Posted by Adam Lauridsen on January 27th, 2011 at 2:33 am | Categorized as Game Summary | Tagged as Acie Law , Andris Biedrins , David Lee , Dorell Wright , Ekpe Udoh , Joe Lacob , Keith Smart , Monta Ellis , Reggie Williams , Stephen Curry , Vladimir Radmanovic
Due to a conflict, I passed my tickets to Wednesday’s game to a friend, gratis. After the game I got an email from him asking for his money back. Regardless of what you paid to see the Warriors’ 112-103 loss to the Hornets, the only thing worth any of your money was Chris Paul’s commanding performance. The Warriors’ defense was laughably lax — allowing the Hornets to shoot above 60% for the entire game (down from their scorching 80% rate for most of the first quarter). The bench should have been charged for their seats given their spectator-like production. This is the type of game that leaves fans grumbling. And I’m guessing the fan that paid $450 million for his seat is no exception.
The Hornets are not a run-and-gun team. But the baskets were coming so fast and easy during the first quarter, they decided to become one. Chris Paul simply couldn’t help himself given how little resistance he was receiving. The Warriors let him get to anywhere he wanted on the court, which allowed him to repeatedly set his teammates up for uncontested looks. The Warriors never fully recovered from the brutal stretch of basketball that followed, despite the closer-than-really-was final score. The Warriors four best players all had excellent offensive nights, but they were ultimately irrelevant because they sat around as spectators while the Hornets ran an offensive clinic. It made for a nice instructional video of what (and what not) to do, but as a competitive basketball gain, it failed miserably.
It’s games like these that blot out whatever optimism grew from the Warriors’ recent win streak. Once you leave behind the also-rans and up-and-comers to face legitimate NBA powers (let alone the hottest team in the league), it’s not enough to just trade baskets. The Hornets were not just the better defensive team, they also featured more — and more varied — offensive options. Paul got all the Hornets involved early and, as long as he stayed in the game, he completely controlled the game’s tempo and tenor. If Monday provided an opportunity to admire a team performing at the height of its powers, Wednesday’s game was an individual exhibition. The Hornets repeatedly stumbled when Paul went to the bench, but when he was in the Warriors defenders just looked like extras in one of his shoe commercials.
That’s not to say the Warriors’ evening was totally devoid of life.
Depending on your view of the world, Keith Smart either sat at the lead of this mess or was crushed under the weight of it. It’s hard to blame Smart for the barren, talentless wasteland that is his current bench. And David Lee, Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry have been weak defenders for coaches other than Smart. But ultimately, the the coach has to carry the blame for the sloppy and soft persona this team adopts against most quality opponents. It’s not just that the Warriors are losing these games. It’s how listless and ambivalent they look while going down to defeat.
Keith Smart was held over by Lacob supposedly because of his good relationship with the players and because Lacob didn’t have time to hire anyone else. The latter explanation is suspect — if you have time to hire your son, you have time to hire a coach. The former explanation sounded superficially reasonable, particularly given the unrest of Nelson’s final two years, but the rationale is as limiting as it is cautious. The Warriors are stuck on a path to the same mediocre results because there hasn’t been enough change to expect anything new. Keith Smart called his players out post-game for “playing safe.” It’s a criticism more appropriately directed the coach’s and player’s employer.
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