Pworld wrote:
Monta's back that game I think, and if Monta's back I say we win against the blazers.
I hope you're right.
But I think that this recent road trip presents a dynamic we need to consider (hopefully objectively).
This is all pure speculation on my part:
Monta sees a team coming back from a five game losing streak without him. He thinks he needs to be the Monta of two months ago to help the team win.
Boxscores showed Maggette played well/efficient in the games he played, but I doubt he contributed much to the extent of the overall success of the team.
Success?
This gets me to the core of the team that carried the Warriors the past five games. (in a reasonable/arguable order) Curry, Morrow, Watson, Turiaf, Evans, Tolliver, Hunter, George. These guys are coming back thinking, damn we took four solid east-coast teams to the wire, shorthanded, with back-to-backs, etc. If these games were at home, we'd have won at least two of them.
So, the team has had two distinct styles of play (following trade of SJack), both leading to a sub 30% winning percentage, but with many close, exciting games & a few upsets.
First was the Monta and Maggette show.
Second has been the Curry & who's ever running with him show.
Now we have the Trailblazers at home. The first time we played them at home, Monta was the first reason why we won as he outplayed Brandon Roy.
So, will one style be dominant for the Warriors against Portland? --Monta/Maggs or Steph & Co?
Or will we see, below the surface, a struggle between the two styles, with Monta/Maggs trying to do their thing, but with Steph's mates leery of throwing the ball into real/perceived blackholes.
Or will Monta recognize that there is no sense in fighting it, and defer to Steph and let Steph figure out how to best incorporate the two dynamics as he leads the team in the game, and carries it through for the rest of the season?
So, this started out as a game thread, but I see it now as a "how will this team play out the string, assuming Monta/Maggs back at relatively full strength?"-thread.