Warriors vs. 76ers @ Philadelphia, Dec. 21, 4:00PM FSN

This game needs a better preview...

 

They need to show up this game.

 

We need this win badly. Tied for 3rd. Hope we get the ball rolling.

 

Damn this team sucks.

I'm calling another loss. Again they didn't show up and will continue to try to crawl their way back.

 

Yep, getting beat on all loose balls. Sixers shoot 15/23 in the 1st quarter. Warriors are pathetic right now. This looks like a lifeless Rick Adelman team.

 

Will we ever play well in 1st quarter? At least, we are playing very well in 2nd quarter...

 

18 pts to Dalembert and Randolph in the 1st half, that's horrible. I can live with the 24 from Iverson but not that.

 

Warriors officially stink now. 106-96 with 2:45 left.

 

so anyways, we need a change in the starting lineup.

 

Who cares who starts? Its about playing to win, giving it all you have. Rebounds, steals, loose balls. They've got a stat for "hustle" points, I do not know what it exactly is but I bet that in the last three games, the Warriors have been out-hustled in every game.

To me that was Jordan's legacy, not the dunks, the skywalking, the points, its about being the best you can be and not letting the opponent beat you on the things that you have an equal opportunity to get. The Warriors were playing early on and doing the little things with hustle. They look lifeless now. Just good athletes making some shots but not making the commitment to win by doing the little things.

 

We need to start Biedrins at center, it can't get any worse than Foyle. It doesn't seem like Biedrins is fouling every minute any more, plus he can catch the dish off passes when Baron drives. Maybe that will help improve the first quarter play.

 

All this "we" talk is upsetting me. I need a million dollars.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">All this "we" talk is upsetting me.</div>
Haha. Yeah, I meant to write the Warriors. I don't like using "we" either.

It was funny in the third quarter it seemed like everytime Foyle touched the ball it was a turnover...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philsmith75:</div><div class="quote_post">Who cares who starts? Its about playing to win, giving it all you have. Rebounds, steals, loose balls. They've got a stat for "hustle" points, I do not know what it exactly is but I bet that in the last three games, the Warriors have been out-hustled in every game.
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<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Mike Montgomery
On tonight's game:
"Very similar pattern, we just got off to a horrendous start. The other team shoots the ball extremely well. [Allen] Iverson got off to tremendous start. We have to do better, defensively to start with; we can't keep getting ourselves in a hole. We're not making enough decisions offensively. We're going to have to turn this thing around. We prepared about as thoroughly as possible for Iverson. I really don't know what we could've done differently. He just started lighting up. He's a great player."

On the team's energy level:
"Why would you not have energy if you've lost a couple games, if you've felt like you've had a chance to win the game. If it's energy, then shame on us because there's no reason not to come out with everything you've got. You're going to have 82 games, you know you're going to have 82 games, you're going to go on the road, you're going to play back-to-backs, that's the league. "

Troy Murphy
On tonight's game:
"It's hard to come back against a team that plays well at home. We didn't do it tonight. Our defense has been lax on this road trip, and it wasn't any different tonight. A guy like Iverson, you have to help on a guy like that and rotate to make sure the right guys are taking shots."

On Allen Iverson:
"He played really well. The high screen and roll, he's real tough up there. If you put two guys with him that can hit shots, he can distribute the ball. It's tough to stop."

Baron Davis
On the team's play:
"We have to get off to better starts. It's one thing to be at home, with that kind of pace. But on the road we're not playing with a sense of urgency. It's showing. Right now we're not playing as a cohesive unit on the floor. We have to change some stuff."

On how they handled the Sixers comeback:
"I think it's tentativeness, lack of alertness and a lack of preparation, individual preparation. <u>We have a lot of people on this team that we depend on to step up and play big and we're not getting that play.</u> You have to look in the mirror and look at yourself before you point fingers. We're not playing well enough to win. We're not showing any heart or character as a unit."</div>

Want it spelled out? Certain players are playing like garbage. JRich and Baron put up the points, it's someone elses to get the rebound. There is one michael Jordan dude. Let's just get to the playoffs before we start comparing this team to one of the greatest teams ever built. 3 on 5 basketball won't cut the mustard.

