Archive for the ‘ Preview ’ Category

0
10
Apr

Preview: Kings at Warriors

Sacramento
Kings

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
6:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 21, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 117
Kings 109
 
January 21, 2011 • Recap
Kings 112
Warriors 119
 
March 14, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 119
Kings 129
 
April 10, 2011 • Recap
Kings 104
Warriors 103
 

We’re down to the final 3 games of the season, with this being the most winnable one left. The Kings-Warriors matchups have generally been entertaining this year, with a couple of big Warriors comebacks to go with the atrocious defensive night the Dubs had in Sacramento a few weeks back.

Once again, I’ll be watching the matchup between the 5th and 6th players taken in this year’s draft. While Ekpe certainly has a lot to work on this summer (offense and rebounding in particular), he’s been a presence defensively and has even looked a bit better when shooting in recent games. Cousins has had his own ups and downs, but I still can’t shake the feeling that he’s exactly the sort of inside presence that the Warriors really need. So it would be nice to see Udoh win the matchup and give us something to feel good about tonight.

8
6
Apr

Preview: Lakers at Warriors

Los Angeles
Lakers

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
October 31, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 83
Lakers 107
 
November 21, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 89
Lakers 117
 
January 12, 2011 • Recap
Lakers 115
Warriors 110
 
April 6, 2011 • Recap
Lakers 87
Warriors 95
 

The Warriors welcome the Lakers to Oracle in a game that, as of the email I received from the Warriors at 11:17 this morning, was not sold out. Yikes! Just goes to show how much the fans have checked out on the season at this point.

Which is too bad, because the Warriors have played some of their best ball all season in the last two games. They face their steepest test tonight, as the Lakers will be mad after a close loss to Utah.

If the Warriors can win tonight, then there will definitely be some room for optimism for the first time since the All Star break. Given the minutes the starters played last night in Portland, I can’t say I’m expecting much. But I hope to be wrong!

2
5
Apr

Preview: Warriors at Trail Blazers

Golden State
Warriors

@

Portland
Trailblazers

Rose Garden
7:00pm | CSN+

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 18, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 95
Trailblazers 96
 
December 25, 2010 • Recap
Trailblazers 102
Warriors 109
 
April 5, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 108
Trailblazers 87
 
April 13, 2011 • Recap
Trailblazers 86
Warriors 110
 

The Warriors head up to Portland tonight to see if they can get their first road win in 9 tries — against a Trail Blazers team that has won 8 in a row at home. I’m not expecting those streaks to be broken, though it would be great to see the Warriors show some life on the road before the end of the season. Their away record currently stands at 9-30, a mark that needs to be significantly improved upon if they hope to be any sort of a contender next year. But for this year, can they at least try to get to double-digits in road wins?

0
2
Apr

Preview: Mavericks at Warriors

Dallas
Mavericks

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | CSN+

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 7, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 100
Mavericks 105
 
March 16, 2011 • Recap
Mavericks 112
Warriors 106
 
March 20, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 73
Mavericks 101
 
April 2, 2011 • Recap
Mavericks 92
Warriors 99
 

The Mavericks visit Oracle tonight on the heels of an ugly loss at the Lakers. Given their success against the Warriors this season, they’ll likely be looking at tonight as an opportunity to get back on track. At this stage in the season, the only thing I’m really looking for are good performances from Udoh and Curry. And if Monta wants to show he hasn’t quit on the season, and Lee wants to leave a positive final impression heading into the offseason, then more power to them.

0
30
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Grizzlies

Golden State
Warriors

@

Memphis
Grizzlies

FedEx Forum
5:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
November 3, 2010 • Recap
Grizzlies 109
Warriors 115
 
November 26, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 111
Grizzlies 116
 
March 30, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 91
Grizzlies 110
 

Can’t say I’m optimistic about this one — one night after the starters play big minutes in an overtime loss, they travel to Memphis to play a team that is holding on to the final playoff spot in the west. That said, the Warriors have played well in their last few games, so maybe they can surprise. They’ll need the bench to actually show up tonight, and let’s just hope that Monta and Wright bring a better shooting stroke — though tired legs aren’t exactly a recipe for success on that front…

