• Comparison Time. Once again, we get the treat of watching the Most Annoying Player in the NBA™, Kevin Martin, a guy who plays like Monta but manages to draw about twice as many fouls (and converts much better once he gets to the line). I’ll be watching closely to see what the difference is in the two players’ styles — my guess is that Martin manages to draw fouls on the way past players whereas Monta has a habit of driving right into defenders, but it will be interesting to watch them side-by-side. (And don’t forget that in the last game against the Rockets, the Warriors were outshot from the line 51-18)
• Inside Game. Yao is now officially out for the season, though he didn’t play in either of the previous matchups anyway. You’d think that the Warriors should be able to do some damage on the inside against the Rockets, but instead they’ve given up back-to-back career games to Chuck Hayes. Not sure if Biedrins will be back tonight, but given his previous performance against Hayes it might be nice to see what Amundson (or Udoh! Or Lee at the 5!) can do instead.
• Score. I assume that Curry is still out (probably being saved for the Christmas Day prime time matchup), so once again a big question is whether or not the Warriors can score enough points to win. Monta had his season-high (on an efficient 18-24 from the field) in the opening night matchup, and now would be a great time for a repeat. Would also be nice if Reggie could rediscover his 3-point shooting stroke, and can Carney make it two good games in a row?

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.