NBA Scores and Standings: Mapping the Western Conference - November 14, 2010

Sunday’s games:

Minnesota 105 @ Atlanta 111. The T-Wolves fell short in their attempt to put together an actual winning streak thanks to a Hawks team that came out sharp and ended a four-game skid. The Hawks, who in their last game lost by four at home to Utah on the heels of shooting an atrocious 52% on FTs, were a crisp 34-for-39 (.872) on Sunday night, including 10-for-10 by big man Al Horford. Horford led ATL with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Beasley continued his hot scoring with another 25 points, while Kevin Love followed up his 30/30 game with 22/17.

Detroit 100 @ Sacramento 94. The Kings continued their slide and dropped their 5^th in a row, including their 4^th consecutive home loss. Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 17 points while RekeDaFreak paced the Kings with 20.

San Antonio 117 @ Oklahoma City 104. Matt Bonner proved to be the difference in this one as he went 7-for-7 from 3-point land to score 21 off the bench and spur the Spurs onto victory. (See what I did there?) Tony Parker had 24 for SA while Manu Ginobili had 21. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant again did the majority of the scoring for OKC, with Westbrook scoring 19 (albeit on 5-for-17 shooting) and Durant leading the Thunder with 23 points.

Houston 104 @ New York 96. This was pretty much the Kevin Martin & Luis Scola show for the Rockets, who notched their second road win in a row. Martin led the way with 28 points while Scola had 24. Brad Miller came back to Earth and contributed only 8 points and 3 rebounds, though he did so in limited run (only 13 mins). That’s Amare led the Knickerbockers with 25 points.

Phoenix 121 @ LA Lakers 116. The Lakers have lost two in a row….the West is up for grabs!!! Well, in fact, it took an historic night from the Suns to pull off this upset, as they dropped the second-most 3s ever scored in a game in NBA history - 22. J-Rich had seven of those 3s to help tally his team-high 35 points, while Hedo Turkoglu had five 3s and Channing Frye added another four. The Lakers got solid efforts from Pau (28 pts/17 reb), Kobe (25 pts, 14 ast, 9 reb), and Lamar (22 pts/11 reb), but it wasn’t enough as the defending champs suffered their first home loss of the season.

Previewing Monday’s Western Conference Action:

Detroit (4-6) @ Golden State (6-4). This is a matchup of two teams who are headed, at least temporarily, in opposite directions. After starting the season 0-5, the Pistons are picking up some steam and have won 4 of their last 5. The Warriors, meanwhile, started the season 6-2 but have lost two straight. GS will try to stay perfect at home, where they are 4-0 on the young season.

Memphis (4-6) @ Orlando (6-3). The Magic have lost two in a row at home, while Memphis is coming off a close loss to the Celtics on Saturday. Rudy Gay (25.2 ppg) is averaging the 3^rd highest points per game in the League.

New Orleans (8-0) @ Dallas (6-2). The Hornets try to stay perfect against a Mavs team that has bested them in their last three meetings in Dallas. Mavs big man Tyson Chandler faces his old team, while Caron Butler (back) is still questionable to play. All five Hornets starters are averaging double figures.

Oklahoma City (5-4) @ Utah (7-3). Will Utah have a 6^th consecutive come-from-behind victory? Will Durant and Westbrook combine again for 60% of their team’s scoring? Only time will tell. And that time will come at say, 8:30 PM PT after this game is over.

New Jersey (3-6) @ LA Clippers (1-9). Battle of the Ugly? The Clips have lost 5 in a row and are missing Baron Davis and Chris Kaman. Their starting lineup may consist of 3 rookies in Blake Griffin, Eric Bledsoe, and Al-Farouq Aminu. The Nets, meanwhile, aren’t faring much better. Brook Lopez is shooting a disappointing 39.9% from the field, even though he is averaging 17.3 ppg. Troy Murphy is still easing his way back from injury. The bottom line? At least someone will come away with a win, but I don't expect gameplay in this one to be anywhere near pretty.

