Category: Golden State Warriors

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: It’s not L.A. or N.Y. but with Curry & LeBron it’s still TV marketing genius

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–Before I covered any other team in the Bay Area I had the chance to cover the San Francisco Warriors at the Cow Palace in the late 60s before they moved to Oakland in 1971. The Cow Palace was the first place I covered basketball and the Warriors always had great fans. When I talk about the best fans I mean the fans who supported this team whether they were in first or last place.

I covered the Giants for many years in the 80s and nobody cared about the Giants and the A’s struggled through the late 70s and early 80s before they went to the World Series in 1988. The Warriors have always had support and it is about time they made it to the finals and a lot of people have passed away waiting for the Warriors to win another title.

It was the 1974-75 Rick Barry-Al Attles days when they last won a championship title. It’s a beautiful thing that this finals is going to happen starting Thursday night in Oakland and I wish nothing but the best for Golden State. The Cleveland Cavaliers are a very good team also and they have one of the best players in the world in LeBron James for Cleveland and Stephen Curry for Golden State these two are money for the network.

The networks that might have hoped that the Clippers or a larger east conference team with a larger TV market would have made it. They may not get totally shutout as Curry has been one the faces of the playoffs and of course with LeBron James. LeBron is already a megastar and for TV it’s great to have LeBron and now you have Curry.

We know that the Bay Area is a great place but in a place like Kentucky they could care less about a guy like Curry but the network audience will be tuning in and they will be out to see why the Curry is the Most Valuable Player on the other side your going to see the other superstar like LeBron. This is why TV likes it because they do have established superstars and LeBron is one player who needs no introduction.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the TV Spanish voice for the Angels, the Radio Spanish voice for the A’s, and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Golden State Warriors Podcast with David Zizmor: Warriors recovering well after grueling first three rounds

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Cleveland Cavaliers are a strong and powerful club and to be able to beat the Cavs it will take a lot of physical exertion. You heard the Golden State Warriors Andrew Bogut make some comments after this series against the Houston Rockets that Memphis was exhausting. Their physical in play and they grind on you.

That’s why they call Memphis the Grindhouse, Houston is a different kind of physical Bogut said Dwight Howard of the Rockets in so many words was a dirty player and that’s not an exclusive opinion of Bogut that’s pretty much a league wide opinion. Howard has amazing talent but when he gets a little bit frustrated and gets a little bit upset he gets dirty.

We saw that when Howard did that open had fist at Bogut and we saw that with a number of technical fouls in this last series. Had this series continued into game six to Houston Howard would have been suspended for game six because he got his seventh flagrant or technical foul that is an automatic one game suspension.

So since the Rockets lost the series Howard will be suspended for game one of next year’s regular season. The bottom line is that physical play really takes a toll on the Warriors. You saw it with Steph Curry going head over heels on the Rockets Trevor Ariza landing on his head in a very scary moment in game four.

That was a pretty scary moment, Curry was bruised up and you could see in the following game five he was not as explosive or aggressive as he had been in the past. That didn’t change the fact that he didn’t play a great game he definitely changed his style a little bit because of the pain. Of course in game five Klay Thompson got kneed in the head for an awful, awful injury.

Thompson suffered a concussion and a laceration to his ear he’s the one who really needs that week off between the conference and NBA Finals. The NBA has a protocol for concussions that everybody has to follow and Thompson has to follow it now. Most people let alone basketball players recover from a concussion within ten days.

David Zizmor does Warriors commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

Sports Reporter Ron Bergman of the Oakland Tribune

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Remembering Ron Bergman former Oakland A’s beat writer

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

ANAHEIM–Ron “Bergy” Bergman documented and coined the phrase the “Swingin’ A’s” during the 1970’s and the Oakland Athletics dynasty(1972-73-74)winning three consecutive World Series, they are the only team that has done that, winning three World Series in a row aside from the New York Yankees in Major League baseball history. The Yankees won five straight World Series the fifth one being in 1953. Bergman passed away at age 80.

