Category: Golden State Warriors

W’s close season at Denver, win 117-112

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By George Devine, Sr.

The Warriors won the last game of the regular season, `116-112 at Denver, secure in their possession of a sixth-seed in the NBA playoffs. Knowing that this matchup would not affect their future, the visitors played their bench. Jason Crawford rose to the occasion, scoring a career-high 41 points (his previous mark was 39), and Harrison Barnes poured in 30. Klay Thompson was the only first-stringer to start; he played 8 minutes and scored 8 points. Draymond Green came in late in the game when Hilton Armstrong fouled out.

Steph Curry and David Lee were on the bench in street clothes, after coach Mark Jackson’s decision to rest both of them for this game.

Randy Foye was the high scorer for Denver with 32. Anthony Randolph hit his high for the season with 19.

This will be the second consecutive year of postseason play for Golden State. But after a cracked rib injury was diagnosed, it seems certain the team will be without the services of center Andrew Bogut as the dance begins. Though Bogut is good for an average of only 7.3 points per game, his 7-foot frame is an amazing deterrent in the paint and he typically contributes 10 rebounds. It would be safe to say he prevents more field goals than he scores.

The Warriors travel to Los Angeles to face the third-seeded Clippers in the Western Conference playoffs with the first round tipping off at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Saturday, April 19.

Warriors win, grab 6th seed

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By George Devine, Sr.

The Golden State Warriors electrified a sellout crowd at Oracle Arena with a 130-120 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, after being behind by 15 at one point. This means Golden State has now secured the 6th seed in the NBA playoffs.

The W’s did it without the services of center Andrew Bogut. Bogut, who has been a key to Golden State’s inside defense, was examined the previous evening for a rib injury and it was found to be a fracture. His ability to take part in the playoffs is uncertain.

Stephen Curry was sizzling in the first half but slowed down later. His point total was 32, spread over 41:57. Moreover, he contributed 15 assists. Picking it up in the second half were David Lee with 25 points and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, both with 20. Lee had 9 rebounds and Green 12. Both were in danger with 4 fouls. Jermaine O’Neal had 10 points.

For Minnesota, Kevin Love scored 40 and had 9 assists. Corey Brewer played for 40:37 and hit for 22, contributing 5 assists. Gorgul Dieng and Keri Martin each had 14 points; Dieng had 11 boards. Ricky Rubio added 15 points.

The Warriors’ next game is at Denver on Wednesday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. PDT.

Curry shines but Warriors lose in OT

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By George Devine, Sr.
The lead changed 16 times in the Warriors-Trailblazers nailbiter at Oracle Arena, and the four regulation periods were not enough to settle the contest, which ended in a 119-117 win for Portland. The outcome assures the visitors at least a fifth-seed in the NBA playoffs. Portland has won 4 straight games and 8 of their last 9. The Dubs are now two games behind the victors and will need to win one of their next two games to clinch the sixth-seed.
In the last period of regulation, Draymond Green hit a three-pointer for Golden State to tie the score and Wesley Matthews’ attempt to do likewise failed. The field goal which gave the Blazers the lead for good, with just under 40 seconds left in OT, was scored by LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 26 points on the evening. Damian Lillard contributed a free throw before Andre Iguodala missed a trey with just under 3 seconds left. Matthews — who scored 24 points of his own — got the rebound ad that was the end of the game.The point totals for Aldridge and Matthews would have been impressive, had Golden State’s Stephen Curry not scored 47. This was the third time this season that he has come in at over 40. In the first half alone, he notched 21, which is a formidable number for any player in the NBA.
In other scoring: Klay Thompson added 25 for the home team and Iguodala had 15. For Portland, Nicolas Batum came in at 18, Robin Lopez was good for 16 and Lillard pitched in with 13..
In close games like this one, many individual factors can make a difference. One which could have proved decisive was the fact that center Andrew Bogut — who is key to Golden State’s defense, especially inside — was not on the court during the overtime period. He was reported to be having an X-ray for a possible rib injury. Whether or not he will be able to play in the game against Minnesota at Oakland is not yet determined. His history of recent injury problems has been a significant problem for the Warriors.
The game against the Timberwolves tips off at 7:30 p.m. PDT on Monday, April 14 at Oracle.

