Monta Ellis returned to Phoenix after attending his grandmother's funeral, but David Lee was out ill. Stephen Curry, who finished with just 10 points, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers in only 23 minutes of play, got into foul trouble trying to guard Steve Nash, who eventually iced the game late with a trey, along with Jared Dudley's trey. Nash finished with 21 points and 9 assists, going 9-for-13 from the field and curiously, Mark Jackson opted for Charles Jenkins off the bench at the point instead of Ish Smith. Monta ended with 18 points on 16 attempts and dished out 11 assists.
Hit the jump for player-by-player analysis...
Today's Warrior Wonder goes to Monta. How many is that now?
Here's how the starting five fared. Interestingly, Dominic McGuire started for D.Lee instead of Ekpe Udoh...
- Steph: Horrid. Nash took advantage of his size and strength and took it to the hole at will. Mark brought him back with 5 fouls and under 3 minutes to go, which was the right thing to do, but Steph fell into the youngster trap of taking early shots with no one rebounding.
- Monta: Did his thing, plus the extra assists. However, "doing his thing" also meant some early-in-the-shotclock attempts late in crunch time, sometimes with a nary rebounder nearby.
- Dorell: I was watching the Suns broadcast and announcer Eddie Johnson (former three-point specialist) criticized Wright for building his game around his three-point shot and not balancing his weaponry with an ability to drive or at least take an attempt closer to the basket. I actually tweeted that, then Marcus Thompson retweeted it, Suns beatwriter Paul Coro saw it and told the TV crew, and they mentioned that a "Warriors fan actually thanked Eddie Johnson" for the observation. Haha!
- Dominic: 6-for-9, 19 points, 9 rebounds. His energy was tremendous, as usual. He was not afraid to take the ball fullcourt when necessary. Great game in stepping up in place of D.Lee.
- Andris Biedrins: Finally made it to the line after 65+ straight minutes of no charity stripe. Bricked both. With Kwame Brown beasting albeit throwing the ball away (see below) and Ekpe playing hard, Beans only logged 12 minutes.
Here's the rest of the crew...
- Kwame: It was nice to see him beastin' in there still, but he was, not surprisingly, clumsy with the ball. For example, he'd slowly drive the ball and dislodge his man, forcing him to retreat, but then throw the ball out of bounds, expecting Klay Thompson to cut when it's quite obvious to the layman that Klay would prefer to spot up and shoot.
- Udoh: Had a nice and-one where he backed in with the dribble in an isolated post a la Charles Barkley, and was hustling left and right as usual. It's good to see him incrementally improving that way.
- Jenkins: He has an NBA body and used it well on defense against Nash. He also finished 3-for-3. Pretty much all you can ask for in limited minutes by a rook.
- Brandon Rush: Solid performance with 13 points on 5-for-11.
- Klay: Made two straight treys and then rushed a third shot. Marcus Thompson correctly tweeted that he had his first career heat-check shot.
- Ish: Played only 32 seconds, per Marcus Thompson.
Other stuff...
- Late in the game, Warriors down six with around two minutes remaining, Steph takes an early trey with nobody rebounding. On the ensuing possession, the Warriors don't close out on Dudley and he hits a trey. I think it was Monta on the rotation. Seriously, what was Dudley going to do? Take two dribbles past the close-out and do a stop-and-pop? Attack and finish at the rim? Come on. Think when you're out there. Know what your man can and cannot do. Incidentally, a few plays later, Dudley tried going to the rim, looked clumsy, and missed.
- After the Dudley trey, Monta comes back with a driving layup that falls short on the rim. The problem? No Warrior was within 10 feet of him. It was an all-or-nothing play. Sure enough, Nash comes back with a trey of his own, indicative of lack of close out D mainly because of a fear that he will bully right past you, Steph.
- One cool play on offense the Warriors ran was isolating Monta in the post against Ronnie Price, with Klay up top feeding him the ball, then staying strong side in three-point range, with Brandon Rush in the opposite corner with a double screen from the two forwards on that weakside block. In this particular play, Monta made a move, fed Klay, and Klay hit the open trey as his man shifted to double Monta.
