A Press Democrat Blog

Overtime

Ted Sillanpaa looks at the San Francisco Giants, other Bay Area sports and gives a dad's-eye view of Empire prep and youth sports trends

Pivot play has changed with players in NBA, rest of basketball

Tuesday, at 6:06 by

Readers have discussed the importance of quality pivot play, the need for an offensive threat at the center position in the NBA. When one asked me what I thought about the state of pivot play and how it got to where it is today … my response seemed like something worth sharing. — TED By TED SILLANPAA Pivot play has changed as has the game of basketball. The game doesn’t revolve around a dominant center … hasn’t for years. The… Read More »

Warriors … lingering questions while pondering the future …

Saturday, at 11:09 by

By TED SILLANPAA The Warriors did everything so right in their NBA playoff run … until about midway through the third quarter of decisive Game 6 against the Spurs in Oakland. It was then that it became clear that Golden State hit the wall and only Harrison Barnes was able to push through it and hustle forward. Shouldn’t it be a concern that, when their playoff lives were on the line, Barnes was the only Golden State player hustling back… Read More »

Either 3-pointers fall or Warriors will go down on Thursday

Wednesday, at 1:20 by

By TED SILLANPAA Mark Jackson’s inspired pep talks won’t save the Warriors. The club won’t suddenly develop a low-post offense that allows them to really grind it out in the halfcourt to beat the Spurs with layups and free throws. Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson can’t defend more than one player apiece so Golden State’s defensive shortcomings aren’t going away, particularly when Jarrett Jack has played brilliantly offensively while offering nothing on the the defensive end. Jackson won’t do it,… Read More »

Warriors turned ball over, shot poorly … still won Game 4 to prove they can make a miracle

Sunday, at 5:27 by

By TED SILLANPAA Magic Johnson spent ABC’s halftime show reading the Warriors postseason obituary. It was hard to imagine Golden State, with Stephen Curry hobbled and foul troubles haunting the bigs, beating the Spurs Sunday or any other day. In fact, Magic said, “The shots aren’t falling for the Warriors. When the shots are falling, they can beat anybody. Jump-shooting teams just don’t win championships.” The Warriors wound up making just 38 percent of their shots in Game 4, and… Read More »

Nothing exciting in Warriors-Nuggets getting unnecessarily physical

Thursday, at 1:23 by

By TED SILLANPAA The media and some fans are gleeful at the prospect of the Warriors-Nuggets Game 6 being a knock-down, drag-out battle filled with hard fouls, cheap shots, etc. They think the series got more exciting because the Nuggets started knocking Stephen Curry around and the Warriors responded by, literally, slamming Kenneth Faried into the seats. A hard foul that prevents a layup is good, hard basketball. If things gets even more physical as players try to get rebound… Read More »

NBA, officials have to punish for every cheap shot in Game 6

Wednesday, at 12:59 by

By TED SILLANPAA It’s fairly easy to make sure that Warriors-Nuggets Game 6 doesn’t continue the game-changing physicality that marred Game 5. The NBA needs to make it clear to both coaches that there’s no tolerance for any action they determine to be intended to do physical harm. If Kenneth Faried knows he might be ejected without warning if a game official sees him do what he did in Game 5 and kick at Stephen Curry’s bum ankle, Faried is… Read More »

Warriors-Nuggets: Crowd noise impacted home team & beating the traps

Sunday, at 6:09 by

From the arena in Oakland, Sunday at 5:55 p.m. By Ted Sillanpaa Warriors’ coach Mark Jackson said that the raucous Oakland crowd for Game 3 actually caused Golden State problems early on Friday. “We had difficulty yelling out the action on the pick and roll,” Jackson said. “Our bigs were calling out the screen like they’re supposed to, but with the crowd noise our guards couldn’t hear it and we got caught a couple times.” The Warriors addressed the problem.… Read More »

Close isn’t good enough for playoff novice Warriors

Saturday, at 11:01 by

By TED SILLANPAA Twitter @tedsillanpa ted.sillanpaa@pressdemocrat.com The last thing the Warriors and their fans wanted to acknowledge was that the club utterly lacks NBA playoff experience. After Saturday’s gut-wrenching 97-95 loss to the Nuggets in Denver, that lack of playoff experience will be in the forefront of the conversation until Tuesday’s Game 2. Andre Miller’s drive to the hoop, against pretty solid defense from Draymond Green, should never in a million years have become a 1-on-1 duel between a tested… Read More »

Warriors’ Bogut flat-footed on game-winning shot

Saturday, at 5:22 by

By TED SILLANPAA Twitter @tedsillanpa ted.sillanpaa@pressdemocrat No one play ever really wins or loses a basketball game, but failure to follow the most fundamental rule of NBA defense cost the Warriors dearly in the Nuggets’ 97-95 in Game One of the Western Conference playoffs. Golden State center Andrew Bogut was defending Javale McGee as Draymond Green tried to keep point guard Andre Miller from taking the ball, 1-on-1, to the rim. Bogut’s first job, every Warriors’ first job in that… Read More »

Pressure’s on Denver, so Golden State will advance

Saturday, at 12:39 by

By TED SILLANPAA Twitter @tedsillanpa ted.sillanpaa@pressdemocrat.com The Denver Nuggets who are big favorites to beat the Golden State Warriors in the first-round of the NBA playoffs no longer exist. Big-time post player Kenneth Faried has been out with a bum ankle and likely won’t play in Game One on Saturday. Danilo Gallinari was sidelined for the season with a knee injury weeks back. People don’t think that the injuries will hurt the Nuggets because they played well down the stretch.… Read More »