Warriors report: W’s will need tight strategy in the paint to shut down Clips Griffin and Paul in post season

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–It’s always nice to beat the Lakers when you clinch for a playoff and for the Warriors it was nice to beat the Lakers when you do it on the road at the Staples Center where the Lakers have been so successful. This is historic, the Warriors haven’t made the playoffs in back to back seasons in more than 20 years and it’s a really big deal.

As Stephen Curry said after the game on Friday night the ticking off of particular goals and one of them is they have to sustain success and going to the playoffs consecutive years is another step in that direction to become a contender. It’s a really big deal and you can’t down play this enough.

For the Warriors to acheive back to back playoffs is an important milestone for the Warriors and it’s a great step in the right direction for this franchise whose goal it is to be a contender and their one of the destination teams in the league and the Warriors are well on their way to doing that. The win on Friday only puts them in a position to clinch a sixth seed in the Western Conference.

It’s not official yet things could change given how the Warriors and the Trailblazers have played in the last three or four games. The Warriors still have a chance at clinching the fifth spot but if the season ended today and most likely it will end like it is today the Warriors will have the sixth seed.

That means they’ll play the Clippers and that is bound to be a crazy good first round match ups it will probably will be one of the marquee match ups in all of the playoffs as they’re fantastically fun teams to watch. On the Warriors side you have the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Clay Thompson who can shoot from long range.

The Warriors also have Andre Iguodala, David Lee, Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes, all these quality scoring players who just put it on the line everytime they go out there on the floor. On the other side of the ball you have the Clippers who have been playing fantastic basketball the second half of the season.

Doc Rivers came over from the Celtics to coach the Clips and has done an amazing job of making this team live up to it’s potential.The Clippers Chris Paul even though he missed about 20 games earlier in the season is finally back at full strength as we all know he’s one of the best point guards in the NBA and Blake Griffin has taken his team up to another level. Griffin won’t win the MVP but he’s going to be the third or fourth guy in balloting which is a big accomplishment.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Curry’s Triple-Double, Romping of Lakers Clinches Playoff Berth for Warriors

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By Matthew Harrington

The Golden State Warriors locked in their spot in the 2014 NBA Playoffs Friday night at the Staples Center, riding a Stephen Curry triple-double to a 112-95 dismantling of the host Los Angeles Lakers. By matching or outscoring the Lakers (25-54) in all but one quarter the Dubs clinched their second-consecutive playoff berth under coach Mark Jackson and their first back-to-back postseason qualifications since 1992.

Warriors All-Star Curry fired off 30 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds over 34 minutes for his fifth-career triple-double. Klay Thompson and reserve Marreese Speights finished with 16 points apiece. David Lee joined Curry in double-digit rebounded with 10 boards.

Nick Young paced the forum purple with 25 points, and Jordan Hill and Ryan Kelly pitched in 18 and 14 respectively. Hill also had a game-high 12 points.

Golden State (49-30) nailed 48.9 percent of shots attempted, including a 13-for-25 clip from beyond the arc. The injury-riddled Lakers hit 39.3 percent of their field goals including only 9-of-28 from downtown. The Warriors dominated the glass with 57 rebounds to LA’s 42.

Both sides finished the first 12 minutes with 26 points. The Warriors rode a huge second quarter to pull ahead 58-42, notching 32 second-quarter points to Los Angeles’ 17. Golden State survived a Lakers 26-25 third quarter scoring margin before finishing off the home team with a 29-26 run to wrap up a playoff bid.

