Archive for the ‘ Preview ’ Category

0
21
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Spurs

Golden State
Warriors

@

San Antonio
Spurs

AT&T Center
5:30pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
November 30, 2010 • Recap
Spurs 118
Warriors 98
 
December 8, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 94
Spurs 111
 
January 24, 2011 • Recap
Spurs 113
Warriors 102
 
March 21, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 96
Spurs 111
 

Raise your hand if you think the Warriors have a shot in this one: second half of a road back-to-back, against the best team in a league, and in a city where the Warriors haven’t won in over a decade. What’s not to love?

Once again we’ll just watch for reasons to get optimistic about the future: can Udoh stay on the floor against one of the craftiest big guys in the league? Can Curry keep Parker in front of him? (Don’t laugh.) Can Thornton make the rest of the team better at all? And would it kill Smart to just play Adrien at least 10 minutes? After all, what’s the worst that could happen: You lose the game by 30 points and set a season low in points scored? Because that just happened last night — might as well try to get something positive out of it.

 

1
20
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Mavericks

Golden State
Warriors

@

Dallas
Mavericks

American Airlines Center
4:30pm | CSNBA

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 road trip continues, with the Warriors making their way into Texas for a second game in a week against the Dallas Mavericks. In the game on Wednesday, the Warriors raced out to a big lead but couldn’t hold on — a common story for the Dubs this season against quality opponents.

With 13 games left on the season, what should the Warriors be aiming for? If the season ended today they would draft 11th (if my judgment of the eastern conference standings is correct), but they’ve made a good run on the draft standings with their recent swoon and a move up the order is no longer out of the question — getting to 9 now looks like a distinct possibility.

So that’s one “objective,” and figuring out the roster is probably the other. Udoh and Curry could use some development — and please, Smart, let them play through their mistakes at this point — and I’d like to learn more about what we’ve got with Williams, Thornton, and Adrien.

Of course, that would require Smart to throw in the towel and recognize that his head coaching days will soon be going on hiatus. So we’ll see.

0
18
Mar

Preview: Suns at Warriors

Golden State
Warriors

@

Phoenix
Suns

US Airways Center
7:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 2, 2010 • Recap
Suns 107
Warriors 101
 
February 7, 2011 • Recap
Suns 104
Warriors 92
 
February 10, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 88
Suns 112
 
March 18, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 97
Suns 108
 

The death march continues at Oracle tonight with the visiting Suns in town. The Suns have owned the Warriors so far this year, as their style seems perfectly suited to picking the Warriors apart — especially since Smart generally refuses to go small. We’ll be without Andris Biedrins who will be sitting with a high ankle sprain — they’ve already announced that he’ll miss the upcoming trip, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they just shut him down for the season at this point.

That means Udoh will get the start and extended run, giving him the perfect opportunity to make a nice jump here in the final 13 games of the season. His conditioning issues should be behind him, so might as well see what he can do and even give him a chance to learn from his mistakes.

Speaking of learning from mistakes, it will be interesting to see what both Smart and Curry do tonight with regard to the latter’s playing time. Sure, Curry made some bad turnovers in the last game, but at a certain point don’t you need to let him work through them? And as Feltbot notes, it must be getting old to Curry that he is apparently the only one who Smart dings for making careless mental mistakes. Curry skipped talking to the media after the last game so you know he was peeved — will he have a strong response tonight as a result?

2
16
Mar

Preview: Mavericks at Warriors

Dallas
Mavericks

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | CSNBA/ESPN

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 Warriors host the Mavericks at Oracle tonight, the first of three games the two will play against each other in the next two weeks. While the Mavericks have been struggling, I’d have to imagine that they are looking at this game as a perfect opportunity to get back on track. More than anything else, I’ll be looking at the Warriors first-half performance tonight and using it to judge Keith Smart: do the Warriors bounce back from their horrific “performance” in Sacramento, or will that be the start of a downward spiral?

7
14
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Kings

Golden State
Warriors

@

Sacramento
Kings

Arco Arena
7:00pm | 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
 

The Warriors go for win #31 tonight in Sacramento, in what might be their last game ever in our state capital. Thanks to last night’s big win Monta will be fairly well-rested for a back-to-back, as he was able to play less than 30 minutes against the T-wolves.

