Game 35 Preview: Warriors vs. Blazers
by Dave on Jan 2, 2010 1:33 AM PST
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PrintGame Time: 7:00 p.m. Pacific TV: Comcast
Though the Golden State Warriors come into this game with a 9-22 record, like the Philadelphia contest earlier in the week, this promises to be a game that's more perilous for Portland than the records would indicate. This isn't so much because of Golden State's talent or intimidation factor. I've long been on record saying the franchise ought to start over--new philosophy, new coaches, new players--because this show isn't working. Watching the Warriors is like going to see a movie with top-notch special effects but no plot, characters, or meaning...great eye candy, ultimately fruitless. Once again this year they're scoring more than 107 per game, generating a ton of possessions and fast break points, but giving up more than 112 in the process and losing like crazy. We've seen this experiment going since the Run TMC days. Time to try something different.
Nor is the perilous nature of the game because of Golden State's past success against Portland, as it was with Philly. They've won in their building, we've won in ours.
No, the perilous nature of the matchup lies in the puncher's chance. While the Warriors may not be better, bigger, more talented, or smarter than the Blazers they do still have that 107+ average. Give me a full roster and I'll take my chances anyway. But right now it's hard to imagine the Blazers generating 108 points. Only twice in 34 games has Portland scored more points than the Warriors average. Either the Blazers will have to put the afterburners on or they'll have to find a way to slow down Golden State. Portland cannot come in expecting to just play its normal game and win.
The Warriors are missing no longer missing a couple of big guys in Andris Biedrins and Rony Turiaf. But Golden State needs big guys in order to score the way Brad Pitt needs cologne in order to score. Nice bonus if he's got it, but I think he'll manage anyway. They still have the nigh-unstoppable Monta Ellis leading the charge at 25.5 per game. Just as worrisome in this particular matchup they have Corey Maggette who routinely eats LaMarcus Aldridge's lunch. The guy is kryptonite to our second best player, who in turn is absolutely key to any chance of winning right now. After that they've got guys like Anthony Morrow and Stephen Curry who are like illegal fireworks on the Fourth. You never know what's going to happen when the fuse gets lit. Could be a dud, could blow your hand off instantly. Short-handed as they are, all of those hands can get hot. If they do it's curtains for the Blazers.
Keys to the Game
1. The Warriors are a bad rebounding team, particularly without Biedrins. Clean up on both ends and earn extra points the old-fashioned way: sticking back your misses.
2. Guards and small forwards have GOT to get back. Only big guys hit the offensive boards. Everybody else jailbreak for the other end on any shot.
3. Beware their propensity to steal the ball. They love forcing turnovers and playing with reckless abandon.
4. LaMarcus needs to solve Maggette and get his 20...at least.
5. Remember this team doesn't defend well. Work for the good shot, not just the easiest shot to take. You can't get into a jump-shooting contest with the Warriors but you do need to make the ones you take. Falling in love with the three-pointer is dangerous (long rebounds, running) but mid-range jumpers are nice compromises and should be open.
See what's shakin' over at GoldenStateofMind
Enter tonight's Jersey Contest form here
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
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A big key is Dante, as he’ll probably asked to guard Maggette at some point. He actually did a good job on Thornton in the Clipper game, so it’ll be a good test of his perimeter skills to match up against Maggette.
It would feel good to beat Golden State for once.
draft patrick patterson
#52 #88 #10 #8 #5 #25 #12 #2
what can they burn at the arena tonight to exorcise our injury demon(s)?
Dave, any insights?
I don’t have really anything I would believe to be cursed… But anything relating to Walton and/or Bowie would be nice to try for starters…
Blazers win!
by The X-man on Jan 2, 2010 2:13 AM PST via mobile reply actions
im having tech difficulties with the jersey form
it only shows me Dec 27 vs the raptors. Weird huh? And I never saw a link to the Clips results on the jersey contest either. But even tho I know I wont even be close to winning, I sure do appreciate the opportunity. Thanks guys.
The Dude: Hey, careful, man, there's a beverage here!
by cavejunctionblazer on Jan 2, 2010 2:55 AM PST reply actions
I'm about to go pagan!
Are there any virgins we can throw into the nearest volcano? Surely such a gesture would appease the gods, bring a bountiful harvest, and prevent our finest warriors from being injured in the hunt!
"We Believe" - Rudy Fernandez
Is LaMarcus playing?
ESPN is saying him and Blake are not.