- There's been a lot of criticism of David Lee recently, including from myself, although my issues stem from his accepted role in the offense. So anyways, with the Warriors being outrebounded 49-36, D.Lee supporters will ask: What say you about his "empty" rebounders?
- Steph just needs to get tougher. His fouls were more an indication of his knack for touch-fouling, rather than attempting to be more physical. Sometimes if you're a smaller player or an otherwise inferior defender, you just have to hack. Think Derek Fisher or, ahem, Mark Jackson back in the day. You have to make your defender think that there is, if nothing else, going to be pain inflicted in a legal way, if the thought process includes trying to beat you off the dribble. Steph has no sense of this.
- Neither does Monta. Again, I have to point to the NBA backcourt. Two skinny 6'3" guys just does not cut it. As East Bay Ray of Bright Side Of The Sun reported in his recap,
I've been a big critic of Monta Ellis, but he was undoubtedly the Warriors best player today. He and Curry don't seem to fit well together, although the Warriors have said they're committed to trying to make it work for the foreseeable future. Eventually, one of the two figures to be traded.
For in-game tweets, follow Marcus Thompson on Twitter at @gswscribe. Follow me at @poormanscommish.
Wait is it base ball season yet
Sorry az Warriors pathetic that’s what they’ve already become what a joke of a team
FreePalistine1948 - January 2, 2012
are you kidding me
troll?
Lew Ghost - January 2, 2012
Curry is still 1 sec late when he passes the ball in P&R
Monta can have 10 assists, so no more excuse about teammate can’t finish when he passes, okay?
ILoveWarriorsGirls - January 2, 2012
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. That excuse is mostly used by Monta supporters as a reason for him having average-y assist numbers in the past.
Reverend_Randy - January 2, 2012
Didn't get to see the game
Questionable move putting McGuire in for Lee, but that’s a great stat line for him. Did he defend the 4 well? Did he stay in that position most of the night?
ohcleverhansyou - January 2, 2012
The problem is that Suns didn't even play good at all
and we still lost. Curry really needs to work on his court vision and passes, else Monta should be the PG, Curry the SG.
ILoveWarriorsGirls - January 2, 2012
i think that is what has happened.
Curry is the PG but sets up Monta to be the PG and Curry acts like the SG. But Curry doesn’t shoot the damn ball. So essentially we have two PG acting like two PG but one is more aggressive on the offense
bimmercirem3 - January 2, 2012
It's so frustrating
But if it can actually work it’ll be hard to beat.
Curry needs to be more aggressive on offense. When he’s aggressive, we’re better. Monta takes less shots, forces less, plays in rythym and we play better.
I’ve seen it twice this season, pre-season game #1 (which doesn’t count) and v. Chicago.
I think we need to worry less about who is ‘primary playmaker’ and more about how they play off each other. Curry has to be more aggressive, Monta has to be more controlled/in the offense.
tafkasam - January 2, 2012
I think half those things has happened, Monta has been really under control so far. But I fear if we continue to not score he’ll try and do to much to solve that problem
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
Yes
And quite frankly, I don’t mind it.
Someone has to shoot. And if our team is going to be this crappy on offense, monta is doing what a leader should do.
It’s when that player does it when someone else is going and a better option (coughKobecough) it’s bad.
I’ve liked monta’s attitude in general, he’s been under control. He’s still our only player capable of getting a shot off at any time.
I want to see Steph shoot more though, it’d benefit us.
tafkasam - January 2, 2012
+1
He’s so frustrating, this is supposed to be the break out year as well
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
Totally, agree. Curry looked good in the beginning, then came the injury. We have been seeing a shadow of himself.
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
Curry is still so passive. I want to love his game and I still do
but you cant be that passive. even with Lee, Curry rarely use the PnR and if he does, its always a jumpshot. What Curry needs to do is drive in and break down defenses to set up players. But as of now, Monta is clearly doing that.
