Simply the latest steal of the draft.

It struck me today while contemplating the latest batch of ignorant and vicious propaganda regarding Don Nelson to be secreted out of the San Jose Mercury News, that while everyone is agitating over the decision whether to bring Don Nelson back as the coach of the Golden State Warriors, no one is discussing whether it might be worth while to bring him back as the de facto GM of the Warriors, or re-hire him as a "godfather" and paid consultant after his contract is up.  This is a great oversight by the Bay Area media, which, of course, is what we've come to expect from these paragons of journalism.  I wish to correct this oversight.  Let's discuss Don Nelson the GM.

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Multi-tooled?

Don't answer until you check out this profile of Udoh.  I note several characteristics of a quintessential Don Nelson player.  First of all, "he has an incredible basketball intelligence." Secondly, he has a love of doing the dirty work, which is something Nellie desperately wants from his four, and which has been sadly lacking in both Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph.  Third, he has versatility, or as Nellie puts it, the ability to do more than one thing well.

Jump for the full Nightmare!

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Nothing at stake but immortality.

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His to win now.

Home: Boston Celtics (Celtics Blog)

Away: Los Angeles Lakers (Silver Screen and Roll)

Series: Tied 1-1

Time: 6:00PM PST

TV: ABC

Wow, if someone had told you that the Celtics would win in LA without Kevin Garnett, what would you have thought? Garnett sat for most of game 2 with foul trouble, and finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds.  And yet the Celtics looked throughout like the better team.  What a difference a game makes.  What happened?

Jump for rants, ravings, and a possible answer:

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Round Two.

Celtics  +160

Lakers  -180

Two correct calls in the Conference Finals have got me back in the black for these playoffs, although it would have been better if I hadn't hedged my Celtics bet in the last game.  C'est la vie, I think it was the right play, and in sports wagering as well as in poker, all you can do is make the right play.  You can't control that river card.

Now what to do in these Finals?  The pundits seem to agree that this time around the Lakers have what it takes to beat the Celtics. They point to the fact that the Lakers have added Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest to the core that faced the Celtics in 2008. They think Pau Gasol is now "tougher," and that the Lakers now "know what it takes" to win in the finals.  They think the Celtics are going to miss a couple of key bench players from the 2008 Finals, Leon Powe and James Posey.

I'm not so sure. Jump for my opinion of the key factors in this series:

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Cursed?

Jump for a recap of game 4 between the Magic and the Celtics, and a preview of game 4 between the Lakers and the Suns:

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Half an inch from immortality

Jump for a rewind of Game 1 between the Suns and Lakers, and a preview of tonight's Celtics - Magic warfare!

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Amare who?

Lakers  -360

Suns     +270

I've been betting against my heart and against the Suns every series so far this playoffs.  This series will be no different. I absolutely love Steve Nash -- I watched virtually every one of his games with the Mavericks.  I love Alvin Gentry, the Suns coach.  I love Suns basketball, which is the closest you can get to Don Nelson basketball without having Nellie himself.  I was very impressed by how the Suns picked apart the Spurs in the last series.

But I don't see any way they can beat the Lakers.  Jump for the reasons why the Lakers meet the Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals:

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Bring out your old men.

Yesterday

• Orlando Magic 98, Atlanta Hawks 84 -- Magic sweep 4-0.
• LA Lakers 111, Utah Jazz 96 -- Lakers sweep 4-0.

Today

• Boston Celtics @ Cleveland Cavaliers -- 5PM PST on TNT

Jump for the Day 24 Rewind and the Day 25 Preview:

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Unsung hero.

Jump for a rewind of Day 17 action, and a preview of tonight's annihilations... er, games!

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Originally posted 8:00 AM PDT

Gone fishin'

We're getting set for a slew of Game 5's, and already the pretenders are being separated from the contenders.  The titans of the East -- Cavs, Celtics and Magic -- are all taking care of business, and the titans of the West -- Lakers, Mavs and Nuggets -- are... OOOOPS!  Prognosticators, spinmeisters and hypesters everywhere are falling over their tongues, as happens every playoff time.  Including yours truly, who started out hot, but has gone decidedly wobbly. As they say, that's why they play the games!

Yesterday's action held few surprises.  The banged-up Stephen Jackson and his badly overmatched Bobcats were swept out of their misery by the Magic, no doubt delighting most Warriors fans.  Milwaukee managed to hold serve at home to tie their series with the Hawks at 2-2, without creating much doubt as to who will eventually emerge victorious.  And the Suns promptly popped the balloon of euphoria (guilty as charged) that was created by the triumphant return of Brandon Roy.

