The toughest post to post.
There was the “weird science” from Nellie. There was the mysterious absence of bearditude down the stretch. There was Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni’s steadfast refusal to show any quarter, riding Nasty Nash and the starters for extended minutes. And in the end, there was the eighth defeat in nine tries for the Dubs in the Valley of the Sun. The crucial difference being that this one ended their quest for the eighth seed and a playoff birth.
Time to start the therapy. Comment away and we FTB’ers will host a little end-of-season beer and barbecue fest at Looney’s Smokehouse for the season finale on Wednesday. Come through, meet the crew, drink some brew and eat some ‘cue. Hootie hoo.
But seriously. What to make of all of this? Well, a halftime conference call showed that the FTB’ers were a divided crew at the end of two. Fortunately, the second-half run, powered by fresh legs and a halftime “come to Jesus meeting” of unknown dimensions, showed that there was some science behind a strategy that several of us just found plain weird at the break. Oh, there’s room in the comments for everyone to weigh in, but personally I thought Nellie did something innovative in the face of a fairly bleak circumstance. Ultimately, it failed, but not without pushing the aforementioned D’Antoni to a third-quarter conniption or two.
There is one other thing. And it’s kinda big. The mystery of Baron. The beardless second half. While, the sight of BD selflessly coaching his teammates down the stretch instead of pulling off the warmups to come in for dagger time was inspiring in a sense, one had to assume that something was wrong. ESPN and Yahoo Sports and a hyperventilating Tim Kawakami are calling it a “benching,” but I suspect that if Shaq didn’t dislocate Baron’s shoulder in the action above, that perhaps there was another injury that was part of the unspoken subtext. Perhaps we’ll never know. Either way, BD did go on record earlier in the day to state his intended allegiance to the Dubs in spite of the opt-out clause in his contract that would void the final year of his deal (and $17.2 million) in favor of unrestricted free agency. But we’ll have all summer to talk about that and what Mully needs to do to make it right. For now, here’s the sound bite from BD prior to the game, as reported on SFGate.
“I want to win a championship here,” Davis said Monday. “We’ve been to the playoffs, we’re in a playoff run right now, so my whole thing is to bring a championship to the city, to the Bay Area. That would be great.”
That’s good enough for me, but let’s open up the great, grand expanse of real estate called “summer” to talk about all things Warriors. We all need some thereapy after this bipolar-disorder-inducing season, so let’s hug it out it in the comments and on Wednesday.
Turman
PS. This also spells the end of my beard. Time to “beard down” as it were. I’ve grown quite attached to it, or it to me, but either way it’s back to civilian life soon. Come to the end-of-season bash to see it in it’s final moments. Easily BART-able, even. Map to the fun after the jump.
Damn. That was a good season. But, I’m goin’ miss your beard DT.
Regardless, it is time to throw-down (some drinks) at Looney’s. As well as to toast to Blake on his B-Day! Be there.
But man, I hope we get a huge draft pick. Anyone else hoping for a lil’ Michael Beasley ’bout now?
Gd.
Comment by Gd. | 04.14.2008 | 10:45 pm
Time to print out a whole gang of PaperBeards™, wish a Happy Blakeday to all and see the Dubs off into summer. I don’t know about Beasley though. I think they need the 40-year-old rookie…
Comment by admin | 04.14.2008 | 11:04 pm
Just on knees alone, I’ll give you a better chance at having an impact then C-Webb.
Comment by Gd. | 04.15.2008 | 8:17 am
That Kawakami piece was annoying as hell. Even if there was some static between Nelson and Baron, to predict Baron opt-ing out of his contract from it is absurd. Bottom line is this: Baron’s not going to get 17.2 Mil anywhere else, and he doesn’t want to leave California, so unless there was a sign and trade situation (highly unlikely), Baron’s here next season.
Now, with Nelson, that might be another story. He’s gonna take a lot of heat this off-season from the press and the fans about the Webber deal and not playing his bench. I don’t think he cares that much about criticism, but when he’s in Hawaii, it might be one more reason for not coming back to the stressful world of coaching.
Comment by matthewmeschery | 04.15.2008 | 9:07 am
What a great season. Too bad it had to end early.
Flavor #5 The Mojo is actually on the truck for delivery right now. Im sorry that it looks like it was too late to give our boys the MOJO they needed. I should have had it shipped “PRIORITY”.
Even though we did not make the playoffs, Basketball is back in the bay and I couldn’t be happier.
Lots to look forward to next season!!
Comment by GreenLightJerky | 04.15.2008 | 9:30 am
Man, that explains everything. Our mojo was on a truck! Of course. See if you can come through tomorrow GLJ. Smoked meats await.
Comment by admin | 04.15.2008 | 10:15 am
MM, you speak the truth. Boom will be back. Nelson is a question mark.
My question is what is the ownership and front office willing to invest in this team. For Dizzle, 3 years seems like the right play to me. Perhaps he’d go for 45m over that term. Gotta’ lock-in Monta and Andres. Then look at every possibility with the rest of the roster. Work that draft pick and that $10 million trade exception.
I heard them quipping about the Dubs future plans on the radio this am. One stood out to me. We need to be much stronger at the 3 and 4 and some real production from our bench.
Comment by Gd. | 04.15.2008 | 2:45 pm
It might sound crazy, but I’m not that disappointed about missing the playoffs this year. I’ve had such a great time watching our guys win 49 games, following the action on FTB, and actually feeling hopeful about the future of our team, that I think getting our asses handed to us by Kobe and Pau in the first round might have taken away from it. Plus, the East Bay teams and their fanbase thrive on being the overlooked, under appreciated, oppressed victims anyway.
The reality is, this team is not built for championships. Our inability to maintain leads and close out games, plus our defensive shortcomings do not scream “dynasty” to me. But our core is solid, and we have more than a few bargaining chips to bring to the table. We still have the trade exception from the J-Rich trade and a lottery pick to get a backup point guard (I’d like Earl Watson) and a veteran 4 (Reggie Evans? Chris Wilcox?). If you combine those pieces with B. Wright and Monta getting a year older, then I think we have a team that might be in that championship conversation with LA, San Antonio, Phoenix, New Orleans, and Boston.
Comment by beardedbarman | 04.15.2008 | 8:41 pm
I like the way you think Mr. Barman.
Comment by Gd. | 04.15.2008 | 8:55 pm
Me and my beard are sad.
But the Warriors are champions to me.I had so many good times watching ‘em play.They might not get a cup or a ring,but the played one the finest basketball to me this year.Merci.
From France.
Comment by sora | 04.16.2008 | 2:57 am