Category: Golden State Warriors

Kings downtown arena: Not so fast, Kings face another road block in eminent domain case

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–George Speir who represents the U.S. Bank certified co-owners of the vacant Macy’s men’s store building located at the eastern end of the downtown plaza are the only group that is holding out to sell the vancant department store. The last piece of the puzzle that will open the path for construction for the Sacramento Kings to build their new arena.

The City took the owners of the Macy’s building to court and won an eminent domain judgement to purchase the building from owners CalPERS and the certified owners for $4.35 million back on March 15th. The certified owners said the building selling price should be at $10 million and that the certified owners own the building would not get their fair share as the certified owners say the building and property is worth more than double than the $4.35 million that the city and the Kings are paying. CalPERS owns the property land portion and have agreed to sell their share.

A ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei that the property maybe sold to the city and the Kings for $4.35 million for the benefit of the city while the building is not doing any good sitting empty and CalPERS and the certified owners would lose any business by selling an empty buidling. CalPERS had no problem with selling their share but the certified owners said they’d be shortchanged in the deal. Speir says that the case will now be brought to the 3rd District Court of Appeals even though the city of Sacramento is in control of the property.

While the appeal is pending that further pushes back the time deadline set by the NBA of fall 2017 to have the arena finished, groundbreaking is scheduled for late spring (May). The NBA said that if the arena is not in place and ready to go by fall of 2017 the team will be forced to leave Sacramento and will be moved to another city.

Speir wrote on court documents that the certified owners rights are being violated and that Cadei’s ruling was a rush to judgement and that the certified owners case needs to be heard out, “the city’s needs are not grounds for taking shortcuts and ignoring the (owners) property rights.”

Assistant City manager John Dangberg said the timeline is a major factor in play now that the certified owners have filed an appeal “failure to achieve possession of the property by April 2014 will put the arena project at significant risk (and development) would come to a halt” said Dangberg.

Further the certified owners say the lawsuit filed by the city for eminent domain only covered the land and property which CalPERS owns and not the building which the certified owners own. The city and the Kings are basically $5 million apart from the $4.35 million purchase price of the vacant building which the certified owners will most likely be asking for. The Kings who have purchased most of the downtown plaza at $36 million or more than 96 percent of the mall property, may have to haggle these last $5 million with the certified owners in the court of appeals.

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

Despite Rally, Depleted Dubs Downed by Desperate Knicks

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By Matthew Harrington

With Oakland native MC Hammer sitting courtside at Oracle Arena, it was the visiting New York Knicks who brought the hammer down on the shorthanded Golden State Warriors 89-84 Sunday night. New York used a big second quarter to grab the lead before its play down the stretch in holding off a Warriors comeback bid echoed Hammer’s hit “Can’t Touch this”.

Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry continued his strong play against the Knicks, collecting his third 30-plus point performance against the Gothamites in two seasons. Curry went 10-for-21 from the field, including hitting half of his 12 three-point attempts, for 32 points in 40 minutes of play. Andre Iguodala (12) and Klay Thompson (15) also finished in double-digits in scoring, but the absence of David Lee and Andrew Bogut from the frontcourt doomed the Dubs.

Guard J.R. Smith topped the Knicks with 21 points while Carmelo Anthony went 7-of-21 from the field for 19. Amare Stoudemire reeled in a game-high 13 rebounds for the desperate Knicks (31-43) who entered Sunday sitting a game behind the Atlanta Hawks for the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

The Warriors (45-28) appeared to have the game in hand after a dominant 32-22 first quarter but the visitors fired back with a dominant second 12 minutes to take the 56- 44 halftime lead. New York stifled its host to only 12 second-quarter points while exploding for 34 of its own.

The Dubs cut the lead by four after the third frame, scoring 22 points to New York’s 18 then continued its run to nearly force a tie early in the quarter at 74-72. The Knicks would add breathing room before a Warriors 6-0 run capped by a Curry trey knotted the game at 81-81 with 2:48 left in regulation. The Knicks held the Warriors to only one basket, a three out of the hands of Thompson, down the stretch while Anthony netted four of New York’s eight points over final three minutes to hang on for the win.