Jump for a look at today's action!  

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Guess what?  I'm going left.

Jennings vs. The Hawks! Wade vs. The Celtics! Durant vs. The Lakers!  Stoudemire vs. Camby!

Feltbot vs. The Bookies!

Jump for a preview of Day 4 of the 2010 NBA playoffs!

 

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Taking all wagers.

This is a very odd year in the NBA.  I cannot recall a season where so many important players were fighting through injury coming into the playoffs: Kobe, Bynum, KMart, Parker, Hill, Marion, Kirilenko, Okur, Shaq, Garnett, Pierce, Jackson, Noah.  Needless to say, it makes it extremely difficult to evaluate even otherwise mundane series.  But here we go....

Jump for fearless prognostification!

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UPDATE (4/37 8:29pm): Check out Tyreke Evans to Be Named 2009-2010 NBA Rookie of the Year- Congrats to Tyreke + Stephen Curry

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It's all over but the counting, and the statisticians, spindoctors and hypesters are crawling out of the woodwork to have their say over who deserves this year's NBA Rookie of the Year award. So why should I be any different? Here's my analysis of the three leading candidates for Rookie of the Year, and my reasons why Stephen Curry stands alone as the correct choice.

Jump!

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Originally posted Apr 13, 2010 11:47 PM PDT

This one got rough.

Warriors vs Jazz boxscore  |  Game Thread (900+ comments) | Game Day Links |  SLC Dunk

Wow.  This was oh so close to being a great game.  Is there any doubt that the Warriors came to compete?  Their defensive effort in this game was incredible.  Boozer was knocked out in the first half with a shot to the ribs.  Deron Williams, who has been on a scoring tear as of late, was hounded by Monta Ellis into a 3-9 shooting, 5 turnover night.  Monta also drew two offensive fouls that forced Williams to sit out virtually all of the third quarter.

The Warriors, the fourth best shooting team in the league, could have won this game if they could simply have made a shot.  A clearly rusty Monta Ellis fired blanks all night long, finishing a putrid 4-22 from the field. Stephen Curry was only marginally better at  5-15.  No doubt Utah's tough defense had something to do this.  But Ellis and Curry, and the rest of the Warriors, missed plenty of wide open looks.  Ellis in particular couldn't even finish his layups.   

Jump for some end of the year thoughts:

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The best point guard in the world?

Warriors (W-L): 25-55
Jazz (W-L): 52-28
Tip-Off: 7:30 Pacific
TV: CSN, CSNHD
Radio: KNBR 1050
Blog Buddy: SLC Dunk 

The Utah Jazz are in town, and they mean business.  With two games left, they are tied for Phoenix for the fourth seed and homecourt advantage in the first round.  They are also tied with Denver in the loss column for the Northwest Division crown and the third seed, out of the Lakers' bracket. So this game obviously carries huge significance for the Jazz.  Which is one reason why the Warriors are +6.5 point dogs in their own house.

Can the Warriors compete with the Jazz in this game?  Perhaps more importantly, should they compete?  

Jump for answers!  

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Originally posted Mar 20, 2010 9:19 PM PDT

Any of you gals play center?

Open Thread (800+ comments)  | Game Day Links | Box Score |  Straight Outta Vancouver

It's getting tough to watch, isn't it? If this Warriors season were a prize fight, the corner would have thrown in the towel.  If it were a softball game, the ump would have invoked the mercy rule.  If it were a horse, the vet would have put it down.

Unfortunately, it's professional basketball, so it's going to be played out to the bloody, bitter end.  But with what players?  The Warriors have already lost their entire veteran frontline of Biedrins, Turiaf, Moore, Randolph, Wright and Radmanovich.  They've lost their starting wing player, Azubuike.  Their standout rookie point guard, Stephen Curry, is now hobbled by a mysteriously "locked up" ankle.  It's not a sprain, exactly, it's locked up. 

And tonight, their lone remaining player over 6-9", Chris Hunter, came up lame with a bad case of tendinitis of the knee.  How bad is it when you need emergency D-league replacements for your emergency D-league replacements?  100 year flood bad.  Black Swan financial crisis bad. NBA Rule No. 3 (Section 1A) bad.

Chris Cohan bad.

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Dude's tall.

