OK know it has been ages since I last posted on Fox sports. In fact the last posts that I wrote involved the Golden State Warriors and how I predicted their amazing upset of the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs last year. So if I am such a fan of the Warriors why am I discussing their almost certain elimination from the playoffs this year? Because as a fan of any sports team I feel it is important to be honest about your team, and how they are playing-and the factors that are causing them to play that way. In no order or rank here are the real reasons why the Warriors will not make the playoffs this year.
1) Micheal Pietrus injury-When you don't play much defense, losing your best defensive player during the most critical stretch of the season is very hard to overcome. Micheal's length and leaping ability makes him able to guard a multiude of players and clog the passing lanes creating turnovers which are the bread and butter of the Warriors offense. This combined with his shooting abilty has seriously affected the Warriors rotation, causing other players to play more minutes and Nelson to have to extend his bench.
2) The Invisible Man- AKA Steven Jackson. Nellie went out on a limb and named Jackson co-captain this year-but over the last week Jacksons leadership and production have disappeared just when the Warriors need him the most. Against San Antonio and Dallas he threw up more bricks than a contractor's union-and has forced Monta Ellis and Baron Davis to carry the load on offense-making the Warriors much easier to defend against. Jackson's lack of production leads indirectly to reason # 3
3) Lack of ball rotation- Last year the Warriors beat teams by moving the ball quickly, attacking the rim and the paint and THEN kicking the ball out to open 3-point shooters. The last couple of games their has been way too much one-on-one play and holding of the ball, which causes the Warriors to launch up desperation 3-pointers with the shot clock winding down. Their offense is lacking the quickness and agression that enabled them to take their game to Dallas and defeat them in the first round of the playoffs.
Last year the Warriors were easily the most exciting and dynamic team to watch in the NBA-I don't know where the energy and enthusiasm the demonstrated last year have gone-but this is easily the most important thing misssing in this year's version of the run and gun champions.
Gemini
even though I think your post is very good, well thought out and insightful, I think you can chalk there peoblems up to lack of defense. when your routinely scoring 110 points and up and still manage to lose a game, it's about defense. like my team, the rockets, they are a jumpshooting strealy team. the difference between them is that the rockets have a top 3 defense. no, I'm not saying the rockets are going to win it all. I'm just saying that if they dug in on defense, they would strike fear into other teams with there offense.
Good response-but the whole point of my blog is to state that even though Nellies philosophy is to simply outscore the other team and not be concerned with the defensive end-this is not the reason why they won't make the playoffs. Basketball and football are the two sports where the winning team is the one who executes their style of game and makes the other team adapt to what they are doing-which is what the Warriors did to the Mavericks last year.
I agree, thats why I put Karl and Nellie in the same group. they don't teach the game the way it should be taught. you have to be able to get stops. you may get on tv a lot and sale a lot of tickets but you will never ge that elusive ring.
I don't know how good Chris Paul really is after watching today. Is it because he makes everyone else so much better or does the players he has around him make him look so much better?
Either way today was a good example of how Baron Davis is all about Baron Davis while Chris Paul is a team player.
I think the Warriors are too much in their own heads this year, compared to last when they had nothing to lose and were just playing their hearts out every game.
What i'm trying to say is since they want to improve from last year, they are being tentative when last year's team would be aggressive. I saw a lot of open shot opportunities that previously would have been on the way to the rim passed up as the shot clock ran down.
Pietrus' injury is another key as you mentioned.
Denver loses in double OT to the Sonics, so the Warriors are still alive...
I am a long time sports fan and a former street ball player. My favorite teams are: Redskins, Phillies, Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors. I don't blog that often only when I feel there is an aspect to a sporting event that I feel everyone else has overlooked.