Everybody that knew him called him “Bergy”.he was born in Philadelphia, January 1, 1935. Graduated from Washington High School in San Francisco was the sports editor for Cal-Berkeley of the Daily Californian from 1959-1960, previously served his country in the US Navy from 1955 to 1957. Worked for the Oroville Mercury Register, the Oakland Tribune, the Associated Press, and the San Jose Mercury News.

Today players and co-workers alike expressed their feelings in remembering “Bergy”, and these where some the words most used: skilled, witty, fair, honest, story-teller. Aside from the Oakland Athletics he also covered the Oakland Raiders and the Golden State Warriors. Ron Bergman also covered other stories, aside from sports, like the last Beatles concert which was held at Candlestick Park, San Francisco in 1966.

He was always curious searching for information and every time I spoke with him, in the press box at the Oakland Coliseum he would asked me stuff about Hispanic players and gave me his opinions on many issues, as we chatted and spoke mostly about baseball.

Ron passed this Thursday at Sunrise of Oakland Hills, Oakland, California, of complications from Parkinson’s disease; surviving children are Anne and Adam, his former wife Sally, his brother Jim and two grandchildren. This past March Nick Peters passed, followed in April,by Lon Simmons, they must be building a heck of a league in Heaven.

Rest in Peace Bergy.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Angels, the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: A blast from the past the 1974-75 Golden State Warriors

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

Yes, I remember that championship season, and yes I covered those Golden State Warriors under coach Al Attles. After they won it all, a big celebratory rally was held at Union Square in San Francisco. I was walking a couple of blocks away from Union Square, with my big Superscope tape recorder to get some audio for the station I was working for KOFY 1050AM, then a Spanish format radio station. In those days I was also working for Dean Witter, a stock brokerage firm in the financial district. As I walked towards Union Square, I ran into Bill King, Voice of the Warriors, who was wearing short pants, purple socks and Jesus sandals. He was also going to be at the rally with the owner Franklin Meuli, Coach Al Attles and all the players. It was a happy and pleasant day in The City.

These where your 1975 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. They ended the regular season with a 48-34 record and defeated the Seattle Supersonics on the Western Division Conference Semifinals; then went on to beat the Chicago Bulls in the Western Conference Finals, and finally they shocked the NBA by sweeping the Washington Bullets in four games during the NBA Finals.

Rick Barry was the Most Valuable Player 29.5 points per game. Jamaal Wilkes aka Silk, Phil Smith, from the University of San Francisco (whose father was a cable car operator in San Francisco) Derek Dickey, Jeff Mullins, Charles Johnson, Butch Beard, the intimidating Clifford Ray, George Johnson with a great Afro hairstyle, Charles Dudley, Bill Bridges and Steve Bracey.

This bunch beat the heavily favorite Washington team that under coach K.C Jones finished with a 60-22 record. Wes Unseld, Kevin Porter, Phil Chenier, Mike Riordan, Clem Haskins, Nick Weahterspoon, Truck Robinson, Dick Gibbs, Tom Koselko and Dennis DuVal.

In 1975, the President of the United States was Gerald R. Ford and the Vietnam War came to an end. A gallon of gasoline in the United States was .44 cents, the average price of a new automobile was $4,250, average cost of a new home was $39,300, average income per year was $14,100, average monthly rent was $200, the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series, “The Big Red Machine”, in the American League, the Oakland A’s won the Western Division with 98-64, while in the National League the San Francisco Giants finished in third place in the West with a 80-81 record.

Where were you in 1975? Where you yet to be born? Or where you in the Bay Area when the Warriors won their first NBA title.

It is good to remember.

Good luck to the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors, in their quest for their second world title.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the TV Spanish voice for the Angels and Radio Spanish voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors to NBA Finals For First Time In 40 Years

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By: Ben Leonard

Golden streams and confetti. It’s been a long time coming.

After generations of “what-ifs” and “could haves,” the Golden State Warriors finally reached the promised land, the NBA Finals, for the first time since 1975. Stephen Curry looked strong after his scary moment in Game Four, and his 26 points helped bring the Warriors to basketball’s biggest stage in a 104-90 win over the Houston Rockets.