For now, the Warriors sit 1.5 games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for sixth-place in the Western Conference with Golden State boasting a game in hand. The Portland Trailblazers sit 2.5 games ahead of the Warriors with three games remaining for the Dubs meaning in all likelihood, Golden State will be returning to Los Angeles and the Staples Center to face the third-seed Clippers when the playoffs begin. For now, the task at hand for Jackson’s side is a showdown with the Blazers on Sunday in Portland before the second half of a back-to-back against Minnesota at Oracle. The Warriors then get a chance to wrap up the regular season with revenge against the Denver Nuggets, 100-99 winners in a April 10th showdown in Oakland.

Warriors lose heartbreaker to Mozgov, Nuggets, fail to clinch playoff birth

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By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (48-29) lost the Denver Nuggets (34-44) in ugly fashion, 100-99, Thursday night, at Oracle Arena. Losing by one point doesn’t look so bad on it’s face, but the Warriors let a 20-point lead slip away, got out-worked for long stretches, were thoroughly dominated on the glass, and couldn’t convert on their first chance to seal a playoff birth. Stephen Curry nearly saved the day with a last-second floater, but wouldn’t be outdone by Kenneth Faried, who followed with one of his own.

The Warriors played well out of the gate. They quickly built a double-digit lead, a lead that grew to 20 just four minutes into the second quarter. From there the momentum swung to Denver’s favor, and for Golden State it all went down hill. The Nuggets kept chipping away, as the Warriors play slipped. Denver finally grabbing their first lead of the contest half way through the fourth.

Curry did his best Superman impression to try and salvage the win, but came up just short. He scored the Warriors last eight points to bring them back, very briefly giving them the lead. The last two of those points were a thing of beauty. With less then a minute to play, Curry somehow came down with a rebound, took it the length of the court weaving through several defenders, and floated a shot over Denver’s big front court. The shot gave Golden State a 99-98 lead with five seconds to play.

Unfortunately for Curry and the Warriors, Faried countered with his best Kryptonite impression. In those five remaining seconds he received an inbound pass, backed down Draymond Green, got up a floater of his own that he would sink to drown Golden State’s hopes for a win.

Faried may have hit the game winner, but the night belonged to Timofey Mozgov. The big center scored 23 points to go along with a career-high, and an NBA-high this season, 29 rebounds. He also had three blocks and a steal. Faried chipped in a big double-double as well, adding 18 points and 17 boards.

In the losing effort, Curry was the standout, but did struggle with his shot for much of the night in the face of heavy pressure from the Denver defense. He had a team-high 24 points, six assists, and four steals. Klay Thompson was their only other consistent offensive option, contributing 21 points.

Unfortunately Golden State’s other three starters had very poor nights. Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala, and Draymond Green combined for 14 points, on six-of-15 shooting.

The Warriors will have another shot at clinching tomorrow night in Los Angeles, when they will be facing off with the Lakers at the Staples Center. The game begins at 7:30 PM.

Warriors update report: A Lacob A’s purchase could be his gift to Oakland for moving Warriors to the City

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by Ken Gimblin and David Zizmor

OAKLAND–If Joe Lacob and the Golden State Warriors were able to purchase the Oakland A’s and move them to the Howard Street Terminal at Jack London Square and build a new stadium at the Jack London Waterfront. The A’s are valued at a baseball modest price of $500 million and it would be Lacob’s tribute to the city of Oakland in saving the A’s from leaving town while he plans to take the Warriors to San Francisco.

Lacob is a work in progress on two fronts as the Warriors are in a political battle to try and defeat Proposition B the San Francisco Waterfront height requirement that limits the size of any development over 40-105 feet on the city’s Embarcadero. The voters will be asked in June if the height limit shall be enforced as the Warriors are looking to build a brand new arena at Piers 30-32 but they have been met with much opposition in the Embarcadero neighborhood. Prop B is most likely to pass if put in front of the voters in the San Francisco June election.

Meanwhile Lacob has approached A’s owner John Fisher about the sale of the A’s and Fisher has made it clear that the A’s are not for sale something that Fisher’s business parter Lew Wolff has indicated. Wolff who has stated several times that Jack London Square is a not a viable site for the A’s and he would like to move the team to downtown San Jose but with the Giants territorial rights in place the A’s are bound in Oakland and Alameda County.