With Cousins coming on strong the Warriors bigs will need another good performance, but if they can bring similar energy to what they did last night the team should be in good shape. I think Evans is still out so that should dampen the Kings’ scoring abilities a bit, so another strong defensive performance is there for the taking.

Just like last night, this is a game against a team the Warriors should beat handily. Nothing less than a win will do — and maybe they can do it without last minute heroics for once?

0
13
Mar

Preview: Timberwolves at Warriors

Minnesota
Timberwolves

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
6:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
November 27, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 104
Timberwolves 94
 
December 14, 2010 • Recap
Timberwolves 99
Warriors 108
 
February 27, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 123
Timberwolves 126
 
March 13, 2011 • Recap
Timberwolves 77
Warriors 100
 

The Warriors look to avenge their recent loss in Minnesota tonight. At the very least, their challenge will be to be interesting enough to steal some attention from filling out NCAA brackets tonight. Of course, if they play anything like they did against the Magic they should succeed on that front…

3
11
Mar

Preview: Magic at Warriors

Orlando
Magic

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
January 3, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 90
Magic 110
 
March 11, 2011 • Recap
Magic 120
Warriors 123
 

Alright, just what the Warriors need: a game against one of the best post players in the league! Sarcasm aside, it will be interesting to see if Udoh can slow Howard down at all — certainly will be a hell of a test for the rookie.

In their first meeting, the Warriors played a strong first half but then got destroyed in the second. The Magic killed them from deep, and didn’t even really take advantage of their inside strength. Hopefully the road rims won’t be as kind to the Magic, because if they are able to connect from 3 this one likely won’t be close.

Still, should be a good crowd with the draw of Howardon a Friday night, so I’ll try and be optimistic and hope that the Warriors will get a positive surge from being home again after their long trip.

5
9
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Nets

Golden State
Warriors

@

New Jersey
Nets

Prudential Center
4:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
January 17, 2011 • Recap
Nets 100
Warriors 109
 
March 9, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 90
Nets 94
 

The Warriors finish up the roadie in New Jersey tonight, and have two welcome pieces of news: the Nets have recently returned from a two-game stint in London so they should be as tired as the Warriors, and New Jersey will be without Deron Williams who is expected to miss the game for the birth of his kid. This is what those in the biz call an “opportunity” — the question is, will the Warriors seize it?

0
8
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Cavaliers

Golden State
Warriors

@

Cleveland
Cavaliers

Quicken Loans Arena
4:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
January 7, 2011 • Recap
Cavaliers 98
Warriors 116
 
March 8, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 95
Cavaliers 85
 

The Warriors face their old friend Baron Davis tonight, who is now leading a Cavs team that has added a few solid wins to its resume in recent weeks. With a game against the Deron Williams-led Nets in New Jersey tomorrow night, this is the best chance the Dubs have to make it home to Oracle with at least two wins on this trip.  On top of my list of wants for tonight, I’d like to see Curry break loose: it would be great to see him make himself indispensable, lest Smart decide to bench him for another 4th quarter.

15
6
Mar

Preview: Warriors at 76ers

Golden State
Warriors

@

Philadelphia
76ers

Wells Fargo Center
3:00pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 27, 2010 • Recap
76ers 95
Warriors 110
 
March 6, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 117
76ers 125
 

The road trip continues in Philadelphia, with an early evening start against the surging 76ers. What to watch for tonight:

  • Smart Coaching. I’d consider this game to be a good test of Keith Smart’s coaching: they played a good game in Boston, so can they build on it or will they regress? Too often this year, the Warriors have played well in a loss against an elite team, and then followed it up with a stinker — and I blame coaching for those sorts of weak rebounds. Tonight gives a perfect chance to once again test that pattern.
  • Moar Monta. Monta is coming off his best game in weeks. Can he continue his surge back to his early season form, or will he throw up another volume 6-26 shooting night?
  • The Rook. Ekpe got the start against Boston, but only played 12 minutes (partly, I would assume, because the Celtics went small most of the night). Can he stay on the floor a bit longer tonight and even pull down a handful of rebounds? While he’s become a solid defensive player, it would be great to see him make a bit of progress in terms of scoring and rebounding before the season ends.