Minnesota (3-8) @ Charlotte (3-7). The T-Wolves go for their 2^nd road victory of the year as they try to knock off the Bobcats, who are winless at home. I have my eyes on Mike Beasley and whether or not this hot streak is for real (42, 35, and 25 points in his last 3), and I want to see how close Kevin Love can come to 20/20. On paper the Bobcats are not a terribly exciting team, though I am curious how much longer coach Larry Brown will hold down Tyrus Thomas. Thomas is averaging 11.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, despite playing only ~20 minutes a night.

Denver (5-4) @ Phoenix (5-4). Fresh off the high of upsetting the Lakers in LA with some ridiculous 3-point shooting, I’m looking for the Suns to cool off and fight a tough one out with the Nuggets, who are also coming off a win over the Lakers. Carmelo leads the Nuggets at 25 points per, while Jason Richardson (22.3) and Steve Nash (20.0) lead the Suns.

At the end of Sunday's games, here's what Mapping the Western Conference looks like:

NBA Scores and Standings: Mapping the Western Conference - November 13, 2010

Taking a look back at Friday and Saturday’s Western Conference action, the Jazz extended their winning streak to 5, Minnesota is suddenly on fire, and the Trailblazers took two hard losses.

Friday’s games:

Utah 90 @ Atlanta 86. The Jazz overcame a second-half deficit for the fourth straight game, this time outscoring the Hawks 27-17 in the 4^th for the four point victory. Deron Williams led the charge with 24 points while Andrei Kirilenko continued his resurgence with a double-double (14 pts/12 rebs). The Hawks probably had no one to blame but themselves, as they shot an atrocious 11-for-21 on FTs (52.4%). $119M man Joe Johnson paced ATL with 23.

New York 103 @ Minnesota 112. By now you’ve heard of Kevin Love’s historic 30-30 night, the NBA’s first in 28 years. Love (31 pts/31 rebs) and Michael Beasley (35 points) got the job done for Minny. Sebastian Telfair not so much; he managed some assists this time (8) but he scored zero points in 36+ minutes. The entire Knicks starting five was in double digits, with Danilo Gallinari the leading scorer with 25. As a team the Knickerbockers shot 38% from the field.

Houston 102 @ Indiana 99. Brad Miller went 2003 mode and helped the Rockets surprise the Pacers on the road with a three point victory. Miller, who has adjusted to becoming part-time/bench player in the past two-plus seasons, started in place of the injured Yao and poured in 23 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. James Posey led the Pacers off the bench with 19 points.

Philadelphia 90 @ Dallas 99. The Mavs had six players in double figures, with Jose Juan Barea leading the way with 19. Dirk, who is playing with a sprained ankle (and thus I can forgive him a little for not dropping 25+ every night), had 16 points. Andrei Iguodala made his return but shot only 5-for-13 for 13 points, while Jrue Holiday cooled off a little as he scored only 11. Holiday did double-double though as he had 13 assists against 1 turnover.

Sacramento 89 @ Phoenix 103. The Kings lost their 10^th in a row in Phoenix as Steve Nash went 28-14-7 (pts/ast/reb). Carl Landry double-doubled with 20 and 11 but it wasn’t enough for the Kings, who now have lost 4 games in a row. RekeDaFreak, who scored a season-low 5 points in his previous game, made a triumphant return to the scoresheet with an 18-9-7 (pts/ast/reb) night.

Portland 108 @ Oklahoma City 110. The Thunder used a 10-0 run late in the game to seal the close victory. As expected, the dynamic duo of Westbrook and Durant got’er done for the Thunder as they scored 36 and 34 points, respectively. Durant, however, tainted his name by missing a FT (5-for-6). Brandon Roy shook off any knee woes and put up a valiant effort with 24 points. Nic Batum continued his breakout season with 21 points.

Detroit 113 @ LA Clippers 107, OT. Charlie Villanueva, who has made recent headlines for his battle of wits with KG, took care of business on the court with 30 points, including 5 3-pointers. Eric Gordon returned for the Clips and led them in scoring with 28 points. Blake Griffin double-doubled with 18 points and 18 rebounds. Baron Davis and Chris Kaman remain out with injury.