Our unit as a whole does not mesh well. We have players who are in the spectrum of very good offensively and on the opposite good defensively, none in the middle. So when you mesh those two together, it wont work as a unit. I seriously suggest we need to make a trade sooner than later involving Dorell/Beans and some bench players because as of now, we have no chemistry on the floor. Yes we pass the ball, but the ball usually ends up on a non-shooter. Dorell is just horrendous and just lost. 4 shots is NOT enough for a starting wing. Beans is showing flashes, but if MJ is not going to give him more minutes, then lets package him then. I can’t be mad at the bench because it is fairly talented, but it just isn’t meshing well with our offense. Klay is…whatever. Everyone is just mediocre except maybe Udoh/Kwame/Rush. CJ looks promising. Dom looks ok, but want to see more. Ish is fast but meh. I think we can all change this if we just get a better wing player: IGGY or Rudy.
bimmercirem3 - January 2, 2012
but if MJ is not going to give him more minutes?
MJ can’t give him more minutes cause MJ owns another team so that would be collusion.
Skeptic con Urquell - January 2, 2012
MJ
is Mark Jackson?
Lew Ghost - January 2, 2012
is Mark Jackson?
no, Michael Jordan owns that
Skeptic con Urquell - January 2, 2012
lol
yeah that’s what my friend said when I told him about this, he also said it belonged to “the king of pop”
Lew Ghost - January 2, 2012
he also said it belonged to "the king of pop"
I guess they can share it, both had a way with thrillers.
Skeptic con Urquell - January 2, 2012
lol
+1 for the “zing!”
Lew Ghost - January 2, 2012
How about MiniJ?
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
how about something more interesting
like “The Rev” or his holyness..
…the Minister?
apparently, his playing nickname was action Jackson (yawn, played out)
totally off topic, but I didn’t know this
Duby Dub Dubs - January 3, 2012
i dont even think that rule is called anymore
bigkino217 - January 3, 2012
It is. If you watch the sideline ref when a player starts his back-down dribble, you'll see them counting.
Spider Jerusalem - January 3, 2012
i've never seen it called though
bigkino217 - January 3, 2012
I have like one time. But it's super rare.
Five seconds is an eternity to back someone down.
Spider Jerusalem - January 3, 2012
I saw it called on Melo once.
Reverend_Randy - January 3, 2012
I love it! He was a heck of a guard!
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
IIRC, his playing monicker was the Turtle.
Uwe Blog - January 3, 2012 via mobile
I'm going with
Mark Effin Jackson
aka: MFJ
Duby Dub Dubs - January 4, 2012
Because in P&R, Curry is always 0.5 ~ 1sec late to see what defense is like, and when he passes, he is always 1~2 sec late that the D can read it easily, either steal the pass or causing the “roll” guy no where to go when he catches the ball. So towards the end, Curry just shoot the ball to prevent the TO. Curry needs to just pass in P&R and not think too much.
ILoveWarriorsGirls - January 2, 2012
Always? Or when he has a bum ankle?
I mean, he was carried off the court a couple weeks ago, and re-injured it once since then.
He’s not healthy. At all.
Spider Jerusalem - January 2, 2012
This is a no excuses team
ILoveWarriorsGirls - January 3, 2012
Yep, but we have nothing to back Curry up with (proven PG). This team is weak as sugar, and waiting on experiments to work to even avoid the bottom of the division!
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
weak as sugar...? never heard that before
how about “soft as a peeled grape”?
I do think we should just shut Steph down for a week or so, put in Monta/Ish/Jenkins at the point
tough schedule coming up, going to be hard no matter what..But this team is so short on talent, that we pretty much need everyone to have a good game in order to have any chance of winning
Duby Dub Dubs - January 3, 2012
Yep, I learned to use "sugar" in place of "sh*t", while my kids were growing up. It is a "dinoism"...
