Monta Ellis walked out of Golden State's locker room and was immediately greeted by his giggling infant son, who wobbled down the hallway and jumped into his arms. Life is good these days for Ellis, on and off the court. "I'm in a good mindset," Ellis said Wednesday night after matching his career high with 46 points while helping the Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 131-128 in Keith Smart's coaching debut. "I ain't got no worries, no complaints. Everything is positive, so me, I have to be a positive, be a leader and lead these guys in the right direction." He did just that against Houston, despite the Rockets' owning a huge advantage at the free throw line. Ellis' 46 points are the third-most by a Warriors player in a season opener. Only Wilt Chamberlain, who had 48 points in 1961 and 56 in '62, had more. Read more: http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=301027009
I can't remember seeing someone in that kind of zone. He mentioned in the pre-game interview that he worked on squaring up and putting a little loft under the shot. His touch was pretty feathery last night. I loved the way he played. It should be a great season for him if he keeps focus.
Seems like our dreams might have come true with Monta. We've all been praying that he would go back to the We Believe days where he was an off the ball scorer and had one of the best FG%'s in the entire league. Last night dude was tearing off screens like a made man, cutting, slashing, pump faking. He still got plenty of touches on the perimeter and he definitely should- hes a lot better than he was back then. But it seems like his acceptance of the SG spot has been sincere and not just rhetoric. He was a force and he still got his share of iso's but I was really glad to see him hitting those mid-range J's off of screens again. He was hitting EVERYTHING last night but if he keeps playing that style I think he can get back to excellent efficiency and his overall totals wouldn't take that much of a hit.
Yeah -- Monta looked freakin awesome. Exactly the way we would have hoped. His handles and ball control look good too. I love the individual roles. They played well together. But Scola had a friggin field day inside. So they have to shore up the D. I was offering Monta trade ideas this summer, but I'm very glad he's still here. It looks like it's going to work. Course it's just one game, but...
yeah, the starting backcourt is the absolute least of my worries with the current team. i remember hearing something on ESPN a few months ago (if somebody could dig up a related article, that'd be awesome) saying that curry/ellis (as a starting backcourt) were in the top 2 in the nba in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. in fact, i think they led the nba in most of those categories. now, i realize that the criticism is that they are a defensive liability, but still, they seem to be pretty damn efficient. again, if someone can find the article that confirms these stats, i'd be very interested. there is absolutely no reason that our frontcourt defense should be so incompetent...a single screen made our entire defense crumble. how many uncontested layups did we allow!? we ran straight at ballhandlers, allowing them to go right past us. we were too reliant upon help-D, which they more than successfully passsed out of, to a cutting teammate. and then when scola or hayes got the ball in the paint, with their back to the basket (mostly scola) they had all the time in the world to get the exact turnaround that they wanted. it was awful to watch. the refs weren't doing us any favors with the foul disparity, but thankfully our offensive firepower was enough to tip the scales in our favor. my point is: the offense was a pleasant surprise, but i don't think anything could have prepared me for how poor our defense is, specifically in the frontcourt...and i had low expecations.
Not every night is going to be like that opening night where 4 of our 5 starters shot over 50% (Monta at 75%). Our defense was bad that game, but it was good enough to get the win because everyone was hitting their shots. I want to see the how the defense reacts when the offense is not rolling.