Saturday’s Games:

Utah 96 @ Charlotte 95. Utah came back AGAIN, this time outscoring the Bobcats 63-46 in the second half to notch their 5^th straight comeback victory. Deron Williams hit a jumper with 0.8 seconds left to seal the win. Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 19 points. Nazr Mohammed went for 22 points and 20 rebounds, while Steven Jackson led Bobcat scorers with 24.

Portland 87 @ New Orleans 107. The Hornets continued their perfect season and improved to 8-0 behind a balanced scoring attack. Seven Hornets players scored in double figures with Marco Belinelli and David West leading the way with 18 points apiece. Roy, who looked fine health-wise in the Trailblazers’ last game, was bothered by soreness in his knee and managed only 2 points in 22+ minutes. Nic Batum led Portland with 16 points.

Boston 116 @ Memphis 110, OT. Paul Pierce scored 28 points as the Celtics held off a feisty Grizzlies team. Rudy Gay led the Grizzlies with 22 points and Zach Randolph double-doubled with 21 and 11.

Philadelphia 93 @ San Antonio 116. The 76ers were never really in this game as the Spurs cruised to victory behind Tony Parker’s 24 points and Manu Ginobili’s 18. DeJuan Blair double-doubled with 13 and 12. Jrue Holiday led the Sixers with 16 points, but Holiday and Iguodala were the only starters with double digits (Iguodala had 10 points in 19+ minutes).

At the end of Saturday’s games, here’s what Mapping the Western Conference looks like:

Warriors 72, Bucks 79: Golden State Of Mind Linkage, Jeff Adrien's +/-, And Monta Ellis' Looking For Answers

The Warriors started slow once again and couldn’t dig themselves fast enough out of a 18 point whole. IQofaWarrior has comprehensive linkage on last night’s game from Jeff Adrien’s valuable minutes off the bench, the random Dan Gadzuric start, and, of course, Monta Ellis’ leadership.

As mentioned earlier, Monta Ellis’ frustration began to show by the second quarter. After struggling to get a good last second shot off to end the half, Ellis, typically emotion-less on the court, yelled out and then clapped his hands angrily. Out of the 5 starters, Ellis had the best +/- at -2.

He was visibly upset when Curry committed a defensive foul when a foul was drawn on him by John Salmon’s pump fake.

Without Ellis last night, the Warriors would have been blow out by a lot. Golden State of Mind’s Fantasy Junkie awarded Ellis with their prestigious “Warrior Wonder” award, given to the Warrior player that played the best, if not just the hardest:

Without him tonight, the Warriors don’t score more than 60 and this game is a blowout. His scoring kept the Warriors around just enough to make that late run. He was the only guy who could make a shot. Adrien doesn’t get a chance to make an impact in the 4th if Monta doesn’t have the game he does.

From the horses’ mouth, here’s what Ellis had to say about their effort (via Marcus Thompson):

“I’m not too happy with it,” Ellis said after totaling 24 points, eight assists, five rebounds, three steals and seven turnovers. “We could’ve gotten this game. We’ve just got to go back home, protect our house and go back on the winning side.”

…

“It’s a sad game, but we’re going to move on,” Ellis said. “We’ve got to do something. Me being a leader on this team, I’m going to go to Coach and get some film and see exactly what it is. Because we’ve got to nip this in the bud if we want to be a playoff team.”

With or without Lee, Ellis clearly feels that they could have had this game. While size was a huge issue, particularly on the defensive end, the Warriors could have had this game if the Warriors didn’t turn the ball over or take a lot of poor shots. Give the Bucks credit for keeping the Warriors out of rhythm early. If things aren’t going right early on — not getting the driving lanes, they need to find some counter moves to help open those up. Either that or get a little more control driving into the paint.

Lastly, what was up with Jeff Adrien’s +10 +/- rating last night? Definitely keep your eye on his minutes with these next few games coming up and Lee possibly out for two more weeks. He provided some toughness and rebounding that the Warriors were missing throughout the game. He wasn’t David Lee, but much better than Brandan Wright and to some extent, Andris Biedrins.

Recap: Warriors 72, Bucks 79 - Poor Rebounding And Charge Fouls Doom Warriors

In some crazy alternate universe that only Alfred Hitchcock could dream of, Drew Gooden plays the most dominating player in the NBA, becoming the force people thought he would be coming out of Kansas. Today, that fantasy came true.