The only question that has remained is how long will Fisher and Wolff hold out at the Oakland Coliseum, the management and players have complained about the sewage, water, rain drain, locker room issues at the park just for starts and the A’s want out of the Coliseum. When asked about building a new stadium at Jack London Square and the Howard Street Terminal Wolf said that Jack London Square is not a viable location for the A’s and the A’s have their hearts set on moving to San Jose.

Meanwhile San Jose Mayor Chuck Reid and the city are suing Major League Baseball for the league to clear the territorial rights of the Giants and allow the A’s to move to San Jose. That the A’s have said they want to move to San Jose and that MLB should not allow the Giants to stand in the way of the move. But none the less the document stating the Giants have territorial rights makes it clear the A’s can not move to San Jose.

This brings Fisher and Wolff right back to the drawing board and at some point will the A’s realize that running around on a hamster’s wheel or another Ground Hog Day at the Coliseum continue? Then they might realize they have to live with the Coliseum (that’s the only way they’ll be able to keep the team) or will they sell it to the highest bidder who will keep the team in Oakland and build a downtown stadium for the team.

The Warriors could be one of two major suitors to buy the A’s, the other interested parties are Dryer’s Ice Cream and Clorox. The A’s are concerned about corporate sponsorship but these suitors seem to believe if they can purchase the A’s they also can take care of corportate sponsorship in Oakland.

In the meantime for Lacob he will have to wait to see when and what Fisher and Wolff will do as they bide their time in the rickety Oakland Coliseum a place they want to vacate as soon as possible. If they continue to spin their wheels they might have to face that day when they must sell the A’s and the Warriors for one would be a fitting customer knowing all that Lacob has done in owning sports franchises.

David Zizmor covers the NBA and Ken Gimblin is covering the arena developments for the Warriors and the Sacramento Kings for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors beat Jazz 130-102

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by George Devine, Sr.

The Warriors continued to advance their playoff prospects with a decisive 130-102 win over the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena. The score was Golden State’s highest for the season.

Although Klay Thompson scored 35 points, Stephen Curry was just as impressive with 31 points–more than one in each of 29 minutes–and a career-high 16 assists. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala each had 11; Harrison Barnes and Jordan Crawford each had 10. Of Thompson’s 11 field goals, Curry assisted on 8. This was the first game in which Curry and Thompson both scored over 30 points. Curry made half of his 10 3-point attempts.

Golden State shot 100% from the charity stripe and outdid Utah in percentages on field goals (57.8-45.3) and three-pointers (51.5-30.8) despite committing 16 turnovers to the visitors’ 12. The Jazz were a mere 71.4% on free throws, considerably below the standard for the NBA. The home team was in triple digits before the third period ended.

The victory gave the W’s their first season sweep over the Jazz. The return of Andrew Bogut to the court, after a bruise in the pelvic area, strengthened the inside defense and befuddled Utah. Still, Trey Burke impressed with 24 points and 15 assists; Alec Burks also scored 24. Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward each had 10 points.

David Lee remained inactive, for the sixth straight time, with a sprained right hamstring, and an MRI revealed a nerve inflammation which could keep him on the bench for at least the rest of the regular season.

Assistant coach Darren Erman was also missing, on a more permanent basis. He was fired the previous day for “a violation of company policy” according to the team’s administration. Another assistant, Brian Scalabrine, was reassigned recently to the team’s NBA developmental league team in Santa Cruz, California, owing to “philosophical differences” with head coach Mark Jackson.
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Warriors commentary: It’s a tale of two different meetings with the Spurs and the Kings

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by David Zizmor’

OAKLAND–For the Warriors this past week they played in San Antonio the hottest team in the league and then turned around and played the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at the Coliseum Arena and held the Kings to 69 points. The Spurs have won 19 in a row and when the Warriors lost to the Spurs they weren’t playing with Andre Iguodala, Andrew Bogut, or David Lee all of whom were out with injuries.

