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.

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 Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images

The Warriors waste a career night from Biedrins and, more important, a great opportunity to steal one on the road before Lee comes back tonight. They shot 49% from the field, outrebound the Grizzlies 44-33, held Randolph and Gasol in check, and were even close in terms of foul shots with 23 attempts to the Grizzlies 29. But when it really mattered at the end, huge turnovers and missed shots pushed the losing streak to five games.

Dorell Wright was the goat in this one, as he missed two huge shots near the end — one a botched attempt to pick up a foul, the other a wide-open 3 with the game on the line. Let’s hope he bounces back like he did the last time he had a wretched game…3 games ago. After a great start to the season, games like this make you wonder if there was a reason why Wright never got a chance to play big minutes until this year.

Back to Biedrins, he was an absolute beast around the rim tonight. Perhaps most impressive was how smoothly he moved around the rim, taking a single dribble when needed to get in better position for a layup. That’s something we never would have seen from him a few years ago, and combined with his improved set of post moves from about 8-10 feet he might be using enhanced skills to make up for any lessened quickness compared to his earlier days.

The controversy du jour from tonight’s game was Smart’s 4th quarter decisions with regard to the bench: both Monta and Steph were kept out of the first five minutes of the quarter, and while the reserves didn’t do too bad as the deficit only grew from 5 to 8, as Steinmetz pointed out on the post-game show that stretch was the perfect opportunity to close the gap with the Memphis starters on the bench (Smart was planning to bring them in a bit earlier but there wasn’t a dead ball for several minutes). The decision to pull Curry after two bad plays and leave him on the bench until the 2-minute mark was also odd, and raises some questions about Smart’s coaching skills.

I thought this exchange from the Chronicle writeup was a big strange:

“I had two possessions when I was rusty. I’ve got to learn to ease my way back into a game when I sit that long,” said Curry, who had 26 points.

“I don’t buy that out-of-rhythm stuff. That’s a cop-out by ballplayers,” Smart said. “When I played, we were ready to play at any time.”

Silver linings? Jeff Adrien had a breakout game with 12 points (on 6-11 shooting), 8 rebounds, and a team-high +6 in over 30 minutes. Adrien still has flaws — the Grizzlies got a lot of easy inside baskets in this game — but until Amundson is back, he needs to jump over Gadzuric and Radmonovic in the front-court rotation.

Speaking of those two fools, Gaszuric managed a -15 in only 8 minutes of action last night. Radmonovic was slightly better and even hit a three, but his behind-the-back pass to the Grizzlies’ bench near the end of the game was a killer. The rest of the bench was similarly worthless: Carney in particular was extremely disappointing after a few solid games in a row; Lin was ok defensively but went 0-4 from the field with all four shots being blocked; and Reggie Williams played a largely forgettable 17 minutes with only 7 points.

And O.J. Mayo going for 23 off the bench? I guess no one read my game preview…

So now it’s on to Minnesota for a must-win game on the back end of a back-to-back. At least David Lee will be waiting for them when they get there — now we get to see how much the recent slide has been his absence and how much is just a tougher schedule exposing the Warriors’ flaws.

The story of the game (aside from Chuck Atkins Hayes’ career night) was the free throws, as the Warriors had more made field goals (42-31) but took only 18 foul shots to the Rockets 51. Hell, Kevin Martin, the Most Annoying Player in the NBAâ„¢, scored 25 points on only 4 made field goals. Check the downward spikes on the net fouls and net free throws sparklines to the left — ugly stuff.

Lots of discussion on the Twitters and various game recaps about who’s to blame for the disparity. Fitz blames the refs, Smart refused to comment, Reilly blames having to go small due to injuries, Feltbot thinks that’s bullshit as last year’s team went small all the time and never had this problem, Lauridsen blames the Warriors for playing defense with their hands, Ethan puts the blame squarely on Monta’s gambling defense, and Rusty blames the lack of driving inside.

I think it’s primarily a mixture of the last three items — the Warriors guards just can’t keep anyone in front of them, leading to most of the fouls on the defensive end; and until they can get the pick and roll working and force defenses to stay honest with the big guys, the lane will remain packed, Curry and Ellis won’t draw fouls when they drive into brick walls of defenders, and the team will then settle for outside jumpers.

If that diagnosis is correct, then there’s a least a chance that things will get a bit better when Lee comes back. I’d actually expect his contribution on the defensive end to make the biggest difference, as his communication and overall intensity is sorely needed on that end. But I certainly don’t expect his return to “solve” the problem (they were still net negative on fouls for most of his starts).

Back to last night’s game, it was nice to see Dorell Wright finally get back on track with a solid all-around offensive game, and Reggie Williams continued his recent run of strong play (he led the team with a +8). With Carney and Lin also contributing quality minutes recently, there remains some hope that things could turn around with Lee back up front if the starting back court could get on track (and if we could keep Radmonovic off the court).