Golden State hopes to have Lee back for Tuesday’s pivotal contest in Dallas with Western Conference playoff implications. The Mavericks currently sit in ninth place, outside the playoffs looking in, and are two games behind the Warriors who sit in sixth place. Bogut is not expected to play Tuesday or Wednesday night as Golden State heads to San Antonio Spurs.

Warriors commentary: The Spurs will be tough customer for Warriors if they meet in post season

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors are very familar with the San Antonio Spurs and they played them in their last series in the playoffs last post season. It was a rough six game series and in retrospect it could have gone either way if the Warriors made a few plays here and there in a couple of those games.

The Warriors know that the Spurs are going to be a tough team to beat and even without some of their top players it’s never easy to beat that team and they have a lot of experience and a great coach with Greg Poppovich.

It doesn’t matter if it’s Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili, San Antonio is tough to beat one way or the other and to be honest their the hottest team in the league right now. That definitely doesn’t help. The Spurs are playuing great basketball their on the road to locking up the number one seed and their just playing fantastic whether at home or on the road.

These games are always difficult especially for the Warriors they have various match up issues with them and some of the Warriors weaknesses play right into the strength of the Spurs so that certainly is going to be a problem. The Warriors have to look at the Spurs and say “hey we hope we don’t have to play them in the first round and someone else can knock them off so that we don’t have to play them at any point.”

That’s the best scenario the Warriors can hope for, San Antonio is going to be a tough opponent for anybody not just the Warriors you have to remember it took the Miami Heat seven games even then it was down to the last minute in game seven. San Antonio was just so close to being the defending champion. They were a fantastic team it really doesn’t seem to matter despite some of the older players on the team.

The Spurs are playing fantastic ball club and you have to tip your hat to them their a rough team and the Warriors had a rough go against them. So the Warriors aren’t a in different category because of that their just doing what everyone else does and that’s struggle against the Spurs.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Warriors refuse to lose, mount late comeback to top Grizzlies, 100-93

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By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (45-27) simply wouldn’t be denied as Stephen Curry led a late comeback to topple the Memphis Grizzlies (43-29), 100-93, Friday night, at Oracle Arena. A Grizzlies win would have tied the two squads in the standings, and extended their luck on the Warriors home court, having won four straight in Oakland. Golden State was without David Lee and Andrew Bogut, but they still put together one of their more impressive outings of the season, leading to very different headlines.

The contest was close throughout, and was played with a true playoff atmosphere. Neither side ever held more than a seven-point lead, as the two Western Conference foes duked it out. The Warriors had a three-point lead after the first quarter, and that was trimmed down to one point heading into half time.

After another close quarter in the third, as it often does it all came down to the final 12 minutes. Heading into the waning minutes the momentum swung decidedly in the Grizzlies favor, and it looked like they would outlast Golden State. With a bit more than three minutes remaining, Memphis had opened up a game-high seven-point lead. The Grizzlies wouldn’t score another point, however, and the Warriors came alive, going on a 14-0 run.

A huge Draymond Green three-pointer brought the Dubs back to within just two points, and a minute later Curry followed suit with a trey of his own to tie grab back the lead. Golden State suffocated the Grizzlies offense in the final minute plus, and Curry provided the dagger on the offensive end. Two Klay Thompson free-throws with a few seconds left officially sealed the Warriors victory.

Curry was fantastic, finishing with a game-high 33 points, eight assists, five rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. If he was Batman, than Green may well have been his batman. He played a huge 32 minutes off the bench, and contributed 12 points and nine boards. Marreese Speights got his first start of the season, a decision that was initially confusing, but paid off. He had 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and eight rebounds.

On the negative side Bogut took a hit to the groin just four minutes into the game, and never returned after heading to the locker room. His status moving forward is unknown, but would be a huge loss if he has to miss any significant time.

Zach Randolph led the way for Memphis in the losing effort. He posted a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds. Mike Conley added 20 points and six assists.

