Portland Trail Blazers (37 - 28) @ Golden State Warriors (17 - 46)

Start time: 7:30 PM PST @ The Oracle Arena
Local TV: TNT

Probable starters for the Golden State Warriors:

C - Chris Hunter
PF - Corey Maggette
SF - Anthony Morrow
SG - C.J. Watson
PG - Stephen Curry

Probable starters for the Portland Trail Blazers:

C - LaMarcus Aldridge
PF - Juwan Howard
SF - Nicolas Batum
SG - Brandon Roy
PG - Andre Miller

Team leaders:
PPG - M. Ellis (25.7) | B. Roy (21.9)
RPG - A. Biedrins (7.8) | G. Oden (8.5)
APG - S. Curry (5.4) | A. Miller (5.5)
SPG - M. Ellis (2.2) | M. Camby (1.4)
BPG - A. Randolph (1.5) | M. Camby (2.3)

My game predictions often suck, but I feel pretty confident that the Blazers will hammer the **** out of us.

If they are only out rebounding us 2 to 1 they can always get Camby to come off the bench. Good thing we didn't trade for a guy like that. I mean he's old and he's only the second best rebounder in the league

Monta's back that game I think, and if Monta's back I say we win against the blazers.

when do Randolph and Bell come back?

Tarantism wrote:when do Randolph and Bell come back?

I remember them saying they were just going to shut down Randolph for the season. If he does come back, it'll only be for like the last week of the season, but I'd put my money on him not returning. Bell is out for the year. There was some talk he could of returned, but that was really just talk.

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.

Blazers by 348123414821048210948102482104820140904321...

TMC wrote:Blazers by 348123414821048210948102482104820140904321...

hahaha, I lol'd

Tarantism wrote:when do Randolph and Bell come back?

I don't think anyone other than Monta will back this season. There's no point.

TheBodyGuard wrote:

Tarantism wrote:when do Randolph and Bell come back?

I don't think anyone other than Monta will back this season. There's no point.

Well, for Randolph there would be.........just to get more games under his belt, or should I say, just to get treated like sh*t and be humiliated some more.

Never the less, neither are coming back.............on both their injury reports, its says they have had "season ending surgery".

bigstrads wrote:

TheBodyGuard wrote:

Tarantism wrote:when do Randolph and Bell come back?

I don't think anyone other than Monta will back this season. There's no point.

Well, for Randolph there would be.........just to get more games under his belt, or should I say, just to get treated like sh*t and be humiliated some more.

Never the less, neither are coming back.............on both their injury reports, its says they have had "season ending surgery".

I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but if Randolph learns how to play the game, he will most likely be treated less shitty.

"Always" Next wrote:

bigstrads wrote:

TheBodyGuard wrote:

Tarantism wrote:when do Randolph and Bell come back?

I don't think anyone other than Monta will back this season. There's no point.

Well, for Randolph there would be.........just to get more games under his belt, or should I say, just to get treated like sh*t and be humiliated some more.

Never the less, neither are coming back.............on both their injury reports, its says they have had "season ending surgery".

I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but if Randolph learns how to play the game, he will most likely be treated less shitty.

LOL!.............nah, I do know what you mean...........I find myself screaming at him quite alot during games, usually things like =

"JUST LEARN A F*CKING MOVE WILL YOU!" or

"NO AR, YOU CANT JUST JUMP OVER EVERYONE!!!.........ESPECIALLY NOT WHEN YOUVE JUMPED FROM THE FREE THROW LINE!!!"

So yeah, I see your point...............however!!! there is the counter point/belief that he is only like that because of the treatment he has had.

Kind of a "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" scenario.

Also, one more thing.............how is he going to learn and develop, and change, if hes is constantly being chastised and benched?

"Always" Next wrote:

bigstrads wrote:

TheBodyGuard wrote:

Tarantism wrote:when do Randolph and Bell come back?

I don't think anyone other than Monta will back this season. There's no point.

Well, for Randolph there would be.........just to get more games under his belt, or should I say, just to get treated like sh*t and be humiliated some more.

Never the less, neither are coming back.............on both their injury reports, its says they have had "season ending surgery".

I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but if Randolph learns how to play the game, he will most likely be treated less shitty.

how do you learn how to play the game when you dont get minutes... or at least inconsistent minutes. You learn to play the game by playing THROUGH your mistakes and then rewarded for your sucesses. AR gets yanked when he does something wrong and when he DOES put together a great game, he plays like 10 min the next game. Not a solid development plan to say the least.

We don't know exactly what goes on, but there has been the criticism that AR does not prepare or study for games. Some learn better on the court, but if you are going to be in the NBA, you had better learn to do both.
It's the coach's job to get that concept through to his players. However, AR should be getting it and doing it regardless of how he is treated. I keep thinking, he's 19 Nelly.. pretend you are talking to a 15 year old. You could look at it either way, but given Nelson's track record with rookie bigs he probably pissed AR off and lost him a long time ago. Giving him more minutes and therefore direction, is the way to go.

bada wrote:

"Always" Next wrote:

bigstrads wrote:

TheBodyGuard wrote:

Tarantism wrote:when do Randolph and Bell come back?

I don't think anyone other than Monta will back this season. There's no point.

Well, for Randolph there would be.........just to get more games under his belt, or should I say, just to get treated like sh*t and be humiliated some more.

Never the less, neither are coming back.............on both their injury reports, its says they have had "season ending surgery".

I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but if Randolph learns how to play the game, he will most likely be treated less shitty.

how do you learn how to play the game when you dont get minutes... or at least inconsistent minutes. You learn to play the game by playing THROUGH your mistakes and then rewarded for your sucesses. AR gets yanked when he does something wrong and when he DOES put together a great game, he plays like 10 min the next game. Not a solid development plan to say the least.

AR really should just be out there killing it in practice. I think he feels like he is entitled to minutes and doesnt have to earn them. As much as I hate Nelsons screwy substitution pattern, I have to say that he plays the guys that are ready to play. AR always looks lost on the court, he is a freakish athlete and a huge talent, but I dont know if he is smart enough to be a great NBA player. For as talented as this kid is, there is no way he should have fallen to us in the draft last year.

I hope Im wrong about him. I hope he becomes a workout warrior and gym rat between the time he heals and next season begins, but if he doesnt, no matter who the coach is, if he doesnt learn how to play at this level, he probably will not be playing.