Warriors (W-L): 19-49

Grizzlies (W-L): 36-33

Tip Off: 5:00 Pacific Time

TV: CSN

Radio: KNBR 680

Blog Buddies: Straight Outta Vancouver

I'm sure Memphis' coaches are talking up the importance of this game to their players.  But in reality, Memphis' playoff hopes are already all but extinguished.  They are currently 5 1/2 games behind Portland for the eighth playoff spot.  I can't see them catching either Portland or San Antonio, can you?  Nevertheless, Memphis has been playing hard, winning 7 of their last 11, and we can expect them to have this game circled. The decimated Warriors should have their hands full on the road back to back. 

Jump for matchup madness!

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"How come sportswriters never suffer season-ending injuries?"

Tim Kawakami has just published a piece in the Merc + Talking Points calling for the firing of Don Nelson.  I disagree essentially with every line of what he has written, and in particular with his conclusion.  I think it would be a huge mistake for the Warriors to fire Nellie.  Here is my rebuttal.

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Back in action.

Raptors HQ

• Marco Belinelli, Patrick O'Bryant, and Chris Bosh staying or leaving?
• Raptors Rapid Recap: Toronto 112 Golden State 124
• Tip-In: Toronto Raptors' Post Game Report - Now or Never

Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry, two players whom the Bay Area media don't believe can coexist in the same backcourt, collaborated on an offensive masterpiece that buried the Toronto Raptors in this game.  Ellis had 31 points on 12-22 shooting, including a career high 5 three-pointers.  Stephen Curry had one of his best games this season, with 35 points, 5-8 from three, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals.  That's a stat line that will get you noticed in fantasy leagues!

What was most impressive about this performance was how well Ellis and Curry worked together.  The ball flowed beautifully between them, with the result that very little of their offense seemed forced.  With Curry having grown into the point-guard role, and doing most of the ball-handling, Monta played one of his most controlled games of the season. He committed only 3 turnovers, and Curry only 2, as the Warriors won the turnover battle 17-11.  In a game where the Raptors outshot the Warriors 57% to 47%, this was huge.

Jump for some salivating!

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Hmmm.  Any D-league mascots available?

Raptors (32-31) vs Warriors (17-47)

Tip Off: 7:30pm PST

TV: CSNBA | Radio: KNBR 680

If there is any drama to this game, it's that Toronto needs it bad.  Fighting for the eighth seed in the East, Toronto has been swooning badly. They've lost seven of eight, including the first two games of their West coast road trip. Tomorrow night they play Portland in the Rose Garden, and they know in their tiny lizard hearts that they're going to lose that game too. This is a game they need. Toronto is going to come out with everything they've got.

But if history is a guide, so will the Golden State D-Leaguers.  Jump for matchup mayhem! 

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It went in.

Final Boxscore  |  Game Thread (1200+ comments) / Game Day Links |  Liberty Ballers

Nor did the Warriors lose this game because of poor defensive effort.  The Warriors half-court defense -- clearly employing a pack-the-paint gameplan -- was quite good, as evidenced by the stat lines of the Sixers' big men, who were expected to dominate inside.  Samuel Dalembert was 1-5, Elton Brand 6-14, Marreese Speights 3-8, and Thaddeus Young, who killed the Warriors in the last game, was held to 3-8.  

Jump for the bad stuff:

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Originally posted 12:13 PM PST

Cold Blooded Warriors Killer

Warriors (W-L): 16-39

 76ers (W-L): 21-34

Tip Off: 7:30 PM Pacific Time

TV: CSN Bay Area

Radio: KNBR 

Blog Buddy: Liberty Ballers

The last time these two teams met the Warriors were on their fifth game of a brutal East coast road-trip in mid-December.  And they got blown out 117-101 -- playing, in the immortal words of then-coach Keith Smart, "like a horse trying to get back to the barn."  I expect this game to be a lot more competitive. The Warriors will be out for sweet revenge.

Jump for Matchup Madness!   

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There's big, and then there's Lakers big.

Final Boxscore  |  Game Thread (1100+ comments) / Game Day Links  |  Silver Screen and Roll

The Warriors were served up a big heaping plate of win in this game. Unfortunately, Stephen Curry simply could not pick up his fork and eat. One game after lighting up the Clippers for a triple-double, and fresh off a triumphant all-star weekend in which he got second in the three point shooting contest, the Warriors rookie simply couldn't buy an outside shot.  Curry shot 5-21 from the field, and 1-10 from three point land, on a night when a better effort might have gotten the Warriors a surprise win in Staples Center.  

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 This one could get ugly.

