, especially against a team that's this bad at home. Advantage: Spurs
Mojo
We have none, after the Suns killed us. But then, the Dubs just lost to the Sixers. It's a tie for crappy karma. Apparently, both teams suck at sacrificing chickens. Advantage: Neither
Winner: The Spurs (I Hope)
The Spurs need another victory after that heartbreaking loss to the Suns. The Warriors want to trade all of their players. It should be a blowout, but it'll probably be too close for comfort. Prediction: Spurs win by less than 10.

Keys To The Game

Starters Show Up - Other than Timmeh, our starters have been wildly inconsistent this year. We can't continue to depend on Duncan to carry the team in the first quarter, or depend on BAM to pull our butts out of the fire.
No Crappy Quarters - Each game, the Spurs have one really bad quarter, or two, or three. It's hard to win when you start the game in a 20 point hole. No more RQCs (thank you, romes).
Defense - Defense is supposed to be a hallmark of the Spurs - not this year. Too many open 3s, too many easy jaunts down the lane - this is NOT acceptable and needs to be cleaned up.

Strength of Schedule

This is a SEGABABA on the road, after another crappy road loss, TO THE SUNS. This does not bode well for the team or our livers.

The Warriors are coming off of a road loss to the Sixers. However, they will be playing on one day of rest, at home. But the Dubs are less than .500 at home, so who knows.

Last Time They Met

Our last meeting with the Warriors was November 25th. We won 118-104, but not because of our defense on Ellis. Monta went off for 42 points, but no other Warrior did much. We had six players score double digits.

Here's some old school Bernard King and the Warriors vs. Iceman and the Spurs.

And now for my second favorite playoff upset of all times.

Some Other Reading

Warriors

Golden State of Mind - The Warriors' SBN blog is one of the most enjoyable blogs around. You gotta give it to Warriors fans, no matter how hard Nelly tries to destroy this franchise, the fans just keep coming and coming at you in waves.
Warriors World - The TrueHoop blog for the Dubs. Their tagline says it all: "We Got Suck and Salary Protection." Perfect.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell: Best damn TrueHoop affiliate out there. Always a must visit Spurs site.
Project Spurs: Features live chats, call-in shows and podcasts, with lots of content. Give 'em a try.

Twitter Musings

Nothing worth sharing (unless you count some more LOLs by Blair), but you can always find all the official Spurs Sports & Entertainment Twitter accounts here: http://twitter.com/spurs/official/members

Where to Tune In

TV

This game will be aired on FSN Southwest. If you have cable or satellite, you'll have to look up your individual channel. And of course, there's always League Pass for the haves. For the have nots, read on.

Online

As always, NBA League Pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Most Spurs games will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area.

Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate. In fact, nobody can stop you from googling "atdhe". You can also shoot an email to dmenendez@gmail.com for more assistance.

NBA League Pass audio is still free this year, so check it out.

Radio

If you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM).

Sixers snap 12-game losing streak

jsams — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:10:40 -0000

Box Score

I come away from tonight's game with the same feeling one has after hooking up with a super-hot, really drunk chick at a party. The feeling being, "Man, that was fun and really easy, but I wonder how I'll fare tomorrow night, and I wonder how differently tonight would've went if that girl hadn't consumed 13 captain and cokes." The Sixers dominated tonight, but it was against a free-wheeling, disinterested, discombobulated, defenseless Golden State Warriors -- the same team who allowed a 20 year old rookie to drop 55 on them. So, they're a lot like my drunk sorority chick; everyone score on 'em, even rookies. The dubs were also playing the final game of a long road trip and playing without their head coach. The Sixers showed a lot of positive tonight, both as individuals and as a team, but until I see it against a good team -- one who plays defense and doesn't jack up bad shots -- then I'm going to hold off on the excitement. Is this team beginning to turn the corner or was tonight a product of the hot mess known also known as the Golden State Warriors? The answer will come soon enough; the Cavs and Celtics are up next. On to the positives...