The Warriors are back in action this Sunday, when the New York Knicks come to town. The game starts at 6:00 PM.

Warriors at Piers 30-32: Judge rules that voters can decide on Waterfront height restriction

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–The supporters for development on the Waterfront particularly the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants didn’t get what the Sacramento Kings got. The Kings won a court ruling preventing an initiative from going on the ballot in Sacramento to strike down a proposition that would ask voters if public money should be spent to build the new downtown Sacramento Kings arena.

Ballots that were submitted to the Sacramento County Clerks office in favor of the initative were ruled not to have legal wording and that the initiative was therefore kept off the ballot. The Warriors who want a brand new arena built at Piers 30-32 and the Giants who want to develop retail and condos at AT&T Park were told that Proposition B a height striction initiative would be allowed on the June ballot that would ask voters if height restrictions should be in play for any new development for the Waterfront.

The Giants who are underwriting a legal challenge to Prop B with three plaintiffs fronting the charge to stop the initiative Tim Colen Executive Director of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, Michael Theriault a leader of the building and construction trades, and Corrine Woods a neighbor of the project site.

Intially the Giants wanted the court to hear the appeal which would strike down the initiative but the state appellate court of appeals would not hear the legal challenge and denied the appeal. The Giants group were contending that illegal encroachment on state shoreline laws and that local or city jurisdiction could not prevent the Giants group from development.

The Giants further argued that the San Francisco Port Authority had jurisdiction on waterfront development laws but the judge Marla Miller had denied an earlier request to strike down Prop B from the coming election in June. One reason was that the voters have virtually spoken with more than double the required 9,702 signatures to put Prop B on the ballot. Miller also added that any legal challenge would be heard after the election.

The Warriors want a brand new arena built on Piers 30-32 the intial build on the piers are estimated double the original cost at $180 million. The waterfront neighborhood want the height restrictions enforced and don’t want to lose their views of the Bay Bridge, Treasure Island and the bay. The Warriors by building at Piers 30-32 would get a brand new 12 story arena, a 17 story luxury condo and a ten story hotel which would be built across the street from the arena.

After Thursday’s appeals court decision opponents to the initiative said the denial for development of the projects would have an economic impact on the city for years to come and that it would put 3,690 housing units in jeopardy at the cost of $8.5 billion in port costs.

For proponents of the initiative it was a great victory as neighors said that with the initative they will get their views and neighborhood back, some neighbors said some of the housing units proposed by the Giants and Warriors wouldn’t be for affordable housing but for high profit margin move ins. Jim Stearns who is a political advisor who was supporting Prop B said, “we’re pleased that this issue has been kicked out of the courtrooms and back to the voters where it belongs.”

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

Warriors fall to Spurs, 99-90

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By George Devine, Sr.

In a low-scoring and generally lackluster contest at Oracle Arena, the San Antonio Spurs prevailed over the home team, 99-90. The visitors, winning their 13th straight game, came into the game with a 52-16 record and bettered it as the Warriors approached the court with a 44-28 skein and could hardly afford to lose if they intend to go forward as postseason play approaches, especially with a winless record against San Antonio.

The Spurs dominated in all periods excepting the second, when the W’s led 25-18. In the final analysis, an 11-0 run at the top of the fourth quarter sealed the deal for San Antonio. Neither team was impressive from beyond the 3-point line, but what made the difference was the height and speed of the Spurs who scored better than the Warriors did up close, and who prevented Golden State from hitting 2-pointers.

Tony Parker led the Spurs with 20 points and 5 assists. Danny Green was next with 18 points and 6 boards. Tiago Splitter was especially valuable with 14 rebounds, and might have scored more than his 17 points had he not gotten into foul trouble with 4. Kawhi Leonard contributed 16 points and 7 rebounds, and Mario Belinelli had 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. In short, the Spurs provided a well-balanced “spread the wealth” team effort that was hard to stop, on both offense and defense. They did this while resting Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

The Warriors had only two scorers in double digits: Stephen Curry had 20 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds. Klay Thompson had 16 points, with only 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Draymond Green had 8 points and 6 rebounds, and Marreese Speight had 6 points. Although Andrew Bogut had only 2 points, he made a significant contribution with 17 rebounds.

