Counting W's for Week 5

By: Atma Brother #1 of Golden State of Mind

Warriors Weekly Rewind
Just when you think the Warriors are about to put together a November that no one wants to remember, they get back to just 2 games under .500 after an 0-6 start in 8 days. Last week I wrote:

It's not going to be easy to keep this win streak alive, but with this team you never know what's going to happen.

You seriously don't know what's going to happen with this team. Who would've thought that after losing their first 6 games the Warriors would put together a 4-1 road trip on the East Coast and win 5 of their last 6 games? Sure the Clippers, Raptors, Knicks, Wizards (minus Gilbert Arenas), and the Philadelphia 76ers aren't exactly the cream of the crop of the NBA, but every win is worth the same amount in the W column.

• Game 9: Warriors 108, Knicks 82- The Knicks were in complete disarray and it showed. The Warriors were hungry to keep their winning streak alive and it showed.
• Game 10: Warriors 82, Celtics 105- In this blowout loss the Warriors simply could not buy a bucket as they shot 33.3% from the field and 18.2% from downtown. The Boston Three Party was mighty impressive and well worth the price of hitting power on the TV remote control though.
• Game 11: Warriors 123, Wizards 115- Hope you caught this late Friday afternoon post-turkey day game. It was the most entertaining Warriors game to date that featured a pair of triple doubles from Baron Davis (33 points, 11 rebounds, and 15 assists) and the Wizards' All-Star swingman Caron Butler (26 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists), which was the first time such a feat was accomplished in the NBA since 2003 with superstars Jason Kidd and Tracy McGrady. Sure the Wizards didn't have their superstar and former Warrior Gilbert Arenas on hand, but a W's a W.
  
• Game 12: Warriors 100, 76ers 98 OT- This overtime game was a little to close for comfort considering that the Sixers are one of the worst teams in the league. It took a big 3 from young Warrior shooting guard Kelenna Azubuike to get this W. Still, with the Warriors going 4-1 on this East Coast swing, good for their best road trip in decades, you can't help but smile.
  

Here comes another 4 game week for the Dubs hitting you in full force. There's an even split of home and away games, although with travels up north to Sacramento and Seattle the Warriors just have a short drive and flight. Two of the Warriors' opponents this week are sure-bets for the 2008 Western Conference Playoff bracket, so this will be a good measuring stick.


Monday November 26: Warriors vs Suns
If only the Warriors could've won those close games against the Jazz and the Suns could've pulled off the series win against the Spurs, in spite of those questionable suspensions to Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw, in the 2007 NBA Playoffs. We could've seen a playoff battle for the ages. Last year every single race between these two speedy squads ended up being a fun, high scoring affair. Three of the 4 games came down to the last minute too:

• November 20, 2006 vs Phoenix L 110-113
• December 15, 2006 @ Phoenix L 101-105
• January 7, 2007 @ Phoenix L 105-128
• March 29, 2007 vs Phoenix W 125-119

Expect another Wild, Wild, West type showdown in Oakland on Monday night. It'll be a fun game, but look for the Suns to pull away in the closing minutes if not seconds of the 4th quarter. This is one of those games where free throws might do the Warriors in. But if the Warriors can pull off this win, give them a ton of credit as the 11-2 Suns are a very good team playing very good basketball right now.
Prediction: 1 for the L column


Wednesday November 28: Warriors @ Kings
If you remember back to last Spring when the Warriors last faced the Kings in Sacramento, things were quite amusing for Warrior fans as chants of "Let's Go War-ri-ors!" serenaded the the building of Sactown's only professional sports team. YAY AREEEA! The Kings' streak of sellout games is now over and it's looking like their drought of playoff action has just begun. This should be an easy road win for the Warriors provided the team is reasonably healthy.

Keep your eyes on Ron Artest and Mike Bibby who will likely be gone by the February trading deadline. Ron-Ron seems like he would be a perfect fit at the 3 or 4 for the Warriors, while Bibby has been heavily rumored to go to the Cleveland Cavaliers or Miami Heat. The Kings could look very different the next time the Warriors see them back in Oakland on February 9th 2008.
Prediction: 1 for the W column


Thursday November 29: Warriors vs Rockets
The Rockets have the unenviable task of facing the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors on back to back nights away from home. They are a solid team and a lock for the 2008 Western Conference Playoff bracket, but the half court oriented Rockets don't have the horses to run with the fleet-footed, high octane games of the Suns and Warriors on two consecutive evenings. This is simply a bad break in the schedule for the Rockets and something the Warriors have to capitalize on. The Rockets won't be anymore vulnerable against the Warriors then this Thursday night.

Here's another "what if" from the 2007 NBA Playoffs. What if the Rockets won that Game 7 against the Utah Jazz in the first round at home in Houston like they should have? Last season the Warriors took 2 out of 3 from the Rockets:

• December 5, 2007 @ Houston L 90-118
  
• December 14, 2007 vs Houston W 109-107
• April 4, 2007 @ Houston W 110-99- I will never forget how hilariously brilliant Nellie's coaching job was in this blowout win during the 16-5 run for the ages.

Would the fast five of BD, Monta, J-Rich, Jack, and Al with subs Barnes, MP2, and Andris be able to take down the slow down Rockets with Yao and TMac? We'll unfortunately never know, but if the Dubs can win this one let's pretend they would've advanced to the 2007 Western Conference Finals!
Prediction: Another one for the W column


Sunday December 2: Warriors @ Sonics
There's an up and coming rookie on the Sonics that is going to give the Warriors a ton of trouble this upcoming Sunday. Nope I'm not talking about future superstar Kevin Durant, I'm talking about Hoyas product Jeff Green. Stephen Jackson is going to make it a long night with his stellar man defense on Durant, but Green should be able to notch a double-double in points and rebounds. Green could be looking at a career night on Sunday against the Warriors.

Another interesting side story is that this will be the first time the Warriors face P.J. Carlesimo who has returned to the sidelines as the head coach of the Sonics. Carlesimo if you remember presided as the Warriors head coach from 1997 to 1999 which made for some fairly interesting times in Dubs land- we'll spare you the details of what went down during those 3 seasons, but let's just say it was quite different than the We Believe edition of your Golden State Warriors.
Prediction: Another one for the W column


Overall Week 5 Prediction: 3-1


What are your predictions for week 5 for the Dubs?
To make things easier for tracking everyone's picks for the Warriors all season long use Ballhype's NBA Games section and make sure to join the Golden State of Mind Community group.