Here are a few tasty tid bits from the second quarter.
1. The Warriors have run the same play at least 10 times and 8 out of those ten times have been successful. The two times they haven’t? Bobbling a pass. This play, which seems to work exceptionally well against a team like the Grizzlies, involved the ball handler, either Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, or Dorell Wright, coming down the middle drawing 3 defenders, which allows Jeff Adrien or Andris Biedrins to slide backdoor for an easy reverse layup. Biedrins, clearly the beneficiary of such plays already has 14 points on 7-9 shooting. Too bad Biedrins missed a freethrow that didn’t even hit the rim.
2. Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph are just too strong for the Warriors right now. If the Grizzlies were smart, they would just pound the ball down into Randolph or Gay at the block with every play and just have them draw fouls each time down fouling out the Warriors. The foul disparity right now is 11 to 6. And anytime Randolph is at the block, it has spelled doom for the Warriors as he’s drawn fouls on Adrien and Biedrins easily. Both times And-1s, too. Gay has 14 and Randolph has 9, but both are shooting above 50% from the field tonight.
3. OJ Mayo is a tremendous scorer off the bench. After coach Lionel Hollins relegated Mayo to the bench for some disciplinary reasons and uneven play, Mayo has been given the green light to shoot and score however he wants. And what better way to get his groove back then against the Warriors. In one quarter, Mayo has 11 points. He has missed only one shot.
4. Ellis the Scorer, defender, and distributor. Maybe it’s being in front of the home crowd but Ellis has dazzled with his scoring, hustle for steals and loose balls, and great interior passing. He leads the Warriors with 16 points and 4 assists. The Warriors will need more play like this from Ellis — struggling in the last several games — if they have any chance of winning.