There are definitely some foul moods here 90 miles away from Oaktown. Due props to Golden State, though. The Warriors are definitely much improved since Baron Davis came over from the Hornets. But you gotta admit the Kings gave you a bit of a scare coming back from 21 down to actually lead at two points in the final quarter. J-Rich was unstoppable, and the Kings couldn't hit anything in the final minute. Though if the Kings had a healthy Brad Miller & Bobby Jackson, methinks the outcome might have been slightly different. ¿La revancha este Domingo?
Uhhh.... WTF are you talkin about Goodsie? Even if Davis was hurt, he was still playing. It's not like he had a broken fibula or wrist or something like that...
Baron Davis has been hurt the whole time he's been with the Warriors, which was why yesterday's game was only his second or third start in almost a month with the team. I was actually a bit surprised that he played as many minutes as he did yesterday, though I'm certainly glad he did considering the outcome. The TNT announcers even mentioned how many times he could've exploded to the basket (but didn't) if he had been fully healthy, so maybe that would've given the Warriors a bigger lead. Or maybe not. In any case, the Warriors play in Phoenix today, a tough enough task even if they'd been given a day or two to rest. -G
Just found this thread, and it seems that Goodsie needs some backup from another Warriors fan. I can't believe how the team is playing since the Baron Davis trade, it's the first time I've truly been excited about the prospects for the team in a long while. The most recent back to back wins over Sac and Phoenix are just the latest in a very impressive run. Now I know that other teams don't get "up" to play the W's, so it's hard to tell how well the team is really playing. But, what makes me excited is how well the younger guys are doing. Biedrins looks like he is really starting to learn how to play in the league. J-Rich just gets better and better, and Pietrus really looks good, particularly when he's on the floor with Davis. As long as Davis fully recovers from his injuries and is ready to roll, next year could be a really good year for the W's.
You absolutely hit the nail on the head, losgatosfan! It's nice to finally have another Warriors fan here. -G
So Devildave (and any other Sac Kings fans out there), the Warriors are going for a win Sunday that would give them a season series win over the Kings for the first time since 1993-94 season......when they last went to the playoffs, Chris Mullin played for them, and a guy named Chris Weber played for them. Anyway, would be fun to see the W's win and take the series with the Kings this year. Your Kings just came off an OT win tonight over the Clippers, and I'm thinking it may be hard for them to come out with the energy they will need to play with the new and energized Warriors. Houston's sneaking up to take 5th place in the West playoff seedings away from the Kings. They better get their act together, or they might drop down as far as 7th.
I'm not gonna make excuses. I'm not going to blame the fact that Cuttino Mobley and Corliss Willamson were not playing. I'm not going to blame the fact that not having Williamson and Brad Miller in the lineup and losing Brian Skinner during the game turned the second half into layup party for the Warriors. I'm not going to blame the outstanding games had by Troy Murphy and Pietrus off the bench. The Kings just let the %&*#ing Golden State Warriors win the season series for the first time since 1994. If Bibby and Stojakovic can just properly shoot the ball, we should be freaking doing the Warriors EVERY GODDAMN TIME. Even in this post-Chris Webber era, losing three games to Golden State is simply unacceptable.
The most exciting long-term aspect about the Warriors at this point is that they now have another star player (besides just Jason Richardson) in Baron Davis, in a position that's absolutely crucial to the success of a team. With the surrounding cast beginning to gel, the Warriors' future looks promising for the first time in a while and will continue to improve if they can pull in some more talent in the offseason. -G
DD - gotta give you credit, you tell it like it is. While I am a Warriors fan, I also root for the Kings (gotta support all the NorCal teams). I am amazed at how poorly they are playing this year (granted, they have had the injury bug). But they are just not the same team, and I fear that they are about to enter "rebuilding hell". Hopefully they don't stay there as long as the W's have.....Bibby is still one of the best in the league, but Peja seems to be much more up and down this year. What's your assessment of what's gone wrong? Will they have Miller and others back in time to make a playoff run? Goodsie - I agree, it is nice to see two all star calibre players on the W's. But what's even more impressive is to see how well they get along. Not to cross threads, but a lot of the things that were being said about the Quakes being a "worker bee" team could also be said about the W's. Except until now, the W's haven't had much success with it. Do you think they see Biedrins as their center in the next year or two, or do they go out on the free agent market, make a trade, or try to draft a strong force in the middle? The thing is, I don't know that there are any real strong centers or power forwards who are expected to be in the draft and still available at #4, 5 or 6 pick (which is where it seems we'll end up).
Personally, I am of the opinion that if Sacramento can stave off the injury bug as you mentioned and if Peja and Bibby would step up their games, then the Kings wouldn't have to do a lot of rebuilding. If the entire roster were healthy, Sacramento would not be a championship contender, but could at least make the second round of the playoffs. I believe, though, that the Kings might be one or two offseason trades from at least getting back to the level they were at in 2001-2002. Without solid post players, the Kings are very vulnerable to physical, big teams, as the Warriors have certainly become. Miller hasn't played since the just after the All-Star Break. And the guys that came over in the Webber trade - all decent post players - have only slowly acclimated themselves to Rick Adelman's offensive and defensive schemes. (And being without two of those three new guys really killed us in the second half the other night.) The Kings' two major concerns are the PF spot (which thus far has been capably handled by Thomas/Songaila/Williamson) and backcourt defense. We dealt our best defender in Doug Christie and got decent offense in return, but our other good backcourt defender, Bobby Jackson, remains sidelined. Mobley is good on the offensive end but has trouble guarding opposing SGs. Ditto Bibby. Bottom line: IF all the players on the Kings' injured list get back by the end of April, and IF they can gel in Adelman's system quickly, then MAYBE we can see an appearance in the second round. A lot of things have to fall in place at the right time... (We now return you to your regularly scheduled Golden State Warriors thread.)