Another year, another distinction. This time, it's one they'd rather not hold.
One season after being the first 8-seed to upset a No. 1 since the NBA went to a best-of-seven first-round format, the Warriors became the first team to win 48 games in the regular season and get shut out of the expanded postseason format.
Six more wins, one fewer playoff berth. You figure it out.
It's called being in the Western Conference. Had the Warriors been in the East -- a conference against which they went 20-10 -- they'd have finished ahead of Cleveland and been a 4-seed.
The Warriors won the season series over the defending-champion Spurs. They split games against Boston, the team with the best record in the league. And they came within a bogus call of possibly sweeping the West's No. 1 club -- the Lakers -- in a late-March home-and-home.
But they dug themselves a hole early, going 1-6 during Stephen Jackson's season-opening suspension, and only briefly climbed out. And by the time they did -- going two games up on Denver for the final playoff spot in March -- they'd exhausted so much energy, they floundered down the stretch, losing 11 of 19 and finishing two games out of the No. 8 spot.
They did it all without Jason Richardson, the high-scoring swingman who was dealt for a lottery pick in what (for this year, anyway) amounted to a cost-cutting measure. The pick, Brandan Wright, was no factor in the Warriors' season, and neither was Golden State's own first-round selection, Marco Belinelli.
The Warriors went as far as Don Nelson's coaching and the legs of Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Jackson could take them. And that was into a final-week showdown with Denver, which they lost 115-104, and never recovered.
SEASON HIGHLIGHT If any game typified the Warriors' season, it was their 115-111 win at the Staples Center in Los Angeles against the Lakers on March 23. When the Warriors were hot, which they were in the first half en route to 72 points and a 26-point lead, they were unstoppable. But when they shot bricks, which they did for 19 minutes of the second half as L.A. rallied to take a two-point lead, they were terrible. Unfazed, Golden State bounced back to record the much-needed win as Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis and Baron Davis -- the trio that carried the club all season -- all made big plays down the stretch. It was the team's 20th of 21 road wins during the season, nine more than they'd totaled the year before.
TURNING POINT Some would say it was when, in the wake of one of the most exciting playoff runs in franchise history, the Warriors broke up their nucleus by trading Jason Richardson for a draft pick. The club had depth problems all season. But the Warriors undoubtedly would have been at least a 50-win team even without Richardson and would have made the playoffs had the NBA not announced on July 15 that Stephen Jackson was being suspended for the first seven games of the season as punishment for having pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness in a gun-shooting incident in Indianapolis in 2006. The Warriors opened the season 1-6 in Jackson's absence, losing their first six games. If Jackson had received a slap on the wrist and the Warriors won even just two more of those games with him in the lineup, they would have gone into the final night of the season needing just to beat a bad Seattle team to make a second consecutive trip to the playoffs.
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May not make financial sense, but wouldn't he be a nice piece to fill a major hole for the Warriors?
We have two years to make a run with this team (maybe just one depending on Baron's future contract). Nowitki would bring a more depndabel outside shot and some more size inside. I think Nelson can get more out
I think Baron is a good player but I dont think he can get past the 1st round. Why not try to get Elton Brand- Look at this line up- Starting- Monte-G, Jackson-G, B Wright- F, Brand-PF, Biedrens-C- Have Harrington, Kelenna, Barnes, Watson, Bellinelli- Sign maybe freeagent Point Guard like Arroyo and legit back up center li
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I can see that sman1965 bothers almost every team on their message board. While trash talking is fun, just seeing this guys posts makes me fell like I am back in the 3rd grade.
I am proposing a boycott of any thread he starts, and to any posts he makes on other threads as well...
Maybe he will start to talk smart sports conversation or maybe he will jus
What are our odds of our ping pong ball or one of them making it into the Top pick? And for arguement sake say that the basketball gods decide to make it bounce our way. Who do we pick?
(POLL)
I know our team is out, but who says we can no longer enjoy the game of basketball? So my question to you is, Which team in the wild, wild, west are you guys rooting for to win it all? (Not enough slots for east teams)
Thank you Warriors for having a great year and the future looks bright, it is just a bad break that the west was so good this year. If we were in the N.I.T., sorry I mean the east we would have been a four seed. Thanks, for the good year and I can not wait till next year.
PS I think all of us Warrior fans should route agaisnt th
Anyone hear why BD did not play at all in the second half last night against Phoenix? I did not think he was hurt and I am just praying that Ratto's article is not right at all and is a joke. That would be just like the Warriors to get good again and then have something awful like a Davis/Nelson fued destroy the franchise.