Thaddeus Young was an absolute man. He torched people on the block, converted offensive rebounds and mixed in a couple jumpers. Yes, he was being guarded by Vladimir Radmanovic most of the night, but an impressive showing nonetheless. In the past, Thad would get hot and then not touch the ball for the next 20 minutes. Tonight was a different story, and since I'm in an awesome mood, I'm going to give Eddie Jordan all the credit. Thad's 26 points was impressive, but what impressed me most -- and left me quite thrilled -- was his career-high 14 rebounds. That's two games in a row Thad had double-digit rebounds. If he keeps it up I'll stop calling him overrated.

Tonight, Monta Ellis was 3-14 from the floor. On December 2nd Russell Westbrook was 1-11 from the floor. The common denominator? Both were defended by Jrue Holiday. 'Nuff said. (The reason I went all the way back to December 2nd is because that was Jrue Holiday's last start before tonight.)

I'd spend more time on how much potential this team has when Lou and M16 return from injury, but again, I want to see them do it against someone other than a hammered sorority girl.

Player of the game: Thaddeus Young

Tracking Hustle Plays in the Magic’s 126-118 Victory Over the Warriors

jonnichols — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:00:17 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

Browse more photos »

A week ago I tracked the hustle plays in a game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies. Tracking hustle plays is presumably something most, if not every, NBA team does. After all, box scores are pretty limited. Even if we use the play-by-play data to do thorough analysis, it still doesn't include things such as diving for loose balls, deflections, missed blockouts, etc. But teams would like to know these things, so they must track it themselves.

I decided to track the hustle plays during last Saturday's game between the Magic and the Golden State Warriors. During the game, I kept track of five things. First, I tracked players going for loose balls. In my experience with a college team, we only record plays where a player dove for a loose ball. But since this is the NBA, and effort is often lacking, I include all plays in which a player ends up with the ball, regardless of whether or not he dove. A second thing I track is drawn charges. You can somewhat glean this from the play-by-play data, but it is much easier to just record it yourself.

Thirdly, I kept track of good sprints. I define these as plays in which a player creates a play for himself or others by sprinting the floor and forcing the defense to adjust. For this game featuring the fast-paced Warriors, I had to be more selective in my criteria or else we'd have a lot of good sprints. A fourth thing I tracked for this game was deflections. This is relatively easy to define and track. Basically it includes any deflection that is not recorded as a steal, rebound, etc. Finally, I kept track of missed blockouts. These were most noticeable when they led to an easy offensive rebound, and they were much more rare in this game than in my first one.

Of course, these aren't all the hustle plays that players can make. Traditional box score stats such as offensive rebounds and steals often reflect hustle plays. Defense is also largely a product of effort, but that is something I will track another time.

Below is a link to a spreadsheet that contains the hustle stats for the Magic-Warriors game. On the left side of each tab is the raw numbers. On the right side are the per-minute numbers. Instead of presenting them as "statistic per minute," they are presented as "minute per statistic." I did this because the numbers are so low. As it turns out, this method is not too difficult to grasp conceptually. For positive statistics such as deflections, a lower number is better (a blank number means the player did not record any deflection at all, which obviously is bad). For negative statistics such as missed blockouts, blank numbers are the best and low numbers are the worst.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvNKNGJ_AHijdHo3UEZHLUtnMVlUY2NDQ1Q1MEpSa0E&hl=en

I have a few observations about the data:

