1) We Won That Basketball Game!
2) On a narrative level, the game could not have been more effective at drawing the Oracle fans back on board. Classic professional wrestling storytelling: the good guy gets beat down for most of the contest, the bad guy cuts off every comeback, catharsis seems impossible until the glorious final moments, crowd goes wild. It was like Bill Watts booked this shit.
3) On a night when his game was bowling-shoe-ugly, Corey Maggette still managed 24 points on 16 shots, plus eight rebounds, a couple of assists and a good number of deflections on D. The guy is just unflappably productive.
4) After a commercial break, Jaymee Sire was talking about Maggette's recent hot streak, and she unleashed this gem: "Don Nelson admitted to me that he had no idea that Maggette was so effective at the three." That is either the inanest lie he's ever told or the scariest acknowledgement of his own biases that I've ever heard. Corey Maggette has been an effective NBA small forward for nine fucking years.
5) No hate on Nellie for this one, though. With Randolph's injury, he had every excuse to revert to smallball; for the most part, he resisted that temptation, playing normal lineups for 37 of our 48 minutes, and saving smallball for moments when the Kings' front line was weak. If we had lost this game, it would have been due to wretched execution by the players, not miscoaching. Nellie was just fine here.
6) Credit to
the ESPN recap on this tidbit: this win re-tied the all-time Warriors/Kings series at 178-178. That just feels right.
7) Andris Biedrins looks to be a-okay; last night was the first time where he really looked like his old, mobile self. He looks a damn bit better than Ronny, who was noticeably hobbling even before getting re-injured. It's time for Nellie to re-insert Beans into the starting lineup, give him 30+ minutes every night and call some screen-and-rolls. This guy can really help us.
8) Monta was excellent, and it's nice to see him with a team-best +15 in plus-minus. The dude certainly earned it.
9) Having said that, it's worth paying attention to the play that iced this win. Monta got into his normal tunnel-visiony mode again in the fourth, missing five of eight shots in the final eight minutes; his move that won the game for us was his drive-and-kick-back to Morrow for a three. When that fell, Fitz said triumphantly, "sometimes you have to help your superstar!" True enough. But sometimes, your superstar has to learn how to help himself. Both things happened on that play. And the more Monta weaves himself back into a team-wide offensive attack, the better off we'll be.
10) Morrow's spazzy celebration of his make put a huge smile on my face. There's never been a Warrior that's easier to root for.
Randolph's injury was, of course, not awesome, and is a far bigger negative than any positive that can be drawn from a home-court survival of a fellow also-ran. Good thoughts to Anthony, and to the team, which will be hard-pressed to compete in his absence; our frontcourt situation is once again dire. But while his injury does and indeed should overshadow this win, this win was satisfying. Not all of our clouds come with silver linings.
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