I say it’s over, and you might as well start seeing what you’ve got. Let’s see Udoh start at the 5, Lin get some backup guard minutes ahead of Law (who has been better than expected, but can’t shoot and clearly isn’t the future), and push Reggie Williams to see what we’ve got. We’ll see if Smart reads the writing on the wall or if he continues his futile effort to try to save his job for next year.

And a W it was. The team was led by Monta, who was a bit of a volume shooter today at 11-25, but made up for it with 9 assists against only 1 turnover. In fact, the entire team did a great job hanging onto the ball, with only 6 turnovers in the entire game.

The front line also played well, as David Lee had 24 and 10 and Biedrins got the coveted postgame interview on CSN. Goose didn’t quite get to his double-double of times gone by, but 7 and 9 with a team-high +12 is certainly on the right track.

Kudos to the bench as well, which played well in the second quarter when the Warriors first built the almost-10-point-lead that they would continue to bump up against over the course of the game before frittering it away. Acie Law played about as well as I’ve seen from him this year with 8 points and a couple of assists.

Even the guy who was probably the day’s biggest disappointment, Steph Curry, who thought a touch foul on a layup in the opening seconds would be a great way to start the game, came up huge with a big three in the final minutes when the Nets were making their final run.

So despite playing down to their competition, the Warriors get their 8th win in 13 games, and if they can beat the Pacers and Kings they’ll be able to pull within 4 games of .500 before heading down to LA for their final meeting with the Clippers.

One final point of note: the Warriors won the free throw attempts battle! Huzzah!

It should be noted that they still COULD have made an unbalanced trade in the future, except that they would have had to pay Carney if they waved him to clear the roster spot (his contract wasn’t guaranteed yet, but would have been after the 10th). Is this a sign of the new owners trying to stay cheap, or does it really matter with an end-of-the-bench player who shoots too many 3′s and was having trouble staying healthy?

In related news, both Lin and Law had their contract guaranteed.

(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

Well, how about that! VladRad makes up for A LOT with that deep bomb to tie the game (not to mention 13 4th quarter points), and it was enough to forget that the Warriors gave up two monster runs to a horrible Kings team.

For the first time, they were able to fully climb their way out of a deep hole of their own making. Sure, the game shouldn’t have been this close, but I think Lauridsen put it best: “Meeting exceptionally modest expectations is still better than collapsing below them.”

I’m wondering if Smart started reading Feltbot, as for the second straight game the Warriors had 31 fast break points. That made up for getting beat on the glass, as the Kings managed to break into triple digits on field goal attempts — but only hit 39%.

Monta’s efficiency was way down but he still carried the scoring load for the team, and his circus shot near the end of overtime was one of his all-time best. Reggie Williams also regained his touch, scoring 24 points and almost making us forget his 1-3 from the line in the closing seconds of regulation.

The Cousins-Udoh matchup I was looking forward to didn’t turn into much: Cousins struggled from the field but was still a beast on the glass. Udoh cooled off from last night and didn’t score a point (didn’t even take a shot), and it’s pretty clear that he was winded by the end of his run (as any human being would be after playing nearly 50 NBA minutes in 26 hours after logging just 8 in the previous 8 months). While Udoh’s -9 was the worst on the squad, I still like his activity and great hands. Plus, he’s avoiding something that has plagued every rookie Warriors big man that I can remember: constant fouls (and it’s not like he’s avoiding physical contact).

So now the Warriors get a few days off before their Christmas night matchup against the Trail Blazers (think the NBA schedulers wish they could have this one back?). By all accounts Curry should be back, and hopefully we’ll see Biedrins back on the court as well. Maybe then we can get the minutes smoothed out a bit more — Law backing up Curry, Reggie subbing for Monta but still providing some scoring punch, Amundson down to the low-minute energy guy that he should be (how about his 6 fouls in 13 minutes tonight?), and maybe even some VladRad and Carney at the 3 to get Wright down to about 30 minutes a night.

But for now, good to get a win that the Warriors HAD to have. It was more stressful/exciting than it should have been, but at this point in the season, with postseason chances slipping away with every turnover (seriously, can anyone catch an interior pass on this team?), I’ll take it.

Wright was awful, Law went 0-5 from deep, and Amundson was ineffective starting in place of Biedrins.

But at least we got something to get excited about, as Udoh provided 25 quality minutes and led the team with a +9. The team still sucks of course, and the playoff hopes are quickly fading with each late-game turnover. But at least we have something to look forward to watching in the next game, as he was active and had a couple of jaw-dropping plays (especially that dunk/block sequence in the 4th).

Udoh is clearly the draw on that front — while the Kawakami’s of the world are trashing the Warriors for yet another PR campaign, from all accounts the guy has been a standout presence while he’s been out and is turning heads now that he’s been practicing again. Should at least be fun to see a guy step into the Anthony Randolph “huge upside” role for the team if he can leap and block as well as has been reported.

As for Acie Law? Eh. They obviously need another body in the back court, especially with Curry likely out with his ankle, but it’s not like he lit the world on fire during his first tour of duty with the Warriors. Still, with the big guys back Adrien became expendable, and despite all the hustle he brought to the team the dude just couldn’t score consistently. Given how hard he played I do hope he catches on with another team and is able to put a solid role-player career together.

So on to the game tonight — while a win is still unlikely, it should be fun to see the “super team” in action, and it would be great to at least get something to feel hopeful about again.