Marcin Gortat, Brandon Bass, and Matt Barnes showed great effort off the bench. All three were active on the boards and had active hands. Per minute, they were all special in terms of the number of deflections they had.
The Magic did not draw a charge all game, and they certainly had some opportunities. Vince Carter in particular had three opportunities in which he failed to draw a charge. In the first, he was just late and recorded a foul. In the second, he turned his shoulders and avoided contact (Monta Ellis was coming like a speeding bullet). In the third, he watched Ellis blow by him. A charge on any of the three would have been an excellent play, but they certainly were possible.
Overall, though, Carter was not lazy. He recorded a few deflections and went for loose balls.
Dwight Howard created a few opportunities by running the floor. Barnes had an easy dunk after he sprinted down the floor after a dead ball and caught the Warriors sleeping.
Anthony Randolph had a great game and killed the Magic with his effort. He crashed the boards, ran the floor hard, got to loose balls, and even drew a charge. My only complaint was the amount in which he flopped. He was forced to guard Howard for extended periods of time, though, which is something he shouldn't be asked to do. Perhaps he figured flopping was his only option.
Vladimir Radmanovic showed more hustle than I thought he would, but his defense certainly wasn't spectacular at all times.
Except for a mistake by Stephen Curry, both teams did a good job of putting a body on each man when going for the defensive rebound.

The Magic did not win this game because they outhustled the Warriors. In terms of effort, both teams were solid and about even. The Magic won, obviously, because of a huge run late in the fourth quarter in which they hit their shots and the Warriors made silly plays.

Up next I'd like to track the defense of the Magic. With a few games in the data set, we may be able to rate the defense of Magic players in other ways besides Defensive Rating, plus-minus, etc.

Polling GSoM: Will the Golden State Warriors lead the league in turnovers this season?

Atma Brother ONE — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:49:53 -0000

Game Thread #20: Warriors @ Thunder - Battle For Our Mascot

Hash is working on a fantastic recap and IQofaWarrior is assembling the exhaustive linkage for tonight's blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder as you read this, but I thought this Polling GSoM segment was in order.

If I had to pick one picture to describe the Warriors 2009-2010 season thus far, this would be it:

The Dubs really need to stop eating these for breakfast.

Jump for a look back at some words from GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors preview that unfortunately have proven to be true through almost a quarter of this season.

Macro-Warriornomics - WE BELIEVE WE SUCK :: GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview

Biggest Weaknesses

The Human Powered Turnover Machine

Barring no injuries and if Monta Ellis can make through the season without hopping on a "low-speed moped", it's a pretty safe bet that the Warriors will lead the league in turnovers. Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Anthony Randolph will be the main culprits. Rookie Stephen Curry will probably add to the turnover totals considerably, but we will excuse the rookie.

We'll be using this picture quite a bit in our recaps this season.

Low Hoops IQ

Top to bottom this is one of the dumbest rosters in the league. It can be painful watching them struggle to throw the simplest inbounds pass. Part of that is being young, but most of that can be attributed to players who simply aren't that sharp on the court and off the court. We'll just leave it at that. We're not in the business of hurting the trade value of players on the home team- well at least today.

Well today we are in that business.

Just the facts and nothing but the facts:

The Warriors currently lead the league in turnovers.
"Point guard" Monta Ellis leads the league in turnovers. In 8 games out of 20 so far this season Ellis has as many turnovers if not more than assists.
Corey Maggette, Anthony Randolph, Vladimir Radmanovic, Ronny Turiaf all average more turnovers than assists right now.
C.J. Watson, Chris Hunter, and Mikki Moore are the only players on this roster that have a 2:1 assist : turnover ratio. Watson is a low volume dime dropper most likely gone by the February trading deadline, Hunter is a recent D-League call-up, and Moore is a journeyman.

I'll let you draw the appropriate inferences in the comments.

GM Larry RIley- hope you're on the phone trying to wheel and deal!

via www.sitcomsonline.com

Poll

Will the Golden State Warriors lead the league in turnovers this season?