0
30
Mar

Game #75: Thunder 115, Warriors 114

Warriors 114

@

Thunder 115
March 29, 2011 1 2 3 4 T
Warriors 29 21 27 29 114
Thunder 25 33 20 28 115
  Net 4 -12 7 1 -1
  Season Avg -2.9 0.8 -0.4 -0.1 -2.2
  Compare to Season Avg 6.9 -12.8 7.4 1.1 1.2
 Warriors Stats
  FG% 3P% FT% FTA Fouls OReb TReb Assists Steals Blocks Turns POTurns PIPaint FBPoints
Game 42.3% 42.3% 88.2% 17 23 8 42 25 9 5 13 16 50 2
Season Avg 46.2% 39.2% 76.1% 20.7 22 11.6 40.5 22.5 9 5 14.1 17.5 42.6 18.6
Difference -3.9% 3.1% 12.1% -3.7 1 -3.6 1.5 2.5 0 0 -1.1 8.5 7.4 -16.6
 Net Comparison
  FG% 3P% FT% FTA Fouls OReb TReb Assists Steals Blocks Turns POTurns PIPaint FBPoints
Net Game -3.1% 9% 3.4% -16 -3 0 -10 1 0 -1 4 12 -4 -32
Net Season Avg -0.6% 3.5% -1.2% -7 -3.6 -1.2 -4.3 -2.2 0.8 0.7 1.2 2 -2.9 -0.8
Net Difference -2.5% 5.5% 4.6% -9 0.6 1.2 -5.7 3.2 -0.8 -1.7 2.8 10 -1.1 -31.2

A hearbreaker of a loss, but great to see that this team still has fight left in it. Those back-to-back 3′s at the end of regulation were almost legendary, and had me scaring the hell out of my 4-month-old with my yells. Sadly, they couldn’t recreate the magic at the end of OT, but still a good showing against a playoff team on the road.

Curry brought his A offensive game — as he usually does against the Thunder — though his PG stats (5 assists/6 turnovers) were once again lacking. Monta on the other hand continued his hot streak in terms of distribution, with double-digit assists for the third straight game.

Udoh continued to make his presence felt defensively, and Lee did a good job playing big with 15 boards to go with 24 points (even with Perkins, the Warriors continue to match up inside against the Thunder better than they seemingly do anyone else).

Only Wright disappointed among the starters with a 2-13 shooting night, and he still managed to pull down 10 boards and post a team-high +10. And looking at the overall +/- stats, this game was clearly lost by the bench: all positive for the starters, all double-digit negative for the reserves — only 3 of whom played, totaling just 35 minutes.

Overall, I guess this is the sort of result you want at this point — great effort, but lottery position preserved.

Golden State Warriors (32-43)
field goalsrebounds
pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a +/- off def tot ast pf st to bs ba pts
D. Wright F 47:58 2-13 2-8 1-2 +10 0 10 10 4 2 0 1 2 0 7
D. Lee F-C 48:08 11-17 0-0 2-3 +8 6 9 15 4 5 1 4 0 1 24
E. Udoh F 39:04 4-11 0-0 4-4 +9 0 6 6 0 5 2 0 3 1 12
S. Curry G 48:31 13-23 5-8 4-4 +6 1 5 6 5 3 2 6 0 2 35
M. Ellis G 46:44 9-30 2-6 0-0 +3 0 2 2 11 2 3 1 0 2 20
R. Williams 13:26 3-4 2-3 2-2 -14 0 1 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 10
L. Amundson 10:34 1-1 0-0 2-2 -13 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 4
A. Thornton 10:35 1-5 0-1 0-0 -14 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
J. Adrien DNP – Coach’s Decision
C. Bell DNP – Coach’s Decision
J. Lin DNP – Coach’s Decision
V. Radmanovic DNP – Coach’s Decision
Total 265 44-104 11-26 15-17 8 34 42 25 23 9 13 5 6 114
42.3% 42.3% 88.2% team rebs: 11 total to: 13
Oklahoma City Thunder (49-24)
field goalsrebounds
pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a +/- off def tot ast pf st to bs ba pts
K. Durant F 48:43 13-23 3-5 10-12 -3 1 5 6 5 2 1 2 1 1 39
S. Ibaka F-C 34:52 9-16 0-0 1-1 -5 3 5 8 0 4 0 1 3 1 19
K. Perkins C 30:34 0-3 0-0 0-2 -7 2 11 13 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
T. Sefolosha G 23:46 2-5 1-2 2-2 +2 0 4 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 7
R. Westbrook G 37:00 4-15 0-0 7-8 -7 1 7 8 9 5 1 6 0 2 15
J. Harden 31:20 5-10 1-5 3-3 +2 0 5 5 3 1 3 4 0 1 14
N. Mohammed 21:55 3-5 0-0 2-2 +9 1 5 6 0 4 1 1 1 0 8
E. Maynor 16:00 2-3 0-1 0-0 +8 0 0 0 6 1 1 1 0 0 4
D. Cook 20:51 2-8 2-8 3-3 +6 0 2 2 0 2 1 1 0 0 9
C. Aldrich DNP – Coach’s Decision
R. Ivey DNP – Coach’s Decision
N. Robinson DNP – Coach’s Decision
Total 265 40-88 7-21 28-33 8 44 52 24 20 9 17 6 5 115
45.5% 33.3% 84.8% team rebs: 10 total to: 19

inactive

  • Warriors: Biedrins, Law
  • Thunder: Collison, Mullens

technical fouls

  • Warriors: –
  • Thunder: –

scoring

  • Lead Changes: 18
  • Times Tied: 11

arena stats

  • Arena: Oklahoma City Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Officials: #38 Michael Smith, #52 Pat Fraher, #58 Josh Tiven
  • Attendance: 18203
  • Duration: 2:35
0
29
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Thunder