Curry, his Warriors, and their fans will savor this moment for years to come. They’ll take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals, but that didn’t phase the crowd at Oracle Arena. They’ve backed Curry and these Warriors all season long, through thick and through thin, and Wednesday was no exception.

After another sluggish start to the first, in which the Warriors found themselves down as many as eight points, the Warriors found their midseason form and were able to win a tightly contested game. The Rockets gave it their all, with six players in double figures, including James Harden’s 14. However, Harden turned the ball over 13 times, the most in NBA single game playoff history. Harden had received flak from rapper “Lil B” for stealing his dance move, and his attendance in Oakland on Wednesday seemed to rattle him.

The Warriors didn’t win it in the prettiest fashion, leaving Klay Thompson with a bloodied ear and leaving the fans relatively out of the “splash” zone. He left the game and could have been used, but was not needed. Outside of Thompson and his 4 for 6 outing from long range, none of the Warriors found the bottom of the net, making just 9 of 29 three point attempts.

But it didn’t matter in the end. Harden’s turnovers and Harrison Barnes, Curry, and Thompson combining to score 70 points put the nail in the coffin for the overmatched Rockets. If anything, as with the San Francisco Giants, this series showed that heart and chemistry transcends talented individual players.

This is not to say that the Warriors are untalented, but is rather a testament to the fact that the Warriors actually like each other. You won’t see the Rockets with each other outside of the team facilities. This is truly a special team.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Let’s face it any concussion should be approached with caution but Curry slated to start anyway for game five

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

The Golden State Warriors have a lot of pieces and they all fit together well and the Warriors have the best team this year in the NBA. However without Stephen Curry in the line up as he was out for part of game four on Monday night things changed quickly. When Curry was laying still after doing a semi summersault in the second quarter over the Houston Rockets Trevor Ariza in the 128-115 loss.

You don’t want that player especially in the playoffs to get injured and the Warriors are thriving now, their moving, and they got their pedal all the way down to the metal. You can not afford to have Curry out for game five on Wednesday and for the rest of this round with the Rockets.

Obviously the best news for the Warriors they have a 3-1 lead on Houston so if push comes to shove and Curry cannot play on Wednesday night in Oakland they can still lose a game and they would not have lost the series. They have a cushion a 3-1 lead that’s the best news for Golden State. The team shouldn’t rush him and he should be ready to play on Wednesday and if he’s still suffering the effects of the concussion from Monday night he should not be rushed to play.

Ray McDonald is finished with the NFL: This is the third time for a domestic violence related arrest for former San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears defensive end Ray McDonald with the question that begs to ask what team would want him now? McDonald was let go by the Bears on Monday and he didn’t even play one down with the team after being acquired from them during this off season.

The fact that he’s gone through this three times means he’s got a problem, he definitely has a domestic violence problem and we spoke about this on this show. In the NFL he’s not alone there are a lot of guys like him who need help. This is the third time the NFL has to take very serious action. The Bears cut him immediately and the league will probably suspend him for the rest of the season and let this man get some therapy and get some help because he needs it.

The relationship with McDonald and the Bears didn’t last very long and his career is over unless he’s really seriously gets cleaned up from that big problem that is domestic violence and it’s a bad habit and it’s a bad situation for McDonald and his family to be in. I understand why the Bears let him go and now his career is in jeopardy.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the TV Spanish voice for the Angels and the radio Spanish voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary weekly at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below

Rockets force Game 5 with high-scoring win over Warriors

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By: Eric He

It was an emotional game, a chaotic game, one that saw the Warriors lose and then suddenly re-gain their leader, put up a valiant fight, only to lose in the end.

With a 128-115 win in Game 4 on Monday night, the Rockets stayed alive and forced a Game 5 back at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night.

Stephen Curry left the game in the second quarter with a head injury but returned in the third quarter after an entire nation’s worth of basketball fans held their collective breaths.

The Warriors cut a 15-point lead down to six in the fourth quarter on threes from Klay Thompson and Curry. But a 104-98 advantage for the Rockets quickly went back up to 13 on a 8-0 run by James Harden with 6:39 to play.