The perennial journeyman that teams want, don’t want, then want again, was a beast in the paint, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, with his last one securing the win for the Bucks.

With less than a minute left, the Warriors finally stopped Bogut without fouling him. Unfortunately, Bogut's 3rd missed attempt bounced in Gooden's direction. Gooden easily plucked the ball from over the top of the undersized Reggie Williams, who was not boxing out anyone.

The Warriors clearly missed David Lee’s rebounding as 4 out of the 5 starters on the Bucks grabbed 10 rebounds or more. The Warriors were outrebounded 58-42 and the offensive rebounding differential was 19-11.

But to the Bucks credit, they studied their film and took away the Warriors bread and butter early on, preventing them from getting into any rhythm. Packing the paint, Bogut easily drew at least 5 foul calls. As the Warriors gradually mounted their run early in the fourth quarter, knocking the 19 point deficit down to 7 on several three point buckets by Vladimir Radmanovic and Charlie Bell, Bogut continually thwarted the Warriors by drawing charges calls, slowing their momentum.

Bogut controlled the paint drawing charges. But he also stepped out to the perimeter, recovering from Vladimir Radmanovic’s pump fake to block his 3 point attempt to cut the lead to 2 with 30 seconds to go in the game. Bogut finished the night with only 8 points, but had 17 rebounds and 5 blocks.

The calls by the referees were at times questionable as Warriors players a good 10 inches shorter than Bogut were getting called for charges against him. One particular occasion, Radmanovic drove to the hoop at half speed and as he slowed after making his pass, bumping into Luc Richard Mbah a Moute standing in front him, the referees were quick with the whistle. On the other end, Brandon Jennings drove wildly into traffic throwing up a layup sending Curry to the floor, but there was no call at all.

Monta Ellis finished the game with 24 points and 8 assists, but he also had 7 turnovers. His frustration was obvious throughout the game, but he continued to play tough defense and got his teammates involved.

The Warriors best perimeter shooters, Dorell Wright and Stephen Curry, combined for 5-28 shooting.

Rookie PF Jeff Adrien provided valuable minutes, playing a career high 19 minutes, grabbing 8 rebounds and scoring 6 points. Without Lee, Adrien’s hustle, particularly on the second chance points, was instrumental in helping the Warriors climb out of their 19 point deficit. Adrien also contributed 2 blocks.

Radmanovic, who has been ineffective as of late, nailed two key three pointers early in the fourth to cut the lead.

Warriors 51, Bucks 66 - Stephen Curry Frustrating Monta Ellis

On two occasions in the third quarter, Curry was called for fouls that seemed questionable. On the first, Curry, on defense, was caught briefly in the air by a pump fake, which John Salmon’s jumped into. After getting called for the foul, Monta Ellis expressed his frustration bodily, throwing his arms out.

A few possessions later, Curry was called for a charge on a Andrew Bogut, who did not seem to have planted his feet, as he was passing to a wide open Vladimir Radmanovic. Curry has 4 fouls.

This captures the type of play that the Warriors have been producing … or rather not producing against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks have done their homework preventing the Warriors from getting any buckets in the paint. Even shots in the perimeter have been contested. Ellis, Curry, and Reggie Williams have all been met by double and triple teams. In spite of Monta Ells’ 5 turnovers, he has been the lone bright spot, scoring 24 points on 8-14 shooting.

The Warriors have shown more life in the third quarter, but have been unable to stop the Bucks from open jumpers from the perimeter. The Bucks are shooting a torrid 47% from 3pt territory.

Jeff Adrien got in the game, with a nice block. Unfortunately, no one was there to box out Drew Gooden, who threw it down for a ferocious dunk.

Warriors 30, Bucks 43: Porous Defense and No Offensive Execution Hurting Warriors Bad

There’s no other way to put it besides this: the Warriors are playing bad. Really bad. I mean, ugly. With the Bucks packing the paint, taking away Monta Ellis’ and Stephen Curry’s bread and butter, the Warriors have had to rely on outside shooting, which they’ve seemed to have lost in the last two games.