 

Yeah, we can't expect this club to win too many games when we constantly play 3v5 every day. Right now, all of Davis, Richardson, Murphy and Fisher has to play well to just be in the game. Foyle's defense has been slipped noticably, just double figure point from Dunleavy has been considered as 'good' game this season, and both Diogu and Zarko can't produce constantly. We can't outscore and we can't defend either. COME BACK PIETRUS!!!

 

The bench minutes shrunk and as a result,a few guys now play quantity minutes instead of quality minutes. We need our best players able to play at their max,even if it means they are on the floor less. We played quicker at the start of the season when the bench played more. Now it's regressed to jog and fire a 3

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting REREM:</div><div class="quote_post">The bench minutes shrunk and as a result,a few guys now play quantity minutes instead of quality minutes. We need our best players able to play at their max,even if it means they are on the floor less. We played quicker at the start of the season when the bench played more. Now it's regressed to jog and fire a 3</div>

I agree with you Refrem. Montgomery keeps talking about how the energy is not there. However looking at the minutes played in this game against the 76ers, the only players who played significant time were Baron, Jason, Mike, Troy, Adonal, and Derek. If the five on the court looks tired, why not use one of the players off the youthful bench to add some energy? I am sure Ellis would bring a lot of energy, I am sure Diogu too would bring a lot of energy. Biedrins always brings lots of energy and so on. Why not use them though? It's terrible, just looking at the box score and reading some of these comments/quotes after each of these games.

Here is one that really caught my eye, I had already posted it in the Boston game thread, but I think it kind of goes well with Refrem's previous post.

"You can put it on the defensive end, you can put it on the offensive end," Montgomery said. "Sometimes, the shots that we take on offense lead to having to come back and play (transition) defense. We tend to come down one-on-three and we're right back on defense again and maybe you need to rest on offense, make a few more passes."

First of all, most of the quotes I read from Montgomery makes me think what his position on the team is. Also it makes me wonder what he tells the team. I mean, what does this quote mean, if it were told to the team? "Hey team, you can play defense, and if you want you can play offense too, is that ok with everyone?" And how he says you need to rest on offense, while after adding, make a few more passes, wow. I really don't know about Montgomery as coach. I thought that he could really help some of the younger big men on the team, especially with players like Biedrins, Foyle, Taft, Diogu, Murphy, etc. But it just seems as if he doesn't want to play any of these younger players, and now Foyle might be getting tired, as he has never been a full time starter before, especially like this, and Murphy is playing well, it seems. But the rest just isn't what I was hoping for from Montgomery's coaching, and from what I had seen while he was coaching at Stanford.

And finally, this quote I think was already posted, but it's a Baron Davis comment, and really, this quote scares me, but obviously all that is said here by Baron must be true, from what I am seeing. And I think all of this goes onto Mike Montgomery's shoulders.

"I think it's tentativeness, lack of alertness and a lack of preparation, individual preparation. We have a lot of people on this team that we depend on to step up and play big and we're not getting that play. You have to look in the mirror and look at yourself before you point fingers. We're not playing well enough to win. We're not showing any heart or character as a unit."

Maybe I am being a little harsh on the coach, but what exactly is he doing? Like I have said before, in another thread, that I haven't been able to watch any of the games. But maybe you guys who have been watching each of these games has some answers for me. Because at the beginning of the season I thought this team was very good, I still think this way, but one of my main worries was Mike Montgomery as head coach.

I would think, if there is a time to look into doing something about the head coaching position, maybe now is a good time to start looking, if you are Mullin, or at least start asking questions about what is going on.

And yes it would always be nice to have Pietrus back...darn legs...