YES: Apple turnover

219 votes

NO: Something will get over turned

37 votes

256 votes | Poll has closed

Orlando Magic 126, Golden State Warriors 118

Ben Q Rock — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:32:42 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

Browse more photos »

In a long, wild game featuring plenty of offense, the Orlando Magic battled back to defeat the Golden State Warriors, 126-118, on the strength of a 17-4 run in the final 5:08 of action. Golden State's Monta Ellis led all scorers with 33 points, while Anthony Randolph tallied 28 points, 13 boards, 5 assists, and a steal in just 35 minutes off the bench. Yet the Magic's balanced, efficient attack proved more potent; three Magic players exceeded 20 points, with three others cracking double-digit scoring. Vince Carter had a vintage, all-around performance, by far his best since joining the Magic: 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and just 1 turnover in 34 minutes. For a guy who dominated the ball in the second half against a ball-hawking team like Golden State to only cough it up once is impressive. With the victory, Orlando won its 7th straight road game, to tie a franchise record.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	97	129.9	60.8%	48.6	24.1	16.5
Warriors	105	111.9	49.4%	33.7	24.4	14.4
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

When Corey Maggette made a driving layup in transition to give Golden State a 114-109 lead, I couldn't envision the Magic getting back into the game. The Warriors were simply too quick and too active, on both ends of the floor, for the Magic to handle. But the Warriors just ran out of gas, to use a well-worn phrase, at the end, and Orlando blitzed them. Anthony Johnson couldn't find any open passing lanes, so he just drove to the hole for an easy layup to start the Magic's rally. A fast-break three-pointer from Mickael Pietrus knotted the score at 114, with Carter nailing another transition three after the Warriors' subsequent miss. The Magic had scored 9 points in 90 seconds to take a 117-114 lead, which left the Warriors visibly shaken. The young team did not respond well to the pressure, turning the ball over on 3 of their next 4 possessions while the Magic added another 5 points to their lead. Tonight was a case of the better, more experienced team grinding out a win against an overmatched, yet talented and driven, opponent.

I really cannot say enough good things about Golden State's play in the first 19 minutes of the second half. Their offense never gave the Magic a chance to react. Smart passes, quick cuts, finishes in traffic. Randolph saved a ton of would-be empty possessions with offensive rebounds or dives to the floor to retrieve loose balls, while Ellis hit jumpers from just about everywhere. Orlando's a great defensive team, but Golden State's great ball movement and off-ball cuts were too much to handle. Yet at the end of the game, the offense stagnated, for a few reasons. First, the Magic started hitting their shots again, which stopped the Warriors' running game; it's hard to fast break when you're taking the ball out of your own net. Second, the Warriors were tired. Ellis played the entire game, with Stephen Curry only resting for 1:51. Weak legs. Third--and this is me playing pop-psychologist--they were just shaken up. All 3 of the turnovers I mentioned in the previous paragraph were unforced: a senseless, telegraphed pass from Curry to Vladimir Radmanovic that Carter picked off with ease; a Curry travel; and an Ellis travel. Sometimes, defenders can bait ballhandlers into a travel. Not in these instances. Curry and Ellis just shuffled their feet, for no reason, in the triple-threat position.

Orlando led by as many as 15 points in the first half on the strength of its three-point shooting, connecting on 8 of its first 9 tries from long-range. Golden State countered with a series of contested jumpers. Neither team could keep up that pace for the whole game, so it appeared as though Dwight Howard would decide the game. If all else failed, the Magic could just dump the ball to their franchise center and let him work against the Warriors, who are especially ill-equipped to handle him. He scored 12 points in the first 8:23 of the game, with Carter and Jason Williams doing an exemplary job of finding him on his rolls to the basket. He also created his own offense with some sweeping hooks, which looked excellent. It appeared as though he was on his way to a 30-point night, and that the Magic would cruise to victory.

But that's not how it happened. Saddled with foul trouble, Howard couldn't get back into the rhythm of the game. His 8 rebounds led the team, and his 4 defensive boards during the final 7:52 were key in preventing the Warriors from getting second-chance opportunities, but he was mostly invisible. His backup, Marcin Gortat, picked up 5 fouls in just 12 minutes, forcing the Magic to run their offense from the outside-in, as opposed to inside-out, as is their custom.