They never recovered, unable to cut the lead down to more than eight.

Harden finished with a game-high 45 points and was 7-of-11 from three-point range, making pivotal shots that stopped more than a few Golden State runs.

With 5:52 to play in the second quarter, Curry exited the game after falling hard contesting a layup attempt by Trevor Ariza. Curry fell hard on his head and stayed down for several minutes. He was diagnosed with a head contusion and did not return.

The Warriors were down 55-36 at the time of Curry’s departure, but surprisingly picked it up without their MVP. Thompson stepped up and knocked down jumper after jumper; a three by Leandro Barbosa cut the lead down to 61-51 with 3:16 to play.

Curry finished with 23 points, even with the injury. Thompson was the Warriors’ high scorer with 24 points.

Golden State trailed 69-59 at halftime.

They trimmed the lead into single digits several times during the third quarter, but the Rockets responded with a strong close to the quarter. A three by Harden put the Rockets up 90-71, and they led 99-84 heading into the fourth.

The Warriors got off to an abysmal start, allowing the Rockets to shoot 77.3 percent from the floor in the first quarter. Houston scored the game’s first 12 points as Josh Smith knocked down two three-pointers.

A dunk by Dwight Howard capped off a 19-3 start by the Rockets, and not even Curry’s three-point prowess could counteract Houston’s dream start.

The Rockets ended the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 45-22 lead after one.

Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard, left, and Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut, right, go after a rebound during the first half in Game 3 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals Saturday, May 23, 2015, in Houston. AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Warriors Dominate Rockets Take 3-0 Series Lead

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AP Photo/David J. Phillip

By Jeff Hall

HOUSTON –

The Warriors displayed total  domination in game three and completely outplayed the Houston Rockets on their home floor. The Warriors blasted the Rockets with a 115-80 win.

Both teams struggled early on the offensive end in the early minutes of the game The Rockets shot 36.8 percent in the first quarter. The Rockets got off to another slow start in the series and missed 10 of their first 16 field goal attempts.

The Warriors had a 12point lead at the end of the first quarter. Andrew Bogut got off to a great start with 10 early points and began the game 4 of 4 from the field. The Warriors spread the floor well in the early going and had 10 assists as a team. The Warriors shot 46.2 percent in the first quarter and the Rockets shot 36.8 percent The Warriors led 30-18 at the end of the first.

Stephan Curry had three first quarter points and three assists.

The Rockets did a great job of keeping Curry quiet at least in the early going on offense, for a large part of the first half, but the Warriors showed that they have so many weapons to put points up on the board and proved to the Rockets that the Warriors have strength from all over the floor.

Both Bogut and Dwight Howard got into foul trouble, each with 3 fouls in the first half.

The Warriors took a 17 point lead in the second quarter and The Rockets began to show frustration when Jason Terry Committed a Foul on a Curry 3-point attempt. Curry made all three of the free-throws to give the Warriors their largest lead of the game and when curry began to perform the way he normally does, the game began to get away from the home team Rockets.

James Harden, like many of the Rockets did not have a very good start in the first half. Harden was one 0f eight from he field and had just 8 first half points. Dwight Howard was five of eight from the field scoring 12 first half points

At the half, the Warriors had a 25 point lead over the Rockets, The Rockets poor shooting in the first half put them far behind and a spread out offense of the Warriors. Curry led the way with 18 first half points.

The Warriors had a 63-37 first half lead.

In the third quarter the Warriors got of to a rocky start, that was until Curry did what Curry does and started making shots high off the glass and from beyond the arc and the Warriors went on an 8-0 run half way through the third quarter

Curry scored 40 points and was seven of nine from 3-point range.  Curry left the game with four minutes remaining in the game

James Harden led the Rockets in scoring with 17 points. Harden was  three of sixteen from the field

The Rockets shot 33.7 percent from the field and were out rebounded by the Warriors 60-39.