Warriors (W-L): 14-37

 Lakers (W-L): 41-13

Tip Off: 7:30 Pacific Time

TV: CSN

Radio: KNBR 

Blog Buddy: Silver Screen and Roll

Jump for cold water!

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I'll take a plate of Monta Ellis, with fava beans and a fine Chianti.

Final Boxscore  |  Game Thread (540+ comments)   |  Warriors Game Day Links

Blog Buddy: Welcome to Loud City

OK, I'll admit it, I underestimated the Thunder.  They are pretty darn good, and not just because of Kevin Durant, who is all-world.  The reason they are pretty darn good is their defense, which is spectacular.  It is led by Russell Westbrook, who picked up 8 steals en route to a near quadruple double in this game. 21 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists and 8 steals. Tasty. Westbrook is taking on the look of a bigger, stronger Rajon Rondo. Thabo Sefolosha and James Harden are also terrific on-the-ball defenders.  The Thunder backcourt, aided by the terrific length and quickness of Durant and Jeff Green in the paint, hounded Monta Ellis into one of his worst games of the season. Monta shot a miserable 6-22 for 15 points and turned the ball over 7 times.  

Jump for more misery!

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Ain't no Durantulas in the D-league.

Warriors (W-L): 13-35

Thunder (W-L): 28-21

Tip Off: 7:30 Pacific Time

TV: CSN, CSNHD

Radio: KNBR 

Blog Buddy: Welcome to Loud City

Two games after beating the Warriors 112-104 at their place, the Thunder invade Oracle for a rematch, as -4 favorites.  The Thunder are on a roll, winners of four straight, with three quality teams -- Denver, Atlanta, and New Orleans -- joining the Warriors as their victims.  Kevin Durant is playing out of his mind, averaging 32.5 a game over his last 23 games to challenge Carmelo Anthony for the scoring title.

The Warriors are on a bit of a roll themselves.  In the opposite direction.  The Warriors have lost seven straight, and are only 1 game ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves for the title of second-worst team in the league. The Timberwolves. O the ignominy!  So why do I like the Warriors chances in this game?  My sixth-sense tells me that Don Nelson has a little change-up cooking, and the Warriors are going to bring the heat.

Jump for matchup madness!

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There can be only one...

Final Boxscore  |  Game Thread (1290+ comments) )  |  Warriors Game Day Links

Blog Buddy: Sactown Royalty

It's difficult to describe just how ugly this basketball game was.  How about this: the Kings shot 38% for the game, and they were the hot team! The Warriors, up to this point one of the best shooting teams in the league, shot 32%. And if you take away Stephen Curry's 10-22, the Warriors shot 28%.  Is that ugly enough for you?

Well, how about this:  Corey Maggette shot 3-22, after opening the game 0-14.  He didn't make his first field goal until 8:20 of the fourth quarter. We're talking ugly.

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I feel like some Curry.

The Warriors meet the Kings at Arco tonight, without Monta Ellis.  Ellis is resting his throbbing, surgically-repaired left ankle -- I mean, his sprained right ankle -- for another day before returning tomorrow against the Hornets at home.  But if there's a good time to play the Kings without your team leader and half of the rest of your roster, this might be it. Kevin Martin recently returned to Sacramento's lineup, and the Kings have struggled mightily to reintegrate him.  After a nice start to the season led by stand-out rookie Tyreke Evans, the Kings have lost 11 of 12 games in January, including 6 straight since Martin's return.  Rumblings are starting to be heard in the Sacramento press about chemistry issues in the Kings's backcourt.  Can Evans and Martin coexist in the same backcourt?  We'll all have an expert opinion after tonight.

Jump for matchup madness!

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Pants on the ground!

Final Boxscore  |  Game Thread (650+ comments)   |  Warriors Game Day Links

Blog Buddy: Bright Side Of The Sun

The Warriors had every excuse to take this game off. If this season were a car race, the Warriors would have come into this game running on spare parts and bare rims. And if this game were the last lap, the Warriors would have crossed the finish line running on empty.

The Warriors were playing a road back-to-back. Left at home was captain Monta Ellis, the latest victim of the biblical plague of injuries that has visited the Warriors franchise.   CJ Watson took his place on the active roster, pressed into service early after suffering a bad gash to his shooting hand against the Heat.  The two brand-new D-leaguers, Cartier Martin and Anthony Tolliver, both played 37 minutes. And yet this Warriors team showed up to play, and gave the Suns everything they could handle for four quarters.

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