The Mind of Mullin: POSTGAME: BLAZERS

Morrow does it again

MVW: Anthony Morrow

The Good
Anthony Morrow: 36 min, 8-12 fg, 4-5 3pt, 5-5 ft, 4 reb, 25 pts
Stephen Jackson: 42 min, 10-10 ft, 8 reb, 8 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 20 pts
Corey Maggette: 38 min, 7-8 fg, 4 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk, 20 pts
Andris Biedrins: 34 min, 6-9 fg, 9 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 17 pts
Kelenna Azubuike: 34 min, 1-2 3pt, 4-4 ft, 2 stl, 5 reb, 15 pts
C.J. Watson: 35 min, 4-9 fg, 5 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 10 pts
Ronny Turiaf: 11 min, 2 blk

The Bad
Marco Belinelli: 3 min, 0-0 fg, 1 pf, 1 to, 0 pts
Brandan Wright: 8 min, 2-5 fg, 4 pf
Kelenna Azubuike: 34 min, 5-12 fg, 3 to

The Ugly
Stephen Jackson: 42 min, 5-18 fg, 0-3 3pt, 5 pf, 3 ba

Best and Worst +/-
Anthony Morrow: +10
C.J. Watson: +10
Brandan Wright: -3

Team Statistics
Warriors : Blazers
pts - 111 : 106
fg - 36-80 (.450) : 37-79 (.468)
ft - 33-35 (.943) : 20-29 (.690)
3p - 6-15 (.400) : 12-22 (.545)
reb - 40 : 40
oreb - 12 : 14
ast - 20 : 26
to - 16 : 21
stl - 9 : 11
bs - 7 : 6
fast break pts - 9 : 22
pts in paint - 48 : 38

Box Score
Highlights
Popcorn Machine's Game Flow

Biedrins misses his double-double by 1 rebound, but I'm sure he'll take the win

Notes

Barnett's keys to the game: 1) drive and dish 2) force the break 3) defensive rebounding
starting lineup: Morrow, Azubuike, Jackson, Maggette, Biedrins
Batum, their defensive stopper on Jackson
Warriors playing solid defense 9-0 to start the game
Steve Blake breaks the scoreless streak with a 3, Warrior killer
Morrow hasn't taken a shot 1st half of 1st Q; decoy; 6:13 takes 1st shot
having trouble on defensive boards
no true PG, no ball movement
Maggette draws charge on Oden
Watson provides spark off bench
small ball getting them back in the game; Maggette getting the better of his matchup with Aldridge early
GS 24 POR 27 end of 1st
Warriors pushing the tempo well off turnovers
Biedrins w/ 1 rebound in 1st Q
Turiaf playing great defense and bringing his contagious energy
Morrow is for real; 9 in 2nd Q (7 min mark)
seesaw battle; lots of 3pt shooting
Wright comes in, blocks shot and dunks on the break on his very first posession
Fernandez is going to be a great one; Portland is going to win a title in 3 to 6 years
GS 51 POR 49 end of 1st half
Azubuike needs to dish the ball off when defense collapses on him; missed easy basket for Biedrins
Aldridge having troubles with small Warriors
Maggette draws 4 charges (mid 3rd Q)
Portland goes small, Biedrins should get his rebounds
Morrow opening up the lanes with his 3 point shot threat
did I say Morrow is for REAL? drills one over Oden
shake and bake, crossed up Fernandez and drains the 18 foot jumper
Wright needs to prove he belongs on the floor
C.J. not moving the ball around
Morrow making the game easier for others
Warriors not finding Morrow in the 4th
Oden with career high
CJ fights for rebound, should have just given it to Biedrins
Blazers blazing from 3 pt land
Warrriors shooting well from the line
Oden looks gassed
Warriors missing opportunites to put the game away; defense allowing them to hang on to slim lead
both teams not executing well down the stretch
Morrow should be inserted into the game; current lineup struggling to score (Watson/Azubuike/Jackson/Maggette/Biedrins)
Warriors perfect from the line in the 4th Q - 16 for 16
Biedrins falls 1 rebound short of continuing his double-double streak; Watson stole one away from him earlier in the 4th
Blazers make an improbable comeback; Outlaw blows it on freethrow violation; Outlaw should have tried to miss it on purpose - would have been ideal if Biedrins grabbed that last rebound
Warriors are not good closers, giving Blazers every chance to tie/win the game; fortunate for technical on Fernandez and Outlaws lane violation
Warriors win in ugly fashion with 15 secs. to play and a nice cushion; 2 bad inbound plays that resulted in turnovers; 1 inbound play that could have cost them the game (Warriors lucky to get a foul called in their favor)
Anthony Morrow puts a surprise wrinkle in the Warriors season; he's a weapon that changes so many aspects of the offense and he is a contributor on the boards; this kid is for real

Jackson shoots poorly but contributes in many other ways

Quotes

Don Nelson
On Tonight's Game:

“It was kind of a fun game actually, two young teams and a lot of young errors. I think bottom line is we made our free throws in the second half, I think we made 19 in a row. We don’t normally do that, and when you don’t make your free throws, which we consider them a pretty good team, you usually don’t win. So anyway we made our free throws tonight, still had a little drama and have definitely learned something about my team tonight. Pretty good performance from a lot of guys and we did what we wanted to do which was get in the open court and play fast, so Coach doesn’t have too many complaints”

On Anthony Morrow:

“He’s the real deal and we haven’t even learned how to play with him yet. We better learn, first of all, where he is and have an eye out for him, when he’s open he gets the ball and I told the team that after the game we better know where this guy is at all times. The other thing is when he’s working off screens we better get him open because he looks like the real deal. It’s not just him scoring, it’s threat of him scoring and you see guys flying at him when he’s around a screen, both players are up on him now. It just opens the court for other people. And if we learn how to negotiate that, that has a lot of openings for a lot of different people.”

On The Small Lineup:

“We’ve played good teams, but we haven’t played a powerhouse yet. I told the squad in practice yesterday that I think this is the way that we’re going to have to play to max out what we have. To be the best team we can be, the smaller lineup seems the way to go and Anthony Morrow kind of made that happen. I gave him an opportunity to fit in with a small team and he made the whole thing work. So good for him. Brandan Wright, I played him little at four but he’s going to play some five for me and he’s not used to that yet, but I think against certain fives we can get away with it.”

Anthony Morrow
On Tonight's Game:

“I try to stay aggressive but at the same time we have guys on this team that are all-star caliber players, so I just try to play off of them. They told me to stay aggressive. They told me to don’t worry about any pressure and don’t worry about coming out here trying to prove that 37 was a fluke.”

On The Small Lineup:

“I feel like this is a good look for us right now. We can keep running with our small lineup and keep utilizing our people like Jack (Jackson) and Corey (Maggette) and getting them the ball. And guys like me just spotting up, playing hard, and not making many mistakes.”

Stephen Jackson
On Tonight's Game:

A win is a win. Something we definitely needed, regardless of how it happened. We just need to win games and try and get a rhythm for this long road trip we are about to go on.”

On Anthony Morrow:

“The biggest thing is, we needed some help and he’s provided us the help we need. We need that shooter. He’s been coming in a shooting the ball terrific. He’s getting less than 15 shots and getting a high number of points, which is what we need. I’m happy he’s coming along because we need that help to start winning some games.”

Andris Biedrins
On Guarding Greg oden:

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. He is strong and his strength surprised me a little bit. But he is good, he is heavy, so it was more of a team effort when guarding him. He’s a great player, but it’s really fun to play against him.”