But until that happens, I worry this ugly run will continue. Monta doesn’t look like the same player (that hip injury a bit more serious than reported perhaps?), as he doesn’t have nearly the same energy without that ball that he did in the first few games. We need our best players to start playing like our best players again.

Read Feltbot for a recap of just how awful Brandon Wright was in his first start of the year. File this one under “Not seizing the opportunity.”

Upsides to this game? None that I can really see. The deficit hit 30 points in the second quarter, and still Monta played 37 minutes. You get the opportunity to see if Jeremy Lin and Jeff Adrien have anything to offer, and they get 9 and 6 minutes, respectively. They lose the rebounding battle, shoot 41%, and give up 55% shooting.

At least it’s just one game, and no one really faults them for losing to the Bulls on the road without Lee. Still, you’d hope to have at least seen a better effort. Let’s hope they get some needed rest before playing the red-hot Bucks tomorrow night.

• Da Bench. Four of the five starters played 40+ minutes last night, so to have any chance the Warriors are going to need some quality minutes from the bench. Wright and Lin have been making progress, so I’d hope to see them get some run tonight. Reggie Williams was decent last night, but I think the team will need a lot more scoring from him to have a chance. And can Radmonovic turn around his recent woeful play?
• Da Boards. Boozer is still out with an injury, but Joakim Noah has been an animal on the glass and is averaging 15 boards a game. I’d expect Lee to be a bit stiff tonight after the elbow injury (not to mention the emotions from last night’s return to the Garden), so Biedrins better bring it against Noah in the middle. If Biedrins can equal Noah’s rebounding total tonight, then the Warriors should be in good shape to steal one.
• Controlling Rose and Deng. Derrick Rose had the hot hand early for the Bulls, but in recent games it was been Luol Deng who’s done the most damage. This will be a hell of a test for Dorrell Wright — let’s see if he can be the perimeter stopper he was advertised as when the Warriors signed him (though, in fairness, he’s been doing a hell of a lot more than just defending so far this season).

Regret watch: after seeing Anthony Randolph last night, tonight the Warriors get to see how C.J. Watson is adjusting to the Bulls. Despite the Warriors’ obvious hole at the backup PG spot this year, I still don’t miss Watson much: he just isn’t a PG, can’t play defense, and does little more but give you a backup Monta with a better outside shot but little to no inside game.

UPDATE: Per the twitter, Lee is out tonight as he rests his lacerated elbow. An already tough back-to-back just got a whole lot harder…

But other than that, nice win! Curry had a season-high 34 points, and carried the team in the 4th quarter — never bigger than right after Monta went out. Warriors are going to need him to go crazy over the next few games, so this better be an indication that he’s starting to get going.

Lee struggled with fouls but still had a double-double with 14 and 12. Biedrins had 8 and 9 but seemed to play much bigger than that. The two led the Warriors back into positive territory in rebounding +/-, which is still the key to a win for this team.

I said before the game that the bench needed to come up big tonight, and they did from early on. Jeremy Lin and Brandon Wright gave quality minutes in the first half that gave the starters some needed rest — a needed statement from both of them.

After the debacle last night in Detroit, this was an impressive bounce-back and the strongest statement yet in Smart’s young career.

• Who runs the point and how does Lin deal with a home crowd cheering for his every touch? He has played much better on the road thus far when the pressure has been off him.
• How does Wright respond after his option was declined (we still need to discuss this)?
• How does Lee bounce back from his awful performance in LA?
• Can Biedrins contain the other Gasol and can the W’s win the battle on the glass with Zach Randolph out?

Halftime Update: Monta has been running the point well with some help from Williams. Doing a decent job with 2 TOs between them. Brandan Wright has not gotten into the game, nor has Lin. Lee is playing okay and at least crashing the boards (9 at halftime) but it only 2-10 on the floor. Dorell Wright on the other hand is playing great and Monta is having a typical night. Warriors were -1 on the glass but built a 12 point lead by going to the line 21 times. Biedrins has been pretty non-existent outside of a couple of nice passes and as I write this picks up his 4th foul a few minutes into the second half.

• Return of Lee. Anything would be better than what he put in against the Lakers, but Memphis’ front line has pretty good size (though Zach Randolph is out). I’d like to see him silence any doubters and go right back to putting up double-doubles every night.
• Replacing Curry. Lin had 15 solid minutes at the Lakers, but can he really be relied on? I much prefer Monta off the ball, and thought Williams did well in that final preseason game. Will be interesting to see what happens here.
• Rebounding. The Lakers game was the first where the Warriors were out-rebounded, and also the first they lost. Will this relationship continue?

Hopefully the silver lining from last night is that the reserves — including Jeremy Lin — got some extended run and didn’t look half bad. Now they have Memphis to look forward to, in a game that takes on added importance as it comes right before heading out on a long road trip.

But yeesh — definitely a long ways to go before they can hang with elite teams like the Lakers.