Warriors @ Sonics: Playing with Fire

… literally.

The Warriors continued their hot streak in Seattle, controlling the pace and never trailing once against the Sonics. With a 109-96 win over the Sonics, the Warriors upped their win streak to 6 in a row and 9-1 in the last 10 games.

The Warriors raced out to a 17-8 start in the first quarter when the scoreboard caught fire during a mandatory timeout. I’d like to believe it flared up because of the Warriors hot shooting (at least 50% from the field), but that’s just as unlikely as a conspiracy to move the Sonics to Oklahoma. The Warriors maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game and cruised to an easy victory.




The Defense: Pre-Jackson’s return, the Warriors allowed opponents 51% shooting from the field. Once Jack came back, they drastically reduced that amount to 44%. Tonight, they held the Sonics to 41.4% from the field, and 20.0% from beyond the arc. Jackson, who is making a solid case for Defensive Player of the Year or for a spot on the All-Defensive Team, victimized Kevin Durant, holding him to a quiet 6 points on 2-12 shooting. As a team, the Warriors continually harassed and changed the Sonics’ shots and did not allow many easy open shots. Including tonight, the Warriors kept 4 out of their last 5 opponents under 100 points.

Andris Biedrins: Andris approached Garnett-like numbers again, with 18 points on 9-12 shooting and 16 rebounds. He notched a double-double by the end of the first quarter with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Though most of his points were off feeds from Baron, Jack, or Monta, Jim Barnett pointed an important aspect of Andris’ game: Andris knows when to cut to the basket and how to handle a pass. Example: Monta drove into the lane from the baseline, forcing the defense to collapse and drawing in three defenders. Andris moved into the lane and anticipated and caught a beautiful around-the-back pass from Monta as he went up to the rim. Easy layup.



Monta Ellis: Speaking of Monta, how good was he tonight? Monta continued his streak of solid games, scoring 18 points on 8-15 shooting and dished out 5 assists. On his radio show with Ralph and Tom on KNBR, Nellie admitted to allowing Monta to play more as a scorer in recent weeks. Not so coincidentally, as Monta relaxed and played his natural game, he also cut down on his turnovers and opened up his court vision. Though he might not ever be a pass-first PG like Nash or Kidd, he’s gradually expanding his speed and scoring ability to become a more well-rounded guard. It’s fun to watch him grow up every game.

Garbage Time: Nothing of much importance to note here, except for the fact that all the starters got around 6 minutes of extra rest. Baron played a total of only 30 minutes, Al 31, Monta 30, and Andris 27. Jackson was the only one of the starters with significant minutes, 36. Hopefully this extra rest will help keep up the intensity tomorrow night, when the Warriors face off with the Orlando Magic and Adonal Foyle, who just came off a 104-97 win over the Lakers tonight.