BRANDAN WRIGHT one of the fastest rising stars in the basketball scene.
 |
Warriors sizzle all night long
Maybe tonight's the night, coach Don Nelson mused before his Warriors took on the Bucks. Starters Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson had all been playing too many minutes. Backup Kelenna Azubuike had been playing through a bad ankle. "We're going to have to get them some help pretty soon," Nelson said. Help arrived in the form of a 120-90 blowout win over Milwaukee on Wednesday, allowing Nelson to empty his bench midway through the fourth quarter and his starters to whoop it up from the sidelines. Jackson and Davis scored 20 points apiece to lead a balanced Warriors attack, but the most important numbers might have been the balanced playing time. For the first occasion this season, no one saw more than 33 minutes of action. That's because Wednesday's game was over almost as soon as it began. Unlike their miserable night against Orlando, the Warriors had no problems scoring from long distance against the porous Bucks' defense. Golden State hit eight of its first 11 three-pointers - including three in a row during a 70-second span in the first quarter - and finished 15-for-22. Their 68-percent clip was the best by any NBA team with at least 15 made threes since Toronto went 17-for-24 on Dec. 3, 2003. "What I really liked," Monta Ellis said, "was 94 percent from the free-throw line." With the Warriors hitting from all over, a 21-point halftime lead grew to as many as 33 in the fourth quarter. Their defense, meanwhile, held the Bucks to just 11 points in the second period and 36 for the first half - both season lows for Warriors opponents. That allowed Nelson to get early looks at some of his seldom-used players. There was backup center DJ Mbenga, who split first-half minutes with starter Andris Biedrins after the Latvian picked up two early fouls. Mbenga had a terrific second quarter, sending Bucks guard Charlie Bell crashing to the floor on one of his three blocked shots and grabbing seven rebounds. There was backup point guard Troy Hudson, who was brought here in case Davis went down, only to go down himself with hip inflammation. Hudson replaced Ellis in the first quarter - Nelson does not want him playing alongside Ellis due to their small size - and Hudson immediately found Jackson for an open three before finishing with six assists and three points in a season-high 19 minutes. There was even rookie Brandan Wright, who checked in midway through the final quarter. And second-year center Patrick O'Bryant, who followed about a minute later as Nelson finally emptied his bench. "A lot of guys that played a lot of minutes needed that," said Ellis, who had 11 points, four assists and six rebounds. Davis went to the bench for good with 6:29 left and the Warriors up by 30 points. Did Nelson think about pulling him even earlier? "I could have," Nelson said. "I want to be a little careful that I have one of my two best players on the floor most of the time, until I'm sure. And I'm not sure yet. Even with a 20-point lead. I'm not sure. "This is the NBA and teams come back quickly. The Clippers were way ahead," Nelson said, referring to the Bucks' opponent Tuesday. Michael "Redd had five points at halftime and 20 in the second half. So I didn't want that to happen to us." Redd led the Bucks with 24 points while Bobby Simmons added 13. Rookie forward Yi Jianlian had nine points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. Briefly: The Bucks were one of the few teams Brandan Wright worked out for prior to the draft. What was coach Larry Krystowiak's impression? "That it would be down the road probably before he was ready to play," said Krystowiak, who took Yi with the sixth pick. "We looked at our roster, and it made a lot of sense to draft Yi. We thought he was ready to play and maybe a little more ready for the challenge ... from a strength perspective. Not that Brandan's not going to be a great player at some point, but that's kind of what we were thinking." Added Harrington, who guarded Yi: "If Yi was here, I don't think he'd be playing much either. It's a position where we're very deep. Brandan's going to be a great fit for this team. We're going to bring him along slowly and in a year or two, expect him to be playing at a high level, probably playing just as good as Yi or better." ... Ellis had the highlight of the night, finishing off a third-quarter drive with a one-handed dunk over Andrew Bogut - despite having the center's hand in his face. Getting defensive Since allowing a league-worst 114.5 points per game in their first eight games, the Warriors have held six of their last 10 opponents under 100, going 6-0 in those games.
Read more at the www.sfgate.com |
BRANDAN WRIGHT ADS OTHER NEWS Syndicated content not available |