On Wednesday, April 2, the Warriors face the Spurs again, at San Antonio. Tipoff will be at 5:30 p.m. PDT.

Warriors commentary: Warriors hot enough to do some damage this post season

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Warriors had a blip on the radar screen when they lost a really bad game to the Cleveland Cavaliers but since then they’ve righted the ship with a couple of good wins. One was a nail biter up in Portland and then a big blow out win against Orlando and then another closer than expected win over Milwaukee.

Some people are concerned after that Cleveland win it was kind of a return to the pattern that we had already seen back in January and February where the Warriors played down to the level of their competition and Cleveland is not a good team and at this moment their not expected to make the playoffs.

So the Warriors losing to the Cavs in Oakland was a real eye opener and was a real puzzler because the Warriors are such a good team and they’ve been playing such good basketball and to see them falter against such a lousy team like Cleveland on their home court was really bothersome.

So after losing to Cleveland it was up to Portland on the road and it was a real tight game against a very good team that their battling with. They beat Portland by a point and that really calmed some nerves around the Bay Area, for the Warriors that was a tough game 113-112 victory. Portland is never an easy place to play especially when they have a good team.

You don’t want to say Orlando was a test the W’s next game on Tuesday the 18th because the Magic are one of the worse teams in the league, the Magic have one of the worst road records in the NBA. So beating the Magic isn’t necessarily an accomplishment but at the same time because the Warriors had struggled against Western teams at home it was good to see the Warriors blow them out 102-89.

The game with the Magic was one of those games where the starters were pretty much on the bench for most of the fourth quarter as the Warriors had this game in hand. It was’nt a close one for the Warriors who did a great job.

The next game against Milwaukee it was a little tiring than you would expect with a 115-110 win at home, but you have to keep in mind that Andre Iguodala has been out for the last couple of games, Andrew Bogut is a little gimpy he’s been playing the last game or two and he’s not a 100 percent yet.

With Milwaukee it’s weird their the worse team in the league by record but they actually put forth an effort they have a nice antidote to the Philadelphia 76ers who lost 21 games in a row. The Sixers are clearly trying to put a bad team on the floor and lose as many games as possible their now four game short of the all time NBA record for a loss streak at 26.

Daivd Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Kings downtown arena: Eminent domain ruled for Macy’s building Kings ready to buy property

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–It was once a men’s department store but after Macy’s closed shop it remained vacant and the owners one group known as “the certified owners” who are reportedly with U.S.Bank and CalPERS who own the property didn’t have a tenant and it was left empty.

When the Sacramento Kings and the City of Sacramento secured the Kings to stay in Sacramento the shopping at the Westfield Downtown Plaza began. The Kings purchased 96 percent of the Plaza property with the exception of the empty Macy’s building which sits at the edge of the Plaza near the entrance to Old Sacramento.

The valuable property is targeted by the Kings to be used for a gym, work out and conditioning area for the team. On Thursday Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei ruled in favor of the Kings and the City and granted the plaintiffs eminent domain rights to the purchasing price at $4.35 million.

While CalPERS had no objection to eminent domain to take their share of the property the certified owners did, objecting to the purchase price. The certifieds say that the property purchasing price should be raised to $10 million and that CalPERS controls the property and the certified owners own the building.

The Macy’s building is in the footprint of where the Kings arena and property would be. The Kings plan to begin construction in the spring of 2015 and plan to have the arena ready by September 2017 and the NBA pre season begins October 2017.

Cadei made his ruling based on the financial needs of the city and the Kings, saying that CalPERS and the certified owners are not profiting from having a vacant building sit unused when the Kings need the property to start construction for their new arena as soon as possible.

Notice for the tenants at the Downtown Plaza will go out this year asking tenants to move so that the Kings can begin construction and tear down needed retail space. The certified owners and their attorneys plan to haggle with the court and the Kings on the final purchase price for the property right now it’s been declared at $4.35 million for the sale price.

