Watch out Golden State Warriors, Wilson Chandler's teeth are back on the scene, taking out teams' franchise players with every bite. In their previous meeting, David Lee and Chandler fought for a rebound, which ended up with Chandler incidentally chomping down on Lee's elbow. Since then Lee's elbow has swelled to the size of a softball with Lee requiring hospitalization and multiple cleanings. With reports saying that Lee is still 10 days away from any game time, what exactly were in Chandler's teeth?
I'm betting he's a vampire or a zombie.
Lame jokes aside, Chandler is planning on wearing a mouth guard and hopefully Warriors were warned to wear elbow pads just in case. Tonight's game is also Filipino Heritage Night, which will feature 3-time women's boxing world champion Ana Julaton. She already has her own Ana Julaton day, awarded to her by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Mayor Newsom apparently loves giving out special days out to athletes. At this rate, 49er QB Troy Smith, 3rd stringer-cum-super starter, will have his own day by the end of next week. For those that don't now who Ana Julaton is (like myself), here is a good promo video for tonight's Filipino Heritage Night celebration hosted by Julaton herself:
Lee's injury seems to be healing properly as the swelling has gone down and he will soon be discharged from the hospital. Vladimir Radmanovic has been getting more minutes along with Dan Gadzuric and Jeff Adrien. As much as Radmanovic has struggled, Golden State of Minder's have a very good reason why Coach Keith Smart is going with the veteran over the others.
The Warriors will struggle to match Amar'e Stoudemire's output without Lee. In their last meeting, what I would like to call Lee's closure of his breakup, Lee amassed 28 points and 10 boards, his best offensive output of the season. Without Lee, the Warriors backups have struggled to even grab half as many boards, let alone try to score half as many points.
Besides, Lee, the other player Warriors fans won't be seeing is the player they traded Lee for: Anthony Randolph. Coach Mike D'Antoni is saying that it is nothing personal, but more of a coaching maneuver to figure out how to get some wins.