OK so there was a little time for being a fan yesterday as a couple of members of the traveling party took in the 49ers - Redskins game at Monster Park or "Whoever-has-the-money-to-put-the-name-on-it-these-days" Stadium that will forever be known to me as Candlestick Park a.k.a. "The Stick".
It was a great afternoon as San Francisco won it on a last second field goal. Good to see the Niners hire Mike Singletary right after the game. Gotta love the old school football guys that demand professionalism from some of the new wave of overpaid prima donna's that think they are professionals. The game was a nice diversion from the usual road routine, although it just meant working a bit later to get the game prep done.
If you are the Toronto Raptors, playing the Golden State Warriors is akin to the anticipation of bad weather. It could be really bad, worse than you expected, it could be much ado about nothing or something in between. The Warriors, with healthy personnel in Don Nelson's "run, shoot, substitute" system can wreak havoc. Witness what they did to the Dallas Mavericks a couple of seasons ago in the playoffs as their playground style took down the team with the best record in the NBA. But even though the Warriors are struggling in the tough western conference, Nelson could see a difficult year ahead and admitted to me back in October at the Air Canada Centre that they would not be very good this year. They are still dangerous because of the style they play. Just ask the Celtics. The challenge for the Raptors will be to curtail some of the things at which the Warriors excel that they normally struggle with regularly.
While Golden State is only 9-22 following a loss (130-113 loss last night to the Lakers) they have only played 12 home games, where they are 5-7. The NBA's youngest team is one of the best on the break, fourth in the NBA in fast break scoring. But transition defence is only one of Toronto's concerns. The Warriors lead the league in offensive rebounding and largely because of that stat, they also lead the league in second chance points. But it's not like the Raptors won't have their chance to do some damage at the other end. Golden State plays one end of the floor and it's almost as if they don't even want to go back to try and defend as they rank near the bottom in many defensive categories.
Here's the laundry list:
30th points allowed
28th opponent's three point percentage defence
30th opponent's rebounding - giving up more rebounds than any team in the league
30th in opponent's assists.
So if you want to watch offense tonight, don't blink because you might miss something when Golden State has the ball. Jamal Crawford, recently acquired from the Knicks, made history recently when he scored 50 points against Charlotte joining some elite company. Wilt Chamberlain, Bernard King and Moses Malone are the only other players in NBA history to notch a 50 point game for three different teams. Crawford dropped one of his 50 point jobs on Toronto when he was a member of the Chicago Bulls.
In truth this franchise, led by Baron Davis the last few years is really struggling at present. And by the sounds of it, after last night's game in Los Angeles, it sure sounds like Baron Davis isn't finding the grass greener on the other side and would like to return to the Warriors.
Golden State's captain, Stephen Jackson clarified some remarks he made earlier that were interpreted as a trade demand. "Captain Jack" said he doesn't want to be one of those guys that takes the money and runs. It was frustration that got the better of him when he made utterances about recently saying he was not happy playing in Golden State and would welcome a trade.