No problem, though. Carter was simply magnificent tonight. 27 points on 13 shot attempts, just 2 of them from three-point range. Carter was visibly in attack mode tonight. Golden State doesn't have a shot-blocking presence, and with the Magic in need of scoring, Carter took over. 19 points in the second half, 12 of Orlando's 25 points in an anemic third quarter in which they gave up the lead, to go with 7 assists and 5 boards. This game was an excellent demonstration of why GM Otis Smith sought Carter's services this summer. We've seen Carter assert himself offensively earlier this season, most notably at Boston, when he needed 29 shots and 6 turnovers to score 26 points. But tonight, he asserted himself, and did so efficiently. The Warriors play crummy defense in general, so it's easy to point to that factor as the biggest one in Carter's big night. Go ahead. 27 points on 13 shots is impressive against anyone at this level.

Which brings me to my next point: the Warriors played inspired defense in the third period, which caught the Magic off guard. Orlando had trouble setting its offense, with Carter, Williams, or even Pietrus standing 30 feet from the basket looking for a receiver with fewer than 14 ticks on the shot clock. Golden State dug in, denied the ball, and played the passing lanes beautifully; Williams may never live down the pass he threw that Radmanovic took the other way for an emphatic jam on his head, the basketball equivalent of an interception returned for a touchdown, with the scoring player stiffarming the quarterback on his way to the endzone. Not just any defense can force the steady Williams, who had committed 7 turnovers in his 264 minutes as the Magic's starting point guard prior to tonight, to commit 4 turnovers in a single game. Give the Warriors credit for really turning up their D for a big stretch of the second half.

Perhaps lost in the overall story of this game--veteran team goes updouble-digits on the road, young home team responds with a flurry of spectacular plays on both sides of the ball to take the lead, only to crumble when the veteran team regains its focus--is that Stan Van Gundy appears to have adjusted his rotation. Brandon Bass has claimed the backup power forward job from Ryan Anderson, who earned his first DNP-CD of the season tonight. Bass played just 9:25, but produced, with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and an assist in that stretch. Bass matches up well with the Warriors, who don't have anyone who can handle him on the interior. Playing Anderson, the three-point marksman, might have only fed the Warriors' fast-break game, as long misses tend to lead to long rebounds. Bass, by all accounts, handled his temporary demotion well and responded on the practice floor and in the film room. It's far too early to say Anderson has fallen out of the rotation, but this situation is one to monitor as the season progresses.

Here we are, 9 paragraphs into a fairly lengthy recap, and I've yet to mention Rashard Lewis. 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 3 three-pointers, 4 rebounds, 4 assists. A quiet, steady performance from the Magic's veteran combo forward, who's now hit 17 of his last 31 three-point attempts in the last 5 games.

A word on Pietrus before wrapping this recap up: he was clearly motivated to stick it to his former team, as he was in his only other game against Golden State, which came last season. In his 2 career games against the Warriors, he's averaged 18 points on 62.5% eFG%. Tonight, he made a spectacular, Michael Jordan-esque fadeaway from the right baseline, and drew the foul. He also sank 6 of his 7 free throws, coming into the evening shooting a mere 50% from the stripe. My favorite Pietrus moment tonight, though, came just 2 minutes into the game: Williams picked off a bad pass by Radmanovic, and Pietrus sprinted from the right sideline to the left corner, waving his hand in the air the entire time. Carter found him there, wide open, where he drained his second trey of the night, and from the exact same spot. We sometimes get on Pietrus for not playing smart, but he knew just where he needed to be on that possession. Counting tonight, Pietrus is 13-of-25 from the left corner and 10-of-24 from the right corner this season, per NBA.com's Hotspots feature.

And with that, I'm spent. A good win for the Magic. If Carter continues to select his shots judiciously, Orlando will be in great shape.

GAME THREAD #19 - Warriors vs. Magic - Superman that..

R Dizzle — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:36:43 -0000

My arms are this big - I swear.

Warriors: 6-12

Magic: 15-4

Tip-Off: 7:30pm

TV: CSN Bay Area

Radio: KNBR 680

Blog Buddy: Third Quarter Collapse

Alright so things aren't going so well. We lost the last game to the Rockets by a stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid (I think you get the picture) play and it was heart breaking. Monta's been scoring out of his mind but also giving up turnovers at a rate that is out of his mind. Yay.