Then you add in the fact that the Spurs are the hottest team in the NBA and the Warriors playing in the Alamodome is the hardest place to play in the NBA where they lost on 111-90 on Wednesday night. The Warriors haven’t won a regular season game there since 1996. It’s just a rough spot and the Warriors were going to have a rough time of it.

For the game against Sacramento it was back home for Golden State and they got their big man back on Friday night as Iguodala was back for that game. It was one of those cases where the Warriors had a really good game and when the Warriors are good their tough to beat. The Kings are already a bad team and when a bad team has a particularly bad game chances are they’re going to get steamrolled and the Warriors beat the Kings by 40 points 102-69.

This game was out of hand by the second quarter and you can even say by the end of the first quarter, the Kings couldn’t hit a shot. Part of it was the Warriors defense, part of it was just bad play by the Kings, also part of it was DeMarcus Cousins was probably the best player with Sacramento and he left the game with about a minute and a half in the game.

With Lee and Bogut out of this game the Kings attacked the middle and the Kings game plan just completely fell by the way side, the Kings were just completely discombobulated and they just didn’t know what to do. The Kings whole offensive game plan disintegrated and the Warriors were able to harrass them enough to keep them from getting any good shots whatsoever.

The Kings simply weren’t prepared and part of that is the Kings are just not a good team and they don’t particularly have good talent and part of it was the Warriors were playing very good defense the combination of the two put the Warriors ahead by about 15 in the first quarter and by 30 by the end of the second and by the middle of the third quarter they were playing the back up guys.

It gave some rest for the Warriors starters and Stephen Curry didn’t play that much, he got his 13 points and exited to have an nice easy night and it was a good chance for the Warriors to get themselves right and give them a little more confidence going into this final stretch here in the last couple of weeks in April.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Warriors arena at Piers 30-32: SF Mayor Lee damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t on Prop B endorsement

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos and former candidate for San Francisco mayor Quentin Kopp (now a San Mateo County judge) asked for the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors, Former mayors of San Francisco Dianne Fienstein, Frank Jordan, Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom and current Mayor Ed Lee to join them in supporting Proposition B the height limitation measure for any development along the 7 1/2 mile waterfront.

Three big hopeful developers were on board the Warriors who want a new arena at Piers 30-32 plus a condo tower and hotel, the Giants who want to develop retail, condos, a hotel, a themed entertainment area and restaurants at the waterfront near lot A in the Giants current parking lot, and Forest City who currently owns property and a condo development that was formerly the Presido Public Health Hospital a veterans hospital on federal land at 15th and Lake Street in the City which is known today as the Presidio Landmark want to develop their other property at Pier 70 for retail and condo space.

Under Prop B development would be restricted to 40-105 feet in height unless voters vote in favor of a speciific project that would wave the height limitation. The city held an election last year on height restrictions Props B and C that were called the 8 Washington Condos and that was killed by the voters. The 8 Washington group wanted to develop at nearby Piers 30-32 new condos and hotels and after that election it’s going to be much harder to go to the voters and ask to lift the height restriction.

Lee is in a tough spot as the Yes on B campaign is working on him to endorse B and it would benefit San Francisco and that according to the Port Commission and the Giants in the long term and that the city would profit by $8.5 billion and $124 million for affordable housing fees. The Prop B measure made the ballot after more than double the required eligible ballots came in to put the measure on the ballot.

Acknowledging the momentum for Prop B and advised that Prop B will win Lee who at one time said the Warriors new arena would be a “legacy” to his administration has now turned around and said that he will not endorse Prop B nor would he campaign against it either because he doesn’t want to offend either side and that if he supported Prop B he would have well over 18,000 voters who got the measure on the ballot pleased that he’s with them on height limits.

If Lee was to stay in the pro delvelopment camp he would have such groups as the Sierra Club, Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods and a lot of voters who want to protect the waterfront who will more than likely come out against Lee in his re-election bid for Mayor. It has been said even from Mayor Lee’s stand point that Prop B will pass in June and that any development at the waterfront will more than likely have to be approved by the voters.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings arena developments for Sportstalk radio