I returned to the bay area and luckily was able to score some free luxury box seat tickets. With that, I got to park in the "Player's Lot." So here's what I got to observe in my return to the Oracle. Eyewitness!
1. If you have VIP access through the player's parking, you can bring in whatever you want and they won't make you throw it away.
2. The Oracle no longer serves malt ice cream. When did this happen?
3. The Warriors need to work on finishing at the rim or at least their tip-ins. I don't know how many missed second chances point the Warriors could not capitalize on. Either that or there was just a lot of blown 3-5 foot runners in the paint that the Warriors kept rattling in and out.
4. Learn how to throw outlet passes, please!!! On at least 5 separate occasions, the Warriors blew great box out efforts by pure carelessness advancing the ball to the front court. Dorell Wright, Vladimir Radmanovic and several others got picked in the back court (typically by someone smaller than them) or through it directly at a Rockets players.
The problem? Well, instead of perhaps closing the gap or advancing the lead, the Warriors gave up points either by having to foul (or flagrant foul in Radmanovic's case). Take some tips from this guy:
5. The Warriors have upgraded their food vendor signs! The food is marginally better looking with the cohesiveness of the signage. But the prices are still ridiculous.
6. Dan Gadzuric loves American muscle cars and Andris Biedrins drives a Bentley. I believe Dorell Wright rolls around in cream and clean Porsche (it had a Florida license plate).
7. The Jeremy Lin fandom at the Oracle is crazy. I had heard about it before, but I am impressed by how intense it was. No wonder this guy is nervous all the time. But Lin had a nice outing and he should have gotten a call on at least one of his shots where he clearly got pushed from behind by Luis Scola. Also, Lin might be the Warriors best offensive rebounder or most alert players to loose balls on offense and defense.
8. Ekpe Udoh is learning but looks like he's got some tools. His offense isn't the prettiest, but his nice putback slam is what the Warriors desperately need on a roster full of people who can't put back shots at all. Both him and Lin had ESPN highlight worthy blocks. Together, the rookies provided the most defensive intensity I've seen from the Warriors since ... never.
9. The Warriors starters couldn't match up with the Rockets' starters. After the Warriors subbed out Udoh and Lin with 5 minutes remaining in the fourth, the Rockets quickly began running up the score. Not only that, but the turnovers and mental errors of poor defensive rotation and errant passing. Dorell Wright was absolutely terrible this game, offensively. Or rather, he is shooting his ‘norm' nowadays: 4-13.