Well, the end of the road has finally arrived for the Golden State Warriors’ 2011 campaign, and no matter which way you slice it, it was a disappointing one. But they have one last shot at some fleeting glory as they host the Portland Trailblazers at Oracle Arena tonight.
With the unfortunate concussion Monta Ellis suffered against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, the W’s are having to look to other options to score in bunches. Stehen Curry and Dorell Wright are viable options, both scoring 27 points in the W’s loss to Denver on Monday, but Curry is questionable with a sprained ankle. If Golden State wants to keep up with the playoff bound Blazers led by LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy and Gerald Wallace, David Lee is going to have to bring his A game tonight to make up for the lack of offense, and do his best to lock it down on defense.
In their last meeting on April 5th, the W’s got a rare road win in the Rose Garden 108-87, snapping the Blazers 8 game home winning streak at the time. Portland has locked up the 6th seed in the Western Conference, but could play either the Lakers, Mavericks, or Thunder depending on how the season ends for each of those teams. Portland is 18-22 on the road this year having lost 5 of the last 7 away from the Rose Garden, but on the last night of the season the Blazers may already be looking past the W’s to the playoffs. Whether or not Nate Mcmillan will rest his starters is yet to be seen, but either way I suspect the W’s will play their hearts out trying to get a win for the fans for the last time at Oracle this season.
Tonight is only the second time in NBA history that every team will be suited up on the final day of the season. The only other time was the 1956-57 season when the league had only 8 teams, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Tipoff is set for 7:30 tonight and can be seen on CSNBay HD, or heard on KNBR 1050 AM.
For more in depth discussion and analysis of everything Warriors, head over to Golden State of Mind to get in on the action.