Golden State
Warriors

@

Oklahoma City
Thunder

Ford Center
5:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 5, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 109
Thunder 114
 
February 13, 2011 • Recap
Thunder 94
Warriors 100
 
March 29, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 114
Thunder 115
 

The Warriors head back out on the road tonight in Oklahoma City against a Thunder team that they’ve matched up well against so far this year. That said, the prior meetings were before the Thunder acquired Kendrick Perkins, so that could make a big difference tonight. You’d have to imagine that Ekpe will have his hands full tonight, but it’s also a good chance to prove himself against a veteran who nonetheless is hardly explosive. The backcourt matchup will also be interesting, with Westbrook going up against Monta and Curry — they bottled him up decently this time, so it will be “fun” to see if they can do it again.

0
27
Mar

Preview: Wizards at Warriors

Washington
Wizards

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
6:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
March 2, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 106
Wizards 102
 
March 27, 2011 • Recap
Wizards 104
Warriors 114
 

The Warriors welcome the Wizards to Oracle for one of their last winnable games (only the Kings game stands out in their remaining schedule after this). The Warriors hung on in the previous meeting in Washington behind a big game from Curry, so let’s see if he can keep up his strong performance from Friday and continue building toward a strong finish to the season.

0
25
Mar

Preview: Raptors at Warriors

Toronto
Raptors

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
November 8, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 109
Raptors 102
 
March 25, 2011 • Recap
Raptors 100
Warriors 138
 

Another game with the Warriors up against NCAA tourney play, and I can’t say I’ll be watching the game from the Association. That said, should be a decent chance for the Warriors to win, as the Raptors have been fairly terrible in recent weeks.

Will be interesting to see who wins the rebounding battle between Udoh and the similarly-board-challenged Bargnani, who nonetheless is putting together a solid season. But more important, I hope that Curry can shake his recent poor play and put together a complete game for the first time in a while. We’re starting to run out of games and I’d love to see him get a few solid performances under his belt before he hits the offseason.

4
23
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Houston

Golden State
Warriors

@

Houston
Rockets

Toyota Center
5:30pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
October 27, 2010 • Recap
Rockets 128
Warriors 132
 
November 24, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 101
Rockets 111
 
December 20, 2010 • Recap
Rockets 121
Warriors 112
 
March 23, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 112
Rockets 131
 

The Warriors finish up their road trip tonight in Houston, as they go up against an under-performing team that is hanging on to the last thread of its playoff life. So while this may be the easiest team the Dubs will play on this trip, it may also be the hungriest. Aside from the Hornets game in New Orleans (which feels like it was years ago), the Warriors have generally been terrible in final games of their road trips so I can’t say my expectations are very high.

Which is why I’m much more interested in a piece of news in this morning’s Chronicle: Warriors sources are leaking to Rusty that Larry Riley is expected to be retained after the season.

I can’t say I’m thrilled at this news. While Riley has probably had the best performance of the fireable-3 (Smart just doesn’t appear capable of outcoaching anyone, ever, and Rowell absolutely needs to go for both past performance and PR reasons), it’s not like Riley has made a ton of killer moves. Getting rid of the Jackson and Maggette contracts was impressive, but the Lee signing has hardly been a game changer (though at this point it’s clear that if there’s any contract that is holding down this team, it’s Biedrins’).

The bench this year has generally been terrible, as Lin and Amundson have been basically worthless (though those may be more on Lacob than Riley), Gadzuric and Bell have performed like the salary dumps that they are, and Radmonovic has been slightly more productive than those two but still overpaid.

His two draft picks, Curry and Udoh, show promise but the jury is still out. And his two other pickups, Reggie Williams and Al Thornton, are decent but extremely limited players at this point.

So I can’t say I’m thrilled by this news. Smacks of comfort over actually basketball acumen, or — imagine this — a desire to really shake things up on a team that desperately needs a change in philosophy. Again, there are bigger villains than Riley here, but it’s not like he’s been brilliant either.