So, when I hammered my thumb instead of the nail, the expletive was “Oh, sugar’!”, and, my response to anyone that wants to get rid of Monta, Lee, or, Curry, " You have to be sugaring me"! Nonetheless, “soft as a peeled grape”, also, amply describes this team. :)
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
peeled grape
not mine, that’s from a 2pac song
..one of my favorites
Warning: NSFW (or little ears)
Duby Dub Dubs - January 3, 2012
Does that mean Dwight Howard can’t listen?
Sleepy Freud - January 3, 2012
just out of scale really
those ears would be gigantic on a normal human
put them on Nate Robinson and you get one of those star trek dudes
Duby Dub Dubs - January 3, 2012
or
he’d really look like Donkey from Shrek
Lew Ghost - January 3, 2012
Curry and Monta worked early when we played defense
Curry in the first couple games was nice on defense, especially on Rose and we had a great overall game but then he comes out with this type of game. He needs to lock in and be the player his ability suggests he is but until he plays smarter and more aggressive he will be like this , frustrating. He’ll get into foul trouble one night then beast the next then become invisible. It’s frustrating
The truth is when it comes to our trades he holds the most value, and if the injuries pile up more and he doesn’t get too much better his value can only go down, we could of had CP3 for him and fillers. That gives an idea of what he can fetch us. My knee jerk trade idea was him for Rondo and their 1st then flip the 1st, DW and Biedrins for Iggy.
Also the Biedrins treatment hurts us on the floor and in trade value, he’s played very well early in the season and were better with him yet the less he plays the less value he has and the more it hurts the team. He’d have some trade value if he got more PT
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
Forgot, post knee jerk trade idea lineup , less shooting but a legit defense and great ball movement
PG: Rondo, Jenkins,Ish
SG: Monta, Rush
SF: Iggy, McGuire, CWright
PF: Lee, Udoh
C: Kwame, Tyler
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
I kind of like it, and I like it more than our current lineup. That said, there is a glaring lack of outside shooting…
Uwe Blog - January 2, 2012 via mobile
Yeah and big man deph
The trade off is ball movement and defense for shooting and bigs
We could maybe sign JR Smith when he gets back and Jenkins is a good shooter
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
If DW gets out of his slump I'd hesitate on the Iggy trade
Big if
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
Big If? Why come? He shot well all last season. You don’t have the most 3s in a season then you can’t hit 3s. It’s closer to a given than a big if.
Would still do the trade. The Warriors have capped themselves out/made themselves too mediocre that they’re in win now mode. While that team would have a really awkward offense (no real good shooter on the perimeter), it would still be in the same realm as a team like the Atlanta Hawks. As much as I want to see the Dubs win a championship, watching genuine winning basketball and 1 or 2 rounds of playoffs every year would be a nice change of pace.
Reverend_Randy - January 2, 2012
Not a if on his shooting
If I’d hesitate on the trade
dubzfan - January 3, 2012
As much as I want to see the Dubs win a championship, watching genuine winning basketball and 1 or 2 rounds of playoffs every year would be a nice change of pace.
Seriously though, when we can get this then worry about a title, if you give that team above a better center then it’d maybe compete with the best
dubzfan - January 3, 2012
maybe it is time for DWright to see a doctor? What's up with him not shooting and keep passing the ball up?
Did Beans told him to do that?
ILoveWarriorsGirls - January 3, 2012
How do they get that center with a capped out roster and no good draft picks?
Reverend_Randy - January 3, 2012
Great question
Wouldn’t we be able to deal next season’s 1st rounder after we already concede this seasons?
dubzfan - January 3, 2012
I can kinda see Curry-Rondo as a swap, but that Iguodala trade is insanity.
Reverend_Randy - January 2, 2012
Insane in a good or bad way?
Insanity goes both ways you know ;)
dubzfan - January 3, 2012
Insanity in a “no way they go for that” way.
Reverend_Randy - January 3, 2012
Curry-Rondo is a fantasy trade. Boston is too much of a contender to play in fantasy land!
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
Yeah, probably. I vaguely recall a rumor of that being a possible swap, though.
Reverend_Randy - January 3, 2012
It was during the CP3 talk
They were going to swap Rondo and Curry then flip Curry for CP3
dubzfan - January 3, 2012
so far this season is playing out perfectly
Right now we have the 7th worst point differential in the league. At this pace, we will definitely have a good shot to keep our pick.