 

I'm not quite sure Montgomery is the right fit for this team anymore when our stars are Baron Davis and Jason Richardson (open court specialists), but I do know that Murphy, Dunleavy, Foyle are not very balanced players to allow a half-court offense and the kind of defense we're trying to play. We need more power inside and guys smart enough to set up other people from inside. We also need toughness, activity and athleticism. Mullin needs to shake this roster up. I don't think the small forward has enough impact on this team's organization to change things unless we're running Phil Jackson's triangle offense. It would be nice to have a power player at the 4 spot that can rebound, block shots and another power guy at the 5 spot that can do the same. Having one of those power players also be able to knock down some midrange shots and set good picks/screens and pass well from the top of the key would really fit within the Montgomery system.

Right now we don't have that because Ike is a rookie and we're using homegrown vets that have never seen the playoffs or have been through winning seasons. If we want a good starting 5 or a group of 5 guys that can play quality minutes, we need to upgrade either Murphy, Foyle, or Dunleavy. I'd say do whatever we can to land ourselves something quality at the center position with experience and talent. Then the power forward position. And finally small forward position. We can try to be patient all we want, but there's a reason why Murphy, Dunleavy, Foyle don't really jump at anyone in this entire league. The fact is Murphy will never be a good defensive presence to set the tone defensively and his type of offense is when he calls his own number, rather than setting anybody else up like Dunleavy would if he didn't suck. These upgrades will be hard to find since quality big men come at a premium.

I think the biggest problem on the team so far is Foyle. Foyle will never be a decent starter because there's nobody else to go inside to and Foyle plainly is the worst vet center I've seen in the game besides shotblocking. No saavy, no craftiness, no finesse, no power, no smarts, just hustle and great timing for altering shots. If we had Dampier, we'd have no heart, but at least some true defensive talent, a guy who understands positioning and will play the role of an enforcer in the paint. Foyle just causes a lot of plays to break down on the overhelp because other guys can't cover their men. This can also be argued that Murphy causes Foyle to be out of position a lot of times, which I think is true. Murphy can also be a big problem if he's not shooting a high % shot and not getting to the line and protecting his side of the paint.

Then they guy we need to step up, Dunleavy, will never be good defensively or be able to create his own shot effectively because he's not aggressive and he's not very strong nor quick nor a good shot. Why is it Brian Cardinal and Mickael Pietrus make a strong case for being promoted? Heck if Fisher was a small forward/tall shooting guard we'd probably be discussing why he should be starter than Dunleavy. Dunleavy just doesn't set the tone and although we say "it doesn't matter who starts, it's who finishes the game", well sometimes we can't finish the game at all if we can't get off to a good start. We need a guy who can go in cold and get some early offense rather than start the game missing shots completely. Picking Dunleavy third overall in the 2002 draft was like cutting off one's hand and then re-signing him was cutting off the other. Okay, he's not that bad compared to others in the 2002 draft, but he's sure occupying a lot of team salary and he's been nowhere near Murphy and Richardson's development. We better hope he's a late, late bloomer, because the guy never had great upside to begin with and he hasn't been contributing right away like many have thought. We might have been better off with trading down and getting a project like Biedrins in 2004.

Also, in today's nba, nobody ever won with just finesse guys that can't set up other people. It's always been a combination of the two and the ability to play defense using strength and quickness. It's like if we had a football team with a great quarterback and a good wide receiver, but the offensive line can't give the QB enough time to even throw the ball. That's sort of what we have here. If our blocking sucks, we need to get bigger, tougher to protect our star players. I haven't been a big fan of Murphy because his biggest weakness will always be how we're using him to offset the amount of points he gives up in the paint and his skill in making the offense easier for everyone else. Most power forwards will give him the open shot. That's great if he's knocking it down, but if he's missing, it can lead to a lot of points going the other way where he and Foyle cannot defend it easily. We need balance and guys who play a true position. None of this tweener stuff like the old days.

On a sidenote if people are wondering where the Larry Birds and Chris Mullins went, it's because the guys that have prime time shooting finesse stopped moving off the ball, playing tough, and learning how to set up other people. Therefore there's only been one dimensional catch and shoot role players. It's just sad. But we learned in the Olympics, you can't win without shooters. Now if we can improve the shooting in the backcourt and the wing, maybe we can soley concentrate on our big men getting involved in scoring in the paint and making good passes from it. We've got no scoring threats or setup guys in the paint.