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

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 »

Game 2 win in San Antonio makes Warriors title contender

Wednesday, at 9:35 by

By TED SILLANPAA The Golden State Warriors are no longer that fun, little team that can’t really win in the NBA playoffs. Oh, media types will still mock the notion that they could actually reach the NBA Finals, but they’ve done nothing to show they can do just that. The Warriors went into San Antonio and manhandled the highly-favored Spurs for 3 1/2 quarters before losing Game 1 in double-overtime, then beat them 100-91 to get the game on the… Read More »

Game 3 Warriors’ help defense saved victory

Saturday, at 2:01 by

From the arena in Oakland Ted Sillanpaa The Denver Nuggets won Game One of their NBA playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, in large part, because the Warriors failed to help on defense and allowed Andre Miller easy access to the rim for the game-winning hoop. The Warriors learned from the mistake and used helping team defense to preserve a victory in Game Three on Saturday night. Festus Ezeli’s quick reaction to pick up Ty Lawson when Klay Thompson… Read More »

Warriors found championship formula in Denver

Wednesday, at 1:27 by

By TED SILLANPAA Twitter @tedsillanpa Follow Sillanpaa on Facebook ted.sillanpaa@pressdemocrat.com Woa! Wait! No. I’m not suggesting that a win in Game 2 of the NBA playoffs in Denver means that the Warriors have poven they can win the NBA championship. I’m simply pointing out that they did everything so well in beating the Nuggets that they created a formula that, if followed exactly, would win any team a title. The Warriors made over 60 percent of their field goal attempts and… 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 finally hit inevitable slump

Saturday, at 1:07 by

By TED SILLANPAA Last month, it started to seem as though the Golden State Warriors were actually in a position to push their way into the third seed in the NBA Western Conference playoffs. They’d defeated the Los Angeles Clippers again and it just seemed like these Warriors could over-achieve, get the No. 3 seed and enhance their chances of postseason succes Things have changed after three straight losses, heading into a gave where the Dallas Mavericks jumped to a… Read More »

’74-’75 Warriors hint that we don’t know what today’s Warriors can accomplish

Friday, at 12:26 by

By TED SILLANPAA We’ve gotten a little too used to believing that we know in advance who’ll win the game and, then, reach the playoffs. I don’t need to go back to my youth, decades ago, to give an example of how the most unlikely champions emerge, but I will because the most unlikely championship team of my lifetime were the 1974-75 Golden State Warriors. It’s actually instructive to take a quick, if long, trip down Memory Lane to briefly… Read More »

Warriors have their star, defensive tenacity … just need rim protector

Tuesday, at 1:46 by

By TED SILLANPAA The Warriors’ Stephen Curry has become the go-to, clutch-shooting star that every really good NBA team needs. It’d be foolish to think Klay Thompson can’t become a star, too, despite his early season woes. David Lee’s having a career season. Golden State has been winning consistently because head coach Mark Jackson and assistant Pete Myers are throwback NBA tough guys who finally put together a Warriors’ team that plays defense, plays it well and doesn’t back down… Read More »