Evanz - January 2, 2012
Even if we get knocked out of playoff contention early, the Warriors are gonna go on a late season run for no reason and cause us to lose the draft pick.
Wolvkil23 - January 2, 2012
oh, yeah
I always forget about that
Evanz - January 2, 2012
and for good reason... its kinda traumatic
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 2, 2012
Went to the game today...
Ugly
hankmoody - January 2, 2012
I'm sorry for our loss
Evanz - January 2, 2012
I kid you not
As I was leaving US Airways Center, a couple 7 year olds pointed at me (I’m wearing my Ellis jersey shirt and ‘88-’97 era logo hat) and yelled “hey you’re on the looooosing team! hahhaha!!”
I was beside myself but had to laugh
hankmoody - January 2, 2012
It's okay Hank, you'll be on Showtime soon.
kenntoe - January 2, 2012
At this pace, we will definitely have a good shot to keep our pick.
We started out leading the division. I guess that was what they meant when they told Freshstinko they wanted to go another direction?
Skeptic con Urquell - January 2, 2012
it's called regression to the mean
ingless
Evanz - January 2, 2012
So you’re saying we’ll make the playoffs for the next twenty years?
ohcleverhansyou - January 2, 2012
+Stats101! My regression analysis on the Warriors indicates a below the mean outcome (QED)! :)
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
I'm not sure David Lee would have mattered
McGuire got a bunch of rebounds. It was the other players who didn’t rebound.
doubleteapot - January 2, 2012
It was a good game
both teams woke up in the second half…then Nash went God mode in the 4thQ.
thanks for being great hosts GSOM, see ya next game.
2NASHTY - January 2, 2012
hahha, Nash was good in the late game..
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 2, 2012
I gotta be honest
he hasn’t taken over late in a game in a long time… Even I was starting to wonder if father time had finally caught up to him.
2NASHTY - January 2, 2012
even Morris can take over
since it is vs. Warriors…
ILoveWarriorsGirls - January 3, 2012
exactly this!!!
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 3, 2012
Tomorrow
How about extra shoot around?
No one on this team looks like they worked hard during the lock out. On the flipside, I see Durant who was notorious for playing nonstop all summer/fall, and it shows with him being downright unstoppable (and he was fairly close to that before).
tafkasam - January 2, 2012
I don't see anybody who really looks out of shape.
Ronaldinho - January 2, 2012
out of shape, no
Off form, totally.
The shots look bad. Flat, poor spin, etc. I’m talking form of everyone bar Curry. Just looks like a bunch of guys who didn’t shoot enough all off season.
We need to send our team to an abandoned gym in germany with Dirk next summer.
tafkasam - January 2, 2012
Well, I agree with you -
- but I don’t know how much of it is stuff you can realistically expect players to work on on their own.
I don’t think it’s a question of shooting enough jumpers in an open gym. I think it’s much more the rust of not doing things enough at game speed.
Ronaldinho - January 2, 2012
I mentioned this in the game thread -
- but I just think the margin of error is too small if we’re missing one of our big three.
With Klay still struggling with his shot, we’re just too short on talent. With Lee out, Dorell’s missing shot, and Curry having a bad game … forget it. No chance.
Ronaldinho - January 2, 2012
We can't rely on Klay , putting any hopes on him right now is ill fated
What we really need is DW, if he plays like last year we may win this
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
whats worse is we keep relying on ellis (42 minutes again!!!) the most any suns players logged was 37
the next most in a suns uni was 32….. and it was markeif morris (rookie)
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 2, 2012
Curry had foul trouble
somewhat defendable
doubleteapot - January 2, 2012
jenkins could have or should have been in (i think)
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 2, 2012
This was the rare night when it was somewhat reasonable.