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

Splash Brothers lead Warriors to 111-107 victory over Bucks

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By Gabe Schapiro

They didn’t make it look easy, but the Golden State Warriors (44-26) scratched out a win against the Milwaukee Bucks (13-56), 111-107, Thursday night, at Oracle Arena. Coming into the contest, the Bucks had the worst record in the NBA. However, you wouldn’t have known it from watching the game. The Warriors played far from their best, but you have to give credit where credit is due, and Milwaukee played hard. Despite a big disadvantage in free throw attempts, and an uncharacteristically poor shooting night from beyond the arc, Golden State found a way to hold on.

The game was close throughout. Every time the Warriors made a small run and made people think they were about to run away with it, as they probably should have against an inferior opponent, the Bucks swung back and played tough. Heading into the locker room Golden State grasped a slight 53-51 lead.

After briefly trailing towards the end of the third quarter, the Warriors would lead the rest of the way, but never managed to convincingly put Milwaukee away until the final buzzer rang.

For Golden State, it was their talented backcourt that led the way. Stephen Curry had a game-high 31 points and 11 assists. He was one of the few Warriors to have some success from three-point range, hitting three-of-five. Klay Thompson wasn’t nearly as efficient, but added another 29 points.

Andrew Bogut had a strong game going up against his former club. He finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. David Lee contributed his nearly customary double-double, posting 22 points and 12 boards.

On the negative side, Harrison Barnes struggled mightily starting in place of the still out Andre Iguodala. He failed to score a point on seven field goal attempts, to go along with two turnovers. The bench also had a pretty quiet night, outside of a solid 12 points from Jordan Crawford in just 12 minutes of play.

For the Bucks it was a true team effort that made the Warriors sweat it out. A whopping seven players finished in double figures, four of whom did it from the bench. Brandon Knight was the standout, producing a team-high 27 points and six assists.

Golden State will rarely be able to turn in this kind of performance and still eek out a win, but thankfully they timed it against a bad team at home. They’ll need to clean up their mistakes for their next matchup against the best in the West, the San Antonio Spurs. The game is this Saturday, March 22, at 7:30 PM, at Oracle Arena.

Kings downtown arena: Judge looks probable to rule for imminent domain for parcel building

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond Cadei looks to be leaning toward ruling in favor for the city and the Sacramento Kings to get the last road block removed in order to get the Kings new arena build underway. Although Cadei has not made an official ruling in the immienent domain case for the city and the Kings to buy the old Macy’s men’s store that sits near the Downtown Plaza and near Old Sacramento entrance.

Cadei is expected to be making a ruling this week, Cadei made a tentative ruling in favor of the city and the Kings. The parcel which is owned by CalPERS and certificate owners or U.S. Bank owns the building and CalPERS has said that they have no objection in selling their share of the building. Attorneys for the certificate owners are said not to be satisfied with the purchase price offered by the city at $4.35 million.

The owners argued in court on Tuesday that according to property tax roles the property is more like $10 million. The Kings not the city would purchase the property. The Kings have spent $36 million purchasing the rest of Downtown Plaza. Cadei said he needed more time to study the arguements from the owners side but he did indicate that the property was needed to be sold to the Kings so that they can start building the new arena.

Cadei added that any further delay with a 2017 deadline set by the NBA to have the arena ready would put the project in jeopardy and that the building is sitting vacant and that CalPERS or the certificate owners would not suffer any financial consequences as a result of relinquishing the building but the city would suffer in trying to obtain the property. The property owner’s attorney George Speir said that the imminent domain process was flawed and that the City Council who got the lawsuit started voted only to cover the land and not the building. The land share is controlled by CalPERS and the building is controlled by the certificate owners.

CalPERS who is happy to sell would get their share covered while the certificate owners will not get anything for the buidling which is their share of the property. The debate now is about the price and Cadei could question the city and the Kings about the asking price if Cadei sees that the certificate owners are shortchanged in the deal. Otherwise Cadei could rule for the Kings asking price at $4.35 million and CalPERS and the certificate owners would have to work the shares of the money out.

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