Notes: With the win the Warriors have won six straight playoff games

Curry passed Indiana Pacers Reggie Miller for the most 3-pointers in a single postseason. Curry passed Miller playing nine less playoff games

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: Rockets have Harden, Cavs have LeBron & W’s have multiple weapons

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by David Zizmor

The Houston Rockets have James Harden and he gets some help from Dwight Howard whose been injured for most of the year and they lost a couple other good players to injuries in various stretches of the season. Harden has done a lot for the Rockets in helping them achieve their success so far and that’s the main reason why some folks argue that Harden should be the MVP instead of the Warriors Stephen Curry. For a good portion of the season Harden was by himself because Howard was out hurt.

I don’t agree with them but it’s a fair case to make, Harden is a fantastic basketball player and at times is unguardable as we’ve seen in this series. If you watch that game on Thursday in the fourth quarter when Harden really got going it was nothing you could do about it. The Warriors Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes had great coverage on Harden.

Thompson and Barnes provided good strong defense and they forced Harden to take some really difficult shots but he was hitting every single one of them. Guys that are as good as Harden go through periods like that where no matter what you do and no matter how strong your defense it’s never going to be enough.

Curry is the same way and Thompson can be the same way, Thompson scored 37 points in a quarter because of one those hot streaks, we’ve seen it plenty of times in Oakland where a Warriors player gets on fire you can’t stop them no matter what you try to do. Harden is that guy from the Rockets there’s not a lot of those guys in the league.

The Warriors are unfortunately playing several of them in this post season, like the New Orleans Pelicans Anthony Davis, the Memphis Grizzlies have some offensive players Marcus Gasol and Zach Randolph, and with this Rockets team Harden is as tough as they come before Golden State has to possibly face the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron.

David Zizmor does Golden State Warriors commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

Harden’s Buzzer-Beater Blunder Lets Warriors Escape with Game Two Win 99-98

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

It was a dream situation for coach Kevin McHale with the second Most Valuable Player holding the rock with the chance at a game winning shot as the clock ticked off its final seconds.

It turned into a nightmare when James Harden failed to even hoist up a potential buzzer beater. Harden’s Houston Rockets instead fell to the Golden State Warriors 99-98 Thursday night at Oracle Arena and now trail the Western Conference Finals 2-0.

In game one the Warriors trailed early before mounting a comeback for the victory, but Thursday appeared to be a reversal of fortunes. Houston trailed by 12 51-39 with 5 minutes left in the first half but managed to outscore the hosts 16-4 down the stretch to head to the half tied at 55-all.

The Warriors outscored the Rockets 22-20 in an evenly played 3rd frame, building up to the drama of the 4th. Twice, Golden State built a six-plus point lead over the final 12 minutes, but couldn’t put away the visitors.

With just 1:39 left in regulation and Houston trailing 98-90, James Harden went on to score six consecutive Rockets points to only one made free throw by Draymond Green for the Dubs. With 33 seconds left, the architect of the near comeback Harden found Dwight Howard for an alley oop to put the Rockets down by just one.

The Warriors still maintained the final position and seemed content to drain the clock and force Houston to take the game winner after Harrison Barnes missed the lay-up with 7 seconds left. Harden rebounded the ball and streaked to the other end of the court seeking a mid-range jumper. Instead he lost possession of the ball, and ultimately a chance at the game winning shot.

Despite showing his frustration by knocking over a set of curtains on his way off the court, Harden performed exceptionally Thursday, coming an assist shy of a triple-double after scoring 38 points and pulling down 10 boards while only going to the free throw line 10 times. Howard, deemed good to go after Josh Smith landed awkwardly on his leg in game one, played 40 minutes and collected a double-double with 17 boards and 19 points.

The Rockets appeared to forget that Stephen Curry wears the crown as reigning MVP, because throughout the night the Human Torch found himself wide open from beyond the arch. He punished Houston to the tune of 33 points over 36 minutes, including 5 treys on 11 attempts. Andrew Bogut, named to the second-team all defense earlier in the day, rebound from what he dubbed a poor performance in game one to score 14 points. First-team all defense award winner Draymond Green pitched in 12, while All-Defense snub Thompson pitched in 13.

The series now shifts to Houston and the Toyota Center where the Rockets went 30-11 in the regular season. Game 3 tips off Saturday night a 6 p.m.