Ronaldinho - January 2, 2012
Rather give the minutes to Ish and Jenkins then Klay
More to McGuire as well
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
Jenkins was 3 for 3 in the game and they didn’t even run any plays for him. He reminds me CJ except with an NBA body. If Nellie was still here, Jenkins would run laps around Nash for 30 points and we would win this game by 20.
On the positive side McGuire game was a revelation.
farid - January 2, 2012
That is a good comparison
Jenkins will be solid for us
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
In college, Jenkins was at his best in the iso. Really, that was the only thing notable about him. He was very very good at it.
Reverend_Randy - January 2, 2012
then we should run ten iso plays for him a game
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 3, 2012
:)! I like Jenkins...
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
Putting any hopes on Klay, in the short run (one-two years) was ALWAYS ill-fated!
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
its kinda strange to see a good character and player like DW have a slide. im guessing he is in a slump and will pull out of it soon
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 2, 2012
Slumps happen to everyone.
Ronaldinho - January 2, 2012
He's not playing poorly.
He’s missing shots. Everyone misses shots.
Spider Jerusalem - January 2, 2012
is Mark Jacksons rotations starting to bug anybody yet? Im feeling it.. just a slight itch i think... on my left leg...
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 2, 2012
Only thing I hate is Biedrins's low PT
Klay is just irritating
dubzfan - January 2, 2012
Udoh!!!
Why didn’t Udoh get the start?
That’s my itch, kinda behind the shoulder blade
Duby Dub Dubs - January 3, 2012 via mobile
Because Udoh has no chance of guarding Channing Frye out by the 3 pt line
IQofaWarrior - January 3, 2012
Why didn’t Udoh get the start?
I’d say that in this game, Dominic McGuire’s stat line was better than any line Ekpe Udoh has put up, in any game. I’d be applauding Mark Jackson’s decision on this.
jebinitay - January 3, 2012
LOL ; D
PIRATEWARRIOR - January 3, 2012
lol, Pirate! No, not yet. MiniJ is finding his way to Jenkins a bit slower than I wanted him to.
He is getting all he can out of what he has at this point of the season. It would have helped if he had a full camp and pre-season; unfortunately that was not the case. He is essentially trying everyone out now, much as he would have in a normal pre-season. In all fairness to MiniJ (aka Minister, Showbiz, etc), he is squeezing all he can out of this depleted, and green cast.
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
expectation adjustment time
the über-optimistic coach himself sounded like he was adjusting his assessments downward. understandably, some fans here put aside a more balanced evaluation and thought that top performances, coaching, teamwork and good stuff would push the team into contention. more likely, they’ll be doing well to stay around .500 [M.Thompson II brings up the opponents and schedule coming in the next month]. we should be fully prepared from past experience to see the team flirt with success enough to lose that first round pick to UT, but still generously provide a lottery slot in the top half of the draft.
Should a rookie coach be expected to get players like Brown, Smith, Rush, McGwire to significantly transcend their previous histories ? How many more games will he extend opportunities to the front office’s prize, Thompson ? if he sees Thompson surpassing Rush or the other limited options at some point in the future, if given the playing time, isn’t sacrificing short term gains justified ?
the roster still lacks a vet ‘glue’ player and the team clearly needs quite a few more games to find cohesive combinations capable of persisting through adversity like a missing starter or road games. there simply won’t be enough off days to tune up the offense, and Jackson will probably learn that his defensive improvements won’t consistently bear the burden of an inefficient offense, especially against teams that can attack the poor transition d.
the.monk - January 2, 2012
You nailed it! Expectation adjustments coming in a big way! Only problem I see with Thompson is lack-luster attitude. He is not a prospect like Harden was mind you. He is not a given, he needs to prove himself. Yes, MJ will give him a couple more games to get into the groove, but that is about it I think. Warriors have a thin margin of error.
On the other side, if they deem Thompson worthy of developing enough, that they would jeopardize possible playoffs, the why not play lineups with Jenkins and Tyler as well?
farid - January 2, 2012
The roster isn't very good.
Mark Jackson looks like he knows what he’s doing thus far.
His rotations are good and he’s getting semi-consistent defensive effort out of a defensively challenged roster.