But hey, at least we get to see another great Warriors game tonight. We're going to finally have a full roster...right?

Right?

What's this? IQofaWarrior says...a big fat N-O.

Sigh...

FACTS

1. The Magic are tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

2. The Magic will set a new team record with 7 consecutive road wins,

3. Don Nelson will miss the next 5 road games.

4. Anthony Morrow will miss tonight's game.

5. The Warriors are missing these players - Brandan Wright, Kelenna Azubuike, Raja Bell, Anthony Morrow, Ronny Turiaf, Andris Biedrins, Anthony Randolph, Speedy Claxton, Devean George.

6. The Warriors will play these players tonight - Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Corey Maggette, Chris Hunter, Mikki Moore, C.J. Watson, and Vladimir Radmonovich.

7. Mickael Pietrus was one of the most fun Warriors players. (See Below)

8. The Warriors are in desperate need of some magic "health" potions.

9. Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes, and Adonal Foyle will all get standing ovations when they step on the court (if they do).

10. This guy (pictured below) will Superman the Warriors.

FICTION

1. The Warriors will win tonight. (That is all...)

Poll

Who is your favorite ex-Warrior on the Magic?

Mickael Pietrus

227 votes

Matt Barnes

203 votes

Adonal Foyle

152 votes

582 votes | Poll has closed

RECAP: Warriors 111, Mavericks 103 - Wait... what just happened?

R Dizzle — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:39:12 -0000

Wait...what? Did that really just happen?

Let me check the Open Thread.

OPEN THREAD - Warriors @ Mavericks - Time to Get Smart

Nooo...no way did we just beat the Mavs...did we?

Ellis, Morrow lead Warriors past Mavericks 111-103 [Yahoo Sports]

Yahoo says we did. What about Mavs Money Ball?

Mavs Lose at Home to Six Warriors: Rick Carlisle Postgame Quotes [Mavs MoneyBall]

Ok ok...I still don't believe it. It's not possible. The Mavs were 10-3. Dirk was having an MVP type year (ughhh...). We had 8 active players - 2 of which were injured. We had young players.

Did we really just win?

Let me check to see what my man IQofaWarrior dropped in the Warriors Web...

Warriors Web: Warriors 111, Mavericks 103- Monta Ellis + Anthony Morrow + Stephen Curry score 82 points, Mikki Moore + Vladimir Radmanovic grab 23 rebounds

I still can't believe it...

Final - 11.24.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden State Warriors	25	25	28	33	111
Dallas Mavericks	27	27	28	21	103

Complete Coverage >

WE WON.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?! FACTOR = 3

Again, I'd like to bring your attention Figure 1 (pictured below).

Now I must admit, when the game started I was basically yelling at my laptop at the top of my lungs (and subsequently getting yelled at by people around me at the library). It was literally turnover after turnover after turnover after turnover after turnover...you get the idea. If I recall correctly (someone tell me if I'm wrong) it was close to 6 TO's in the first 5 minutes of the game. Sloppy sloppy sloppy!

But then, guys got smart, Keith Smart, that is, and decided to minimize turnovers. Let's be real, 21 turnovers is waaaaaayyyy too much (especially dumb ones) but it doesn't really matter when the Warriors can rack in 15 steals.

Question

Hey GSoM, I gotta question for you.

It's a brain teaser, but maybe you can get the answer.

You gotta think about it real hard though.

What happens when you play a FULL NBA game with these 6 players and this coach?

