Warriors v. Hornets

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>OAKLAND — At 19-14, the Golden State Warriors are five games over .500, a level they never reached last season. They have 11 road wins in 19 games compared with 12 in 41 a year ago. They're scoring more points than they're allowing for the first time since 1993-94.

And as of Thursday morning, in a Western Conference that's growing tougher by the day, that was good enough to net Golden State ... the same eighth-place seeding it claimed last season.

That's right: Despite making significant improvements in several areas, the Warriors — so far, at least — have been running just to stand still.

"We're definitely not in the playoffs," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We need to play at a higher level, and even then, we're still talking about the last spot or two. (The West) is loaded this year. It's probably going to take 45 wins to make (the playoffs)."

There would be no better time to collect some of those necessary victories than right now, when the Warriors are in the midst of a seven-game referendum on their playoff worthiness against other Western Conference contenders.

After splitting a home-and-home with Denver (18-12), beating Houston (15-17) and losing to Dallas (21-11), the Warriors have New Orleans (21-11) coming up tonight at Oracle Arena, followed by a visit from San Antonio (21-8) and finally a trip to Portland (20-13).

"We just realize that if want to continue to get the respect around that league that we're one of the elite teams in the West, then we've got to come out and win at least four or five of these games," Warriors forward Al Harrington said. "Right now we're 2-2, so we don't have no wiggle room at this point."

Golden State guard Kelenna Azubuike said, "We're right on the cusp here. These are definitely important games, and we need to come in with a sense of urgency in every one of them."

The Warriors play of late has been a good news/bad news affair. In the former category, they are enjoying as much road success as any team in franchise history, on pace to tie the Golden State single-season record with 24 victories away from home.

In the latter column, they've been posting many of those wins in a grind-it-out fashion, constantly falling behind early and having to dig themselves out over the final three quarters.

"I think it's good, because we're winning in different ways," Warriors forward Matt Barnes said. "Last year, if we weren't at our best, we weren't going to win. This year, we've beaten pretty good teams while not playing a complete game."

That may not work against the Hornets, the only Western Conference team the Warriors have yet to face this season and one of two teams that have leapfrogged past Golden State and into playoff contention this season.

"We're playing good enough to win at the end of the day — it's all about wins and losses — but obviously we could be playing at a better level, and I think that that's going to come," Harrington said. "Our best basketball games are ahead of us. We've just got to find a way to steady the course until we get on fire."

NOTES: Assistant coach Stephen Silas was absent from Thursday's light practice on a personal matter, Nelson said. It's not known when he'll return. ... Azubuike, who has been suffering from tendinitis in his right knee for several weeks, said the pain is less now than how it was initially but has also worsened somewhat of late.</div>

Source: Marin Independent Journal

 

Have fun at the game!

Baron likes sticking it to his old team and I expect him to rebound from the Dallas game. Defensively it might be better for the Warriors to stick Ellis on Paul to neutralize some of his speed.

Baron Davis has to use his size on Paul and look for SJax on the offensive end. Peja Stoyakovic is a complete liability on the defensive end, but if Baron doesn't recognize the mismatch it goes to waste.

The Hornets love using Chandler to set picks right underneath the 3 point line. This allows Paul to run his man into a back pick and get into the lane to score or deliver a pass. It also allows Chandler to get a running start and fly in for any missed shots or an alley oop dunk.

It's a tough play to stop and the Hornets run it 85% of the time on offense. Even if Paul can't find anything open off the initial play he goes right back to it.

Warriors have to be crisp on their rotations and figure out who they ultimately want taking those open shots Paul is going to create.

 

This is their most effective lineup Baron-Ellis-Jackson-Harrington-Biedrins and with the importance of the game Nellie should stick to it.

Besides the more they showcase MP the less valuable he becomes.

Should be an exciting, high scoring game with a lot of breakaway dunks.

Warriors should force Chandler to beat them.

 

Hornets are a legit team with a lot of weapons on the court. When West and Peja are making their shots they are pretty much impossible to beat.

It all starts with Chris Paul though. Defensively you have to make the tough decision of

A. Put the onus on Chris Paul to score and lock down everyone else
B. Get the ball out of Paul's hands and hope they miss from the outside

The Warriors didn't have the speed to contain Paul and he was able to create for his teammates who executed their offense.

Byron Scott said he wants to be just like the Suns, but with a more physical edge to their game. They've been able to stay healthy so far and the Hornets have been able to control the tempo and simply out gun teams all season long.

I think the Warriors are good enough to beat them, but they need to have a Plan B when their shots aren't going in from behind the arc.