Elizabeth had a partner and he had a rap from the cops, Him and Lenny Suckerpunch were just out Tooling around
My question, also....
Keep starting Miller.
by RenoBlazerFan on Jan 2, 2010 6:23 AM PST up reply actions
Brandon Roy's new years eve thing?
Did anyone go? Any reports? was it fun?
Oh also I don’t know how we win this game without 3 or 4 three’s from Martell.
M, period. Fresh, comma.
W's fan here
The Warriors are missing a couple of big guys in Andris Biedrins and Rony Turiaf. But Golden State needs big guys in order to score the way Brad Pitt needs cologne in order to score.
both big guys are back and Dubs look like they are back on track -they are 2-1 since Turiaf’s (and one game later Biedrins) return with teams like Suns Celts and Lakers
i expect first point of Your “Keys to the Game” to be fail -this time
31 Y 6.5 ft 250 lbs 0 IQ
Fire Nellie! Fire Cohan! Fire Gregory! Fire David Stern! No need for explanations, just fire em all!
by Missing Barry
Dave needs a rewrite...lol
Elizabeth had a partner and he had a rap from the cops, Him and Lenny Suckerpunch were just out Tooling around
by Lizzy Lowblow on Jan 2, 2010 8:58 AM PST up reply actions
Turiaf's last 2 games
averaged 6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in 23+ mpg, plus Ronny had 5 blocks against L*A
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Blazers need Turiaf
what would it take?
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
suggestion
Andre Miller and Travis Outlaw’s expiring contract for Maggette and Turiaf. Warriors save a potential 37mil over the life of Corey’s contract (assuming Miller’s option is not exercised in 2011)
Any chance of this happening from Nellie’s POV?
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
we have sweetener to offer, BTW
like the draft rights to Joel Freeland
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Well
Maggette is playing out of his mind right now, and Turiaf has intangibles, and the fact that he is a warm, tall body.
You’re not getting our second scorer and shot blocker/cheerleading teddy bear for Travis Outlaw and Andre Miller.
by Reverend_Randy on Jan 2, 2010 4:22 PM PST up reply actions
welcome to Be Rev
Don’t you find Maggette’s propensity to flop embarrassing though?
"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him."
Dubs fan here
It would take Lamarcus Aldridge. And if that’s too much for you guys then we will settle for Brandon Roy:)
Monta- 23ppg 6 apg 4 rpg
+
Ammo - 15ppg 3 apg 5rpg
+
AR- 19 ppg 9 rpg 2 apg
+
Currry- 13ppg 6 apg 4 rpg
+
Beans - 12 ppg 12 rpg
+
Maggs off the Bench =
8th SEED BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so the Warriors are prepared to take on salary?
I was under the impression that they were looking to drop payroll, not play add-on
Aldridge is going nowhere, epecially not for any combination of GS players
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Our management is full of idiots
and would rather pay less than see the warriors succeed. However, even though they would not try to bring in Aldridge since we already have a future super star at power forward (Anthony Randolph), they would trade for a star who makes people buy tickets even if it means shouldering the burden of their large contract.
Monta- 23ppg 6 apg 4 rpg
+
Ammo - 15ppg 3 apg 5rpg
+
AR- 19 ppg 9 rpg 2 apg
+
Currry- 13ppg 6 apg 4 rpg
+
Beans - 12 ppg 12 rpg
+
Maggs off the Bench =
8th SEED BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that's what I'm hoping for
Logic says that the Warriors don’t “need” Andre Miller, but with Nellie you never know. Certainly Turiaf is a decent role player, but he’s not a guy that GS would have that much difficulty replacing (heck, they’ve already played most of their schedule without Ronny to this point) So, if the Blazers offered a deal that would save GS a lot of money over the next 4 years (getting out from under Maggette’s contract) and it sent a solid veteran PG like ‘Dre to the east bay, as well as a scong forward like Outlaw, I’d have to think the Warrior’s brass would have to at least consider it
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
My bad
I was in a hurry and didn’t do the usual checks. I hadn’t heard of them being back but then I haven’t been paying as close attention around the league during the holidays. Mea culpa.
—Dave
how dare you neglect your BE duties for quality time with your family, friends and congregants!
Talk about a guy who has his “priorities” in order ;^)
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
The "good" news....
at least from the perspective of the write-up is that Magette won’t be able to feast on LA. Sure looks like he’s out for tonight (listed as doubtful)….and no, this is not really good news.
"I'm a man, but I can change.....if I have to......I guess." - Red Green
Magette is out?
