Phoenix 122, Warriors 116: Nelson vs. Baron to end the season? What a
fascinating game
By Tim Kawakami
Monday, April 14th, 2008
Really, really, really, really wish I was in Phoenix, at that game and
could
be asking Don Nelson and Baron Davis right now what the heck happened
tonight and then try to figure out if there will be lasting issues between
the two.
But I'm not there, I can't ask and I'll have to deduce from here.
All I can do is sit here and marvel at how the Warriors' playoff-dooming
loss turned into one of the most entertaining and spirited Warriors games
of
the season.
Possibly the most entertaining and spirited. Weird (or is it?) that it
happened in the game that ended the playoff hopes, the penultimate of the
season, but . wow.
* The big twist: After a horrendous first half out of Davis, Nelson
benched
Baron for the entire second half-and then the second half just happened to
feature a furious GSW rally, some of the best Warriors defense and best
activity of the season.
Coincidence? No. I've written endlessly about Davis' talents and will to
dominate. but he can be lousy, too, his lousiness usually spreads to the
entire team when he's lousy, and most of his coaches, from Nelson on
backward have let him be lousy without question or comment. (Maybe a small
shrug.)
Not tonight. In a game that the the Warriors had to win to maintain the
illusion of staying in the playoff race for one more night, Davis missed
11
of his 13 shot tries, didn't do much on defense and was a -6 in the
plus/minus in the first half.
Gone. Out. Not to come back. Somebody held BD accountable? And risked
getting him mad? When he can opt out this summer? I wonder.
* The particulars: Kelenna Azubuike played the bulk of the minutes
replacing
Davis, defended Steve Nash, and voila, suddenly-FOR THE FIRST TIME I CAN
RECALL THIS SEASON-the Warriors defended the screen-roll effectively.
Azubuike was active. He challenged the screen. He ran with Nash. Very
unusual for the Warriors. Very, very unusual.
(Psst: Baron doesn't play the screen-roll well. And gets killed on it.
Well,
Monta Ellis is awful, so that kind of overshadows BD, but doesn't excuse
it.
(I've asked Nelson about both of them a lot this season and he usually is
happy to discus Ellis' defensive weaknesses but won't say much about
Baron.
Tonight he spoke with his actions. I'm assuming.)
* Baron is the Warriors' best player. No question. Without him, they're a
35
to 40-win team, at best. Right now, they're sitting on 48, which is a good
season, period.
But he really wore down this season, and Don kept playing him, and BD had
the excuse to stop playing defense. and maybe that wasn't such a good idea
all around.
This won't endear me to Baron's camp and oh well, that was out the window
long, long ago. Possibly 10 or 11 years ago, actually.
He has the opt-out this summer, which, if he uses it, will erase the final
year and $17.2M left on his contract and make him an unrestricted free
agent.
Much had been assumed about his close relation****p with Nelson, who did so
much for Baron last year (and Baron for Nelson, in return). If Nellie's
back, and I'm assuming he is, wouldn't it be natural for Baron to want to
return to the Warriors?
Hmm. Tonight's events make me wonder a bit.
Now, of course, Baron is in control of this-I've never thought it was
likely
he'd opt-out. He's 29, has broken down in the past, and nobody's paying
him
$90M long-term. Nobody.
Plus, there aren't many teams significantly enough under the cap to pay
him
big money or to even start him at a salary more than $6M or $7M, which is
too much of a short fall for BD to contemplate.
So either Baron sticks around and takes the $17.2M.
Or he opts-out and hopes to leave (good luck) as a straight F/A.
Or he opts-out and tries to engineer a sign-and-trade, which can only come
with the Warriors' assistance. (Mullin is a tough guy in those
situations.)
Or he opts-out and gets the Warriors to give him a new deal.
Hmmm. Hmmm. I don't know what tonight does to those scenarios, but I know
it
changes things up. I definitely know that. (I also think as a sidelight:
It
shows that Nelson is going to return. He wouldn't have made this kind of
point without thinking well ahead into the future of this franchise. I
think.)
Is Nellie getting tired of Baron and thinking of going to a Monta-first,
Monta-dominated offense?
Is Baron getting tired of Nellie and Small Ball? Do they both realize that
Ellis and Andris Biedrins are restricted F/As and might eat up some of the
money Baron is going to want?
Truly, truly fascinating.
* My other big question: What if Nellie had coached like this all year?
-He played Kosta Perovic! And Perovic looked pretty good. (13 minutes, +4
on
the plus/minus)
-He coached defense-first (pull Baron, pull SJax and Harrington early when
neither got back on defense). Now I realize that if Don had done that all
seaosn he might not have had anybody left to play from about Game 11. but
still.
-When Don started benching guys for not getting back on defense, guess
what:
The other guys got back on defense. Even Monta. (Gee, maybe that Dallas
game
a few weeks ago would've turned out a little differently?)
-I salute Nelson for doing this-he wasn't going to look great either way:
The Warriors' subs play hard and we wonder, why the heck didn't Don play
them more and play his regulars less? Or the Warriors' subs stink and we
wonder, what the heck was Don thinking in the penultimate game of the year
on the road?
Nelson can be stubborn, but he's always thinking and he's confident enough
that he can do things like benching Baron for the entire second half in a
playoff-must game and live to tell.
(People will complain that he should've put BD back in at the end, when
his
bench guys were gassed, but no way-Baron's mind and legs would've been
nowhere near focused enough to get locked back on Nash.)
-Maybe the Warriors would've lost a lot more games if Nelson had held his
Big 3 more accountable earlier. but it sure would've been interesting to
see.
What could've gone wrong? The Warriors wouldn't have made the playoffs?
--On an entirely different note. Phoenix won, the Warriors lost, but I'm
praising the Warriors and now. going to rip Phoenix.
This game is a microcosm of why I'm still not sold on that team post-Shaq
trade.
-Terrible defense. Shaq isn't good on defense, Nash is a disaster, Boris
Diaw is mediocre at best, Leandro Barbosa is no good and Giricek is
mediocre.
The Warriors went right through them in that third quarter. What do you
think Utah, the Lakers or New Orleans is going to do to them?
-Shaq is so great and so mighty. Oh he used to be. Looked OK tonight but
did
you see him in the last half of the fourth quarter, when the Suns had to
pull this one out? No, you did not.
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