Can’t ask for more, really.
Spider Jerusalem - January 2, 2012
Agreed.
GovernorStephCurry - January 3, 2012
And I hope too all the Gods that there is not a knee jerk reaction this or next season to get rid of him and search once again for another coach.
qin - January 3, 2012
more likely, they’ll be doing well to stay around .500
well .500 ball would be fine for what we got.
Skeptic con Urquell - January 2, 2012
Excellent site. Hello everyone.
I’ve been a Warriors fan since the Arenas/ Damp/ Richardson era. I’ve watched the games on TV this season. For the first time since I’ve been a fan, I am worried about this offense. I thought having less games would be an advantage for us this season. Unfortunately, we still cannot win on the road. But it’s only one game, and I hope this can be reversed.
player20 - January 3, 2012 via mobile
Damp era?
I’m sorry, Dampier does not get to be a part of an ‘era’ if it has any positive connotation at all. Since Arenas and Richardson are fondly remembered players I assume the ‘era’ , while a losing one, is still supposed to be something relatively positive. Dampier can be part of an era only if it’s clearly negative i.e. the Dampier/Vonteego Cummings/Mookie Blaylock ‘Era’… Just saying. Arenas and Richardson and Jamison sucked as a team but were fun to watch. Damp is a bum. Complete and total bum. Speaking of which, how bout the Jason Caffey/Bimbo Coles era? :)
timhudson - January 3, 2012
Monta can flat-out play! Cannot believe we are still arguing the point! Fully expected Nash to eat a lame Curry's lunch! Curry's lateral movement is hurting, and he barely gets any lift off his bum leg on his shot.
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
we all know Curry's problem has not been his shooting for the past 2 games
It is his passing and court vision.
ILoveWarriorsGirls - January 3, 2012
"The Ankle"
Curry’s problem is his defense. He is a very, very poor defender. Among the worst defensive PG’s in the league. Given his lack of lateral quickness and strength, I do not really see this improving.
Supafishal - January 3, 2012
Yet just about every defensive metric has him at about average (a little below, usually).
Spider Jerusalem - January 3, 2012
Correct. Add to it his diminished mobility due to his lameness; no surprise Nash ate his lunch!
Of course, Nash can do that to most of the healthy, premier guards in the league! Has been doing it for two decades!
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
Thousands of years. I’ve heard that Steve Nash is actually the true inventor of ball.
Reverend_Randy - January 3, 2012
poor offense
was main reason why Dubs lost this game
dumb 3s and spot up jumpers with noone around to fight 4 O reb is something that leads to opponents fastbreaks and even if W’s D would be at the level it should be it wouldn’t be enough to do anything against fastbreak
by any price W’s should get ball inside (drive PnR pass postplay iso etc) but they may not afford to depend on long range shots -they will look better later when theyll be out of training camp hole but still -you should get as many close shots as possible
Nash can get anywhere on the floor he want’s and that’s the main difference between him and Curry -also IMO Curry just doesn’t know how to create angle or enough space to pass inside in PnR situations
anyhow -this game isn’t on players -Mark Jackson as local basketball priest should get all the blame -he should demand and players must respond -especially in game like this where Suns weren’t playing their best basketball
it’s sad to say but with attitude like that W’s don’t stand a chance to be even close for more than 10 minutes @ SAS
Mark effin Jackson -prove me wrong -NOW! -W’s need that
Lat We N Trash - January 3, 2012
Mark effin Jackson ?
maybe that’s the answer? He can’t be MJ but maybe he can be MFJ?
Skeptic con Urquell - January 3, 2012
Eureka! Like it, MFJ (means many other things in the street)! :)
dinohealth - January 3, 2012
rec'd
LOVE it
adopted it
Duby Dub Dubs - January 3, 2012
I'm not saying
no, I’m just not saying yes just yet, so far, it is clearly the best, it would be great if his middle name began with an F, then I’d be on board all the way!
Lew Ghost - January 3, 2012
ach
his middle name begins with an A…
Lew Ghost - January 3, 2012
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