The preseason comes to a close with Keith Smart showing how little trust he has in his bench by giving the bulk of the minutes to just 6 players (Curry and Dorrell Wright both sat the game out with injuries). Monta played all 53 minutes, taking a ton of shots (30) but also making plenty (16) on his way to an NBA preseason high of 41 points. That said, his 7 turnovers gave flashbacks to his pressing days of last season when he was forced to carry the short-handed squad.

Reggie Williams slid into the point guard role in Curry’s absence and by all accounts was terrific — 27 efficient points to pair with 8 assists. Looks like we may have found our answer to the question of who can spell Curry at the point (mercifully freeing Lin to learn how to play at the professional level in the D-League).

With Dorrell Wright out, VladRad played 30 minutes on his way to a decent looking line, though it sounds like he fell apart near the end of the game. Brandon Wright also got plenty of run, some of it at the 3, but was only able to total 5 points and 5 boards while posting a soul-sucking -23.

Good game writeup by feltbot that makes some interesting points about the Warriors’ aversion to the pick and roll and Brandon Wright’s terrible game.

Biedrin’s line jumps out of the box score thanks to his +19 and 10 rebounds, and Lee also had a solid all-around game with 16 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists (but 5 turnovers).

The Warriors won the rebounding battle yet again. As Mike Massa notes, the Warriors finish the preseason with a +4.13 rebounding margin, giving hope that they successfully addressed their biggest weakness in the offseason.

On to the regular season!

Posted by Mike in Postgame Box Score

Tags: andris biedrins, brandan wright, david lee, keith smart, monta ellis, reggie williams, stephen curry, vladamir radmonovic