Warriors Have Little in Reserve

Discussion in 'Golden State Warriors' started by Shapecity, Dec 28, 2007.

  1. Shapecity

    Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>OAKLAND -- Does Warriors coach Don Nelson use his bench players so sparingly because they fare poorly?

    Or do they fare poorly because Nelson uses them so sparingly?

    More importantly, does it really matter?

    The upshot remains the same: The Warriors have been winning games lately despite hardly ever sending reserves down to the scorer's table to check into the action.

    On average this season, Golden State reserves have pulled down 71.1 minutes per game. But that figure has dropped to 54.2 over the last five contests -- with a scoring average of only 16.2 points per game -- as Nelson continues to ride his starters hard.

    "You write it, whatever you think," Nelson said when asked to pinpoint the cause of the bench's relative lack of use. "It's a chicken and an egg (situation). ... I play guys that I think can help me win."

    So three weeks after Nelson played up the need to find a way for his hardest-working players to get some rest, swingman Stephen Jackson is still clocking 40.0 minutes per game, the sixth-highest average in the NBA. Point guard Baron Davis is at 39.0, which actually represents a slight improvement from earlier this season, and guard Monta Ellis' average has risen to 35.0 as he becomes a more integral part of the offense.

    "The last couple of games, we've had three guys over 20 (points) each time, so the bench is just coming in, providing breathers for the starters and picking up any hustle plays we can," said forward Matt Barnes, Nelson's captain on the bench. "Right now, we've got to go with what's working, and that's what's working."

    True enough. The Warriors (17-12) have won four of their last five games heading into a critical stretch of seven games against Western Conference playoff certainties (San Antonio, Dallas) and hopefuls (Houston, New Orleans, Portland and Denver twice) that begins tonight at home against the Nuggets (17-11).

    And executive vice president Chris Mullin is never going to complain about that kind of result.

    "When certain guys log minutes, and the end result is a win, it makes sense, as opposed to logging minutes and not getting anything for it," Mullin said.

    One option at Nelson's disposal that might bolster the bench would be to move either Ellis or Al Harrington there in favor of someone such as Barnes or Mickael Pietrus. Harrington has scored a combined 39 points in his last two games as a reserve -- Dec. 17 at Memphis (17 points) and Dec. 14 against the Los Angeles Lakers (22) -- and Ellis was Golden State's sixth man for two dozen games last season.

    Doing so, however, would take a critical piece away from the starting five, something that might be inadvisable given the Warriors' already clear propensity to start slowly.

    Besides, unless there's a wire-to-wire blowout -- a rarity for the Warriors -- there's not much chance of getting the team's stars any significant downtime.

    "(Wednesday) night, Nellie went to the bench and it didn't work out too well so he had to go back," Mullin said, referring to a win against Minnesota in which Golden State frittered away all but two points' worth of a 22-point lead. "It's just what's going on that night. We said at the start of the season, ideally, we'd like to rest Baron a little bit, rest Jack, but you know damn well when it's a close game, if he's at 40 minutes, he's going to go to 46."

    Notes: A team spokesman said forward Austin Croshere, who has missed the last three games with disk inflammation in his back, is making progress but will sit out at least four more contests -- tonight's game, plus the road trip to Denver, Houston and Dallas. ... Golden State is still waiting to hear a third medical opinion regarding the left hip problems of guard Troy Hudson, who is expected to see a specialist in Colorado soon. Hudson was not at practice Thursday, but that was because he stayed home sick with the flu.</div>

    Source: Contra Costa Times
     

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