By: Billy Hoyle @wwnetbillyhoyle
There’s something to be said for auspicious beginnings.
Local fans always breathe a sigh of relief when the tip off is won on the home opener. Tonight the Lacob/Guber regime won their tip off in dramatic fashion as the Warriors barely held on to take the Pistons at home.
The Warriors started out strong in the first half scoring a total of 65 points. Although Vladimir Radmanovich got the start, the first team operated best with undrafted rookie Jeff Adrien filling the void left by injured power forward David Lee.
I seriously hope to never see Radman on a basketball court again, that guy is horrible in every facet of the game. Check that, I hope to never see Radman on the court in a Warriors uniform again, although I know I will. I would love to see him playing on the opposing team. That guy is HORRIBLE.
The game started by Radman air-balling the first shot, an early three, to which he followed up by playing lazy defense on Austin Daye who was allowed to rain threes all over the Warriors.
Jeff Adrien, who obviously lacks the mobility of Radman, was much more successful limiting Daye and contributed on the glass as well.
Radman, the Space Cadet, should be relegated to the bench for the rest of the season and definitely should not be starting. Lord knows what Keith Smart sees in that guy.
Early foul trouble spelled the end to the Warriors lead in the second half limiting the playing time of both Monta Ellis, who had 27 points in 31 minutes, and Steph Curry, 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, which forced coach Smart to rely on the Warriors bench.
The Warriors went from a 23 point lead at the half to barely winning by 4. I have not been a proponent of the need of a stronger bench, however regular season games such as this demonstrate why there is such a need. Jeremy Lin played very sloppily as did Reggie Williams who has struggled in the distributor role. When Monta and Curry are unavailable the Warriors are sorely lacking a player who can run the offense and limit turnovers.
With Monta and Steph on the bench for much of the fourth quarter, the Warriors were left with almost no options to score. Reggie Williams was put in a very bad position of needing to both run the offense and carry the scoring load. The Pistons keyed on this and easily stymied the Warriors offensive attack.
The game at first appeared to be the well executed, dominant, win that I have been hoping for. The well executed win that will ring in the new era of Warriors basketball. That hope was dashed in the second half as the Warriors reverted to the team that has been so very frustrating in this young season.
The Warriors are still cursed by some key injuries and the rotations are still being ironed out. When confidence is earned and all of our depth has returned I am sure a powerful, winning style of basketball will follow. It’s just a matter of when that will happen. At least for Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, tonight was an auspicious beginning.
I’m with you, Vlad the Space Cadet needs to go; who else in the league would double team Ben Wallace on the blocks? Vlad must get the worst % of available rebounds in the league. He made some nice passes yes, but guy cannot shoot and is horrible rebounding.
A win is a win. Blowout would have been nice but I’ll take it.
I do not think Lin played awful, in fact he made a key bucket. Plus, when he was on the floor he’s got no one to pass to who can make a shot.