Some post-game thoughts (Warriors edition)

And the Blazers keep finding ways to win . . .

• Tonight's game was one of the more bizarre NBA games I've ever watched.  The injury-ravaged Blazers had only eight men in uniform tonight: three guards, one small forward, and four power forwards.  They had only one guy (Roy) who was in the regular rotation last year.  They had no one taller than 6'9'' and their big men consisted of two rookies, a 37 year old, and guy signed off waivers this week.  Golden State, on the other hand, had three healthy bigs with size and skill: Andris Biedrins, Ronnie Turiaf, and Anthony Randolph. Yet for reasons that only Don Nelson understands, no more than one of these three guys was ever in the game at the same time.  Not only did Golden State fail to utilize their significant height advantage, they chose to go small.  Nate McMillan responded (just 3 minutes into the game) by taking out Jeff Pendergraph and bringing in Jerryd Bayless.  For virtually the entire game, the Blazers fielded a lineup consisting of two point guards (Miller, Bayless), a shooting guard (Roy), a small forward (Webster) and a power forward (Howard or Cunningham).  For long stretches of the game, Dante Cunningham was the tallest Blazer player on the court.  I never thought I'd see that.  


• But it worked.  By playing small, Nelson made things much easier for the Blazer coaching staff.  McMillan was able to play his four best healthy players (all small guys) simultaneously and without having to worry about a drop off on the defensive end or on the boards.  In fact, the Blazers ended up out-rebounding the Warriors 43 to 36, which is really pretty astounding.  


• The hero of the night, yet again, was Brandon Roy, who had a quiet (if that's possible) and ruthlessly efficient 37 points on 12-16 shooting.  He added 6 boards and 5 assists.  It's hard not to take the guy for granted.  He's just so consistently great.  


• Andre Miller also deserves a lot of praise.  He had his best game as a Blazer tonight, finishing with 23 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds.  And though it's not reflected in the box score, Miller flat out battled all night.  None of his points were easy ones.  He manufactured points the hard way and worked his tail off all night, logging 44 minutes.  


• Martell Webster showed up to play, too.  He finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks, and he only sat for 2 minutes the entire game.  He hit a few huge 3 pointers down the stretch to seal the game.  This was probably his best game of the season.  


• Juwan Howard had yet another solid game, scoring 12 points and pulling down 6 boards in 34 minutes of play.  He also had 2 steals.  The guy is giving us way more than it was reasonable to expect from him.  


• One of the best stories of the night was the play of rookie Dante Cunningham.  I'm pretty certain that Dante never imagined that he'd ever play center in the NBA.  But he did tonight.  And he did well, scoring 6 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.  Cunningham played fantastic defense all night long.  He was consistently in the right place at the right time on the defensive end and gave the Warriors all kinds of trouble.  It's the second game in a row that Cunningham has played inspired defensive.


• The one Blazer who had a bit of a down night was Jerryd Bayless.  Though he played 40 minutes, he only scored 6 points (along with 2 assists and 3 boards).  He had another terrible shooting night, going 2-11 from the field.  Part of the problem, it seemed to me, was that Jerryd didn't have the ball in his hands very often.  He played alongside Miller and Roy virtually all night and both of them were being very aggressive offensively.  That left Bayless standing around on the weak-side perimeter much of the time.  He never had much of a chance to get into a rhythm offensively.  On defense, though, Jerryd seem to be playing aggressively and giving Golden State (and Monta Ellis specifically) some problems.  Despite his off night offensively, Bayless finished with the highest plus/minus of any Blazer (+20).  


• Jeff Pendergraph got his first career start tonight, but was yanked after a few minutes when Nate realized that Golden State was going to play small ball.  Pendergraph ended up playing only 9 minutes total.  


• Overall, this was another gutsy win for the Blazers.  That a team missing this many key players can still compete and win is a testament not only to the depth of the roster assembled by Blazer management, but the heart and determination of the guys left standing.  They really stepped it up tonight and made every Blazer fan incredibly proud.  I don't know how long they can keep this up, but nothing will really surprise me at this point.