Who is going to take on the role of flopping for the Warriors?
"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him."
oh, gotcha
part of me would kinda miss watching Magette get that call … it’s a sick pleasure I know
"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him."
True dat.
Third-stringers are much less likely to figure they can cruise past a 9-22 opponent.
"...the rumblings grew louder. Dribble. Dribble. Fake. Dribble. Fake. Shoot. ...a towering dark shadow too terrible to describe. In its hand it held a huge black globe and on its chest was written in cruel runes, 'Villanova.' 'Aiyee,' shouted Legolam. 'A ballhog!'"
I agree, and nothing less than a TON of hustle is going to get a win tonight.
I hoping for another career game for Jeff. That dude leaves it all on the floor.
by ShannyMcShanShan on Jan 2, 2010 10:43 AM PST up reply actions
Andre Miller
won’t need to lease his condo in March
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Impressive, no doubt.
But it’s only one game, and as we saw with Tolliver D-League stats are hardly an indication of NBA play. We’re not short on guards yet, I say let him stick around Idaho and keep giving Bayless the minutes in Portland.
by ShannyMcShanShan on Jan 2, 2010 10:47 AM PST up reply actions
You are right - good stats don't necessarily transfer from D-League to the NBA
but bad stats do. So at least Mills has shown something that could indicate he is an NBA player….
heck yeah !
A few more games like that, I’m game….. Not so sure about coach,though… :-|
"Travis went all wang-dang diddly wubba SPROING wow-wow on everybody " Dave's recap, season opener
as a dubs fan
we’ve had some success with the D-League showing that they can turn into solid NBA players (Azibuikie, CJ Watson) so maybe u will too
Lamarcus just wrote this on his facebook account:
The ankle is feeling better. Big game tonight against GSW. Need to start off the new year right….
Makes me think he’s playing tonight, but who knows.
"Ain't nothin' in this world for free."
does this mean Pende get's his first NBA start?
anyone else foresee a starting front court of Pendergraph/Howard when the season started…
could be
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2009122809
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2009122913
The Warriors started a frontline of Maggette, Randolph and Biedrins against the Celtics/Lakers earlier this week. Nellie will probably “go small” later on, but if he starts this crew again Nate will be forced to counter with Pendy and Juwan. This may be Shav’s night
we should see a lot of 3 guard lineups, tonight. I hope Brandon, Andre and Jerryd are rested up
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
You never know what’s going to happen, if the W’s go high octane and Branden don’t respond it may be a long night…
The other thing is the W’s are lax on defense, so it should open up the offense for the blazers…
Take nothing for granted, but from what I hear the W’s will be trying to lose tonight because they want John Wall, so they will be missing on purpose and turning the ball over a lot to try and give Portland a chance to win, even the ref’s are involved in this…..=)
That’s because the Celtics don’t want the W’s to get John Wall so they paid off the ref’s to call the game in the W’s favor….You watch, Monta will start out missing shots and then Morrow will come in an miss shots, beans will miss the put backs and Curry will turn the ball over….that’s the plan, don’t tell anyone I told you this please =)
don't worry, I won't
why would the Celtics care if the W’s get Wall? You’d think they’d be more concerned about John going to an EC team. (Nelson is a Celtic legend, don’t those Boston guys generally stick together?)
Maybe the Blazers “let the Knicks win” last month because they want NY to finish out of the lottery, so their 2010 #1 draft choice doesn’t “help” the Jazz as much…now there’s a conspiracy theory that I can get behind!
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
jeez
so.. LMA, greg, joel, nic, steve, travis, and rudy out
so.. LMA, greg, joel, nic, steve, travis, and rudy outwe got this
I'm not saying, I'm just saying.
Blazers
“Warriors save a potential 37mil over the life of Corey’s contract (assuming Miller’s option is not exercised in 2011)”
A couple years down the road the Blazers biggest problem will be that they will have to give up good players for peanuts in order to keep their payroll from ballooning into la la land.
The last thing they can afford is to be picking up contracts that saddle them with big future committments.
I admit this would be a problem
After all, there is a reason why GS wants to dump Maggette’s LT contract, but it’s size does give Portland an potential opportunity to pick up a guy like Turiaf without have to deal one of their young players to the Warriors. Sure, Maggette’s deal would be tough to swallow, but Corey is far from being washed up, and he would solidify a position (SF) where the Blazers could use some size (to help defend physical forwards like Melo, etc)
Besides, I wouldn’t expect Maggette to remain a Blazer during the entre life of his deal, if this hypothetical trade were to come about. Corey’s 9-10 mil/year salary could eventually be added to a future deal in years to come, once Batum has established himself at the 3.