Stephen Curry

#30 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-3

Weight: 185

Born: Mar 14, 1988

College: Davidson

Monta Ellis

#8 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-3

Weight: 180

Born: Oct 26, 1985

College: None

Mikki Moore

#33 / Center / Golden State Warriors

Height: 7-0

Weight: 225

Born: Nov 04, 1975

College: Nebraska

Anthony Morrow

#22 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-5

Weight: 210

Born: Sep 27, 1985

College: Georgia Tech

Vladimir Radmanovic

#77 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-10

Weight: 235

Born: Nov 19, 1980

College: Serbia & Montenegro

Anthony Randolph

#4 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-10

Weight: 205

Born: Jul 15, 1989

College: L-S-U

The answer to come later.

For a hint, check out this SB Nation article.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Now it's time to play another game. It's called...

I SPY - WARRIORS EDITION

Monta Ellis

I spy...Monta Ellis

This one picture depicts his game as of late.

Examine it closely. Real closely.

I see ELLIS TO THE RIM.

It's like he was Moses - parting the sea of the Mavericks players. Going to straight to the promised land that is the basket.

It's like he understands what it means to be a leader, and he's taking charge and doing what he needs to.

Look at his stats! 48 minutes (the whole game), 4 boards, 4 steals, 8 assists. He does need to work on those 11 turnovers though.

Talk about playing a full game...

Anthony Morrow

I spy....Anthony Morrow.

This one picture depicts his game as of late.

Examine it closely. Real closely.

I see a 2nd year player that's expanding his game.

I see our future small forward with an ability to shoot (6 three pointers? Really? I mean..REALLY?!?!), pull down boards (9) and even distribute the ball (5 assists).

I see tenacity.

But most of all, I see pride. I see power. I see a bad-ass mother, who don't take no crap offa nobody!

I had to work the Cool Runnings in!

Stephen Curry

I spy...Stephen Curry.

This one picture depicts his game as of late.

Examine it closely. Real closely.

Yes, he's young, but he ain't scared.

He's got the rest of the NBA wondering where he came from. Look at Dirk. Look at JKidd. They just don't get it.

How can a rookie like him start, shoot 50% off the floor, toss out 6 dimes, AND have clutch shooting at the end of the road game?

Must be all the butter chicken.

Last but not least...

Coach Smart

I spy...Coach Smart.

This one picture depicts his coaching as of late.

Examine it closely. Real closely.

I see a coach that can take our young guys to victory. I see a man that's willing to draw a technical foul on a terrible call. I see a coach that our young players really respect.

He was ready to take over Nelly's coaching position when he was needed. He says the right things.

"Coming into this game, we had nothing to lose," said assistant coach Keith Smart, who filled in for Nelson. "The worst case is they blow us out and we move on to [Wednesday night's game in San Antonio]. But our guys have a lot of character. They played hard together and made the right decisions."

Smart dedicated the victory to Nelson, watching at home on TV."This win went out to our man in charge," Smart said. "Our guys pulled together for him. He instilled a lot of the qualities in all of us."

Now I'm not going to start saying all this "FIRE NELSON! WE WANT COACH SMART!" stuff...but I will say, it was nice to get a fresh look off the bench.

I don't want to credit all of the success yesterday to Coach Smart - it goes to a lot of players (more on that later).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Answer

What happens when you play a FULL NBA game with these 6 players and this coach?

To my earlier question. There's a simple answer.

A WIN.

I gotta be honest. This one was pretty rough. I could have given it to Coach Smart. I couldn't have given it to any one or all of our Big Three - Monta Ellis, Anthony Morrow, and Stephen Curry. Hell, I could have even given it to Vlad Rad for playing a full game and contributing.

But no, I think I'm going to dedicate last night's game to my favorite ex-player.

Yes, that's right - he gets yet another Warrior Wonder award.

Why, you ask?

Well it's simple. Things have just been a bit different without him around. Monta's been able to fill the role of leader (which he's suprising doing well in), there's more ball distribution, less dumb mistakes.

Everyone just seems a bit happier. Things seem to be working out a bit better.

Ya know I got nothin but love for ya Jack.

Poll

Think Don Nelson should move to a consulting position?

YES, Time to get Smart!

472 votes

NO, Nellieball forever!

80 votes

552 votes | Poll has closed