Driving into traffic, quick shots early in the shot clock, little to no ball movement, matador defense and inability to rebound has made this one ugly game for the Warriors. Stephen Curry is having quite possibly the worse game of his career as he has taken 10 shots, making only 2. Throughout the first two quarters, Brandon Jennings flanked Curry, not giving him easy looks. But even Curry has missed a few floaters that has become his calling card in addition to taking early in the shot clock.

Monta Ellis leads the Warriors with 14 points on 5-9 shooting but the Warriors team is collectively shooting 28%. Curry isn’t the only one to blame for the poor start. Dorell Wright is a putrid 1-7,  missing off back iron on various occasions. Rodney Carney has taken a few hurried and contested shots (1-4 from the field).  This captures the first half perfectly.

The Bucks, however, aren’t playing great but obviously enough to lead the Warriors by 13. If anything the Bucks could probably be up by at least 20 had they not missed point blank, uncontested layups in transition. But even without these shots, the Bucks ball movement has confused the Warriors defense. Part of this is that the Bucks have been able to control the boards with 10 more rebounds. The Bucks have size, but the Warriors just don’t look like they’re getting position. They could use David Lee…or they need to channel the will of Kevin Love to just grab everything in their sight.

To see what Warrior fans are saying about tonight's debacle, head over to the Game Thread at Golden State of Mind!

Golden State Warriors @ Milwaukee Bucks, 5:30PM - Rested, But Perpetually Busted

The Warriors curse remains and it seems as if it's only gotten weirder this season. Luckily there are no season ending injuries (cross your fingers), yet. Monta Ellis' awkward landing against the Toronto Raptors and now David Lee's infected elbow requiring surgery in my hometown of Fremont, California that will put him out two weeks, are mild inconveniences compared to what happened last season.

But, as this season of the "strange" trudges on, you constantly wonder how good this Warrior team could actually be if they were healthy. Unlike the past where marketing over actual production was how fans got excited about the season's prospects, this season's success, so far, really feels as if it will be reality deferred until next season.

With that said, the Warriors are without David Lee tonight as they end their road trip facing the Milwaukee Bucks. After a lethargic showing where they were spanked by the Chicago Bulls 120-90, Stephen Curry, as quoted by Rusty Simmons, says:

"Win or lose, we need to come out with more energy and a better focus," point guard Stephen Curry said. "We need to have a little more fight in us. Things might not go our way offensively, but we can control our defense every night.

"That's the test for us."

And this will indeed be the case. Finishing 2-3 on this roadtrip isn't a terrible thing given the fact that the Warriors only won 8 road games last season, with 3 coming in the last month.

The Warriors face a red hot Bucks team, who in the last week dismantled the Atlanta Hawks in their own house and a few days earlier, thoroughly dominated the New York Knicks at home.

Defensively, the Bucks at the second rated in the league, holding team to a meager 91.3 points per game. But defense aside, the Bucks are working out the kinks in their revamped roster, with many scorers at the wings to keep Dorell Wright busy. Recently traded Corey Maggette continues to be the efficient scorer off the bench, averaging just over 14 points in 22 minutes a game. Shooting a meager 42%, Maggette clearly has the green light to shoot when he's in the game. And as the Warriors know from playing with him, Maggette knows how to draw fouls and will most likely look to exploit the Warriors defense that has relied more on reaching than shuffling their feet during this road trip.

Brandon Jennings has also showed steady improvement in his sophomore season, shooting 42% from the field compared to 37% last season. Jennings made his splash in the NBA season last year putting up 55 points in a win over the Warriors early last season and averaged 40 points per game in the two meetings between them. A shoot out tonight between scorers in Jennings and Curry could set the tone.

The Warriors are going to need more help from Brandan Wright and from Dan Gadzuric, listed day-to-day. In limited minutes, Wright showed touch around the basket but was largely ineffective on the defensive end, only grabbing 3 rebounds in 16 minutes. With a front line of Andrew Bogut, Drew Gooden, and Ersan Ilyasova, the Warriors, perhaps, should look towards using rookie PF Jeff Adrien in spurts if Brandan Wright continues to be ineffective. Or at the very least, Adrien's 6 fouls could be useful.