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
starting lineup
“anyone else foresee a starting front court of Pendergraph/Howard when the season started…”
If anyone did they no doubt got committed to a mental hospital.
hey no problem
Hey, no problem starting Pendy as a big.
If the injuries reach the point where Patty Mills starts at the 5, then you know things have gotten out of hand.
First game of the New Year
Does anyone know where I go to sign up for the streamed ComCast games? Larry Miller and the Blazers FAQ say the expectation is to start streaming thse games at the first of the year. Anyone even here of any rumor of the “negotiations” on these game?
I don’t care Who on this team plays I still want to watch and support them. I should have known better than to get my hopes up though.
Just to give some perspective from the Warriors side
Biedrins and Turiaf just returned, so they’re not in great conditioning yet.
Corey Maggette has been unstoppable driving to the hoop lately, and actually hitting an occasional midrange shot. He’s also been putting effort in going high for rebounds. But every time he takes a midrange shot, I cringe.
Anthony Morrow has been in a shooting slump for the past 2 or 3 weeks. I’ve lost confidence in his 3 pt shooting, though he was 2/3 from 3pt in the @Lakers game. Still, I’m not ready to say he’s back to his deadly long range bombing self, so that’s an area of concern for us.
Stephen Curry looks more confident as the season progresses, but he gives the ball away too much with some fancy one handed pass attempts.
As far as defense is concerned, I think this team plays more defense than people think, at least at a team defense level. I’ve noticed things that I haven’t seen before, like help rotations, like when a guy goes for a steal and doesn’t get it, another defender rotates over to cut off the driving lane.
Our biggest problems have been rebounding, leading to easy put backs by the opponent, and inexperience, leading to 3rd and 4th qtr collapses that give the game to the opponent. That hasn’t happened the last 4 games, but I’m not ready to say the Warriors are over that hump yet.
brandon roy is the only blazer who played meaningful minutes last year
in the rotation this game. Just wow
by Dr. on Jan 2, 2010 1:59 PM PST up reply actions
I expect a big game from Pendy tonight
and Bayless
"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him."
Lucky you
Elizabeth had a partner and he had a rap from the cops, Him and Lenny Suckerpunch were just out Tooling around
by Lizzy Lowblow on Jan 2, 2010 2:23 PM PST up reply actions
Sucks about LA
and not having him this week hurts my fantasy team, especially since we’re quite short on games. But I also have Pendergraph, and I expect a huge game from him tonight after last game. I have Bayless, and I think he can really burn these guys like he did the Suns 2 weeks ago.
Their scoring isn’t going to be an issue here, we are a) able to slow opponents down if needed and b) able to score a few points when we need to. Hopefully this means more looks playing off the ball for Bayless and Roy, focusing on the scoring, and letting Blake run his tempo against this GSW team. Inside may be an issue, if they can get their guards to pass properly inside. Biedrins can hurt us, Turiaf is not really a huge concern for me though. He is a bumbling fool in the post. Pendergraph should leave him longing for France.
Bring the bling to Rip City, Natch'
Trade John Canzano!
8^)
Elizabeth had a partner and he had a rap from the cops, Him and Lenny Suckerpunch were just out Tooling around
by Lizzy Lowblow on Jan 2, 2010 5:04 PM PST up reply actions
You changed your photo?
I will now avoid any comments that will get me into trouble. Whew… narrow escape there!
#52
Need 3 tickets -- how much will I have to pay?
New to Portland and looking to go to the game tonight with a couple buddies. We just want the cheapest ticket possible. Box office said it’s a near sell-out, only single seats remain. If we show up at the Rose Garden, what will the scalpers charge for three seats together?
Going rate is $10 for every active player
So by game time, who knows – maybe $20 :-)
Sorry, I know you want a serious answer, which I don’t have for you…
turnover
“brandon roy is the only blazer who played meaningful minutes last year in the rotation this game.”
That’s the Blazers ace in the hole. Opposing teams show up and have no idea who these guys are.
I'm not so sure about that
Look over at GoldenStateofMind, and they have Dante highlighted as the “Warrior Killer” for tonight, so maybe they’re intimidated by the Inferno. They also expect him to burn them for 17 points.
Heres hoping he delivers!
Get well soon all you injured Blazers!
Make the best of your opportunities rooks!
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