Golden State Warriors Blog – Page 82 – NBA Blog

Brandon Roy scores 41 on Warriors

The AP reports:

Brandon Roy scored 41 points, Andre Miller added 15 points and seven assists and the Portland Trail Blazers overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Golden State Warriors 110-105 on Thursday night.

Rudy Fernandez added 12 points including a pair of pivotal 3-pointers during a late 17-3 run by the Blazers, who snapped a nine-game losing streak at Oracle Arena.

Portland also avoided what would have been a costly defeat as it tries to hold onto the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

Monta Ellis back pain began in high school

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Guard Monta Ellis revealed Wednesday that he was born with a small hole at the base of his spine, a condition that he says started causing back pain in high school and still is a problem periodically.

The Warriors said the condition is called spondylolysis, a defect that occurs in up to 6 percent of the population and one that doesn’t cause future concerns for the team.

Ellis was immobilized for the better part of the past 12 days but is “leaning” toward playing tonight. “Sometimes it bothers me, but not to the point where I can’t move.”

Warriors sign Reggie Williams to 10-day contract

The Golden State Warriors have signed forward Reggie Williams to a 10-day contract, the team announced today.

Williams, 23, is a call-up from the NBA Development League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce, where he has appeared in 31 games this season, averaging 26.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.55 steals in 40.0 minutes per contest. For the season, he has shot 57.6% (298-517 FG) from the field, 41.0% (57-139 3FG) from three-point range and 82.4% (164-199 FT) from the line. Williams, who currently leads the D-League in scoring amongst all players who meet the statistical minimums to qualify, has scored 20-or-more points 23 times this season, including 12 games of 30-or-more and three 40-plus efforts.

A 6-6, 210-pound forward, Williams played professionally in France last season after going undrafted out of VMI in 2008. He led the nation in scoring in each of his last two collegiate seasons, averaging 28.1 points per game as a junior in 2006-07, and 27.8 points per game as a senior in 2007-08.

Golden State’s roster now stands at 16 players. The Warriors are able to add Williams to the roster under the NBA’s hardship rules, which allow a team the ability to sign an additional player if that team already has 15 players on its Active and Inactive Lists and has four-or-more players unable to perform playing services due to injury or illness for an extended period of time.

Williams will wear uniform #55. He is the 16th Call-Up from the D-League to the NBA this season, and the fifth by the Warriors.

CJ Watson scores 40

Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group reports:

The victory, only No. 15 in a lost season, was comfortably in hand. Yet just before the Warriors had completed a 130-98 rout of the Sacramento Kings, every player on the bench — including all of the injured players — was on his feet.

And when guard C.J. Watson’s left-handed layup rolled in, giving him a career-high 40 points, the players erupted in delight. It was a moment that showed why these players are happy that the team is unlikely to make a trade by today’s noon deadline.

“Things are feeling good,” rookie guard Stephen Curry said. “You can tell. Everybody’s smiling, having fun. “… Hopefully this whole unit’s going to be back next year.”

Stephen Curry explodes for 36-point triple-double

The AP reports:

Taking over the offense with leading scorer Monta Ellis sidelined with a knee injury, Curry recorded his first triple-double with a career-high 36 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds as Golden State beat the Los Angeles Clippers 132-102 to snap season-high nine-game losing streak Wednesday night…

Curry had to wait until the very end of the game to notch his 10th rebound, grabbing Al Thornton’s missed 16-foot jump shot just before the final buzzer…

Anthony Tolliver added a career-high 29 points and Anthony Morrow had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State, which led by as much as 38 while playing without Ellis.

Eric Gordon and Rasual Butler had 16 points apiece for the Clippers, who remained winless in three games since interim coach Kim Hughes replaced Mike Dunleavy.

Warriors now want injured players at games

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The Warriors are expected to do some serious soul-searching during the All-Star break, and team management has already decided to initiate one noticeable change when things tip off again next week.

Injured players will be expected to be in the arena cheering for their teammates on game nights, coach Don Nelson said.

“It’s a team policy that we just changed,” Nelson said during a question-and-answer session with listeners on the “Warriors Weekly” radio show. “Unless it’s a serious injury that calls them to be off of their legs, I think they should be at the games and should want to be at games.”

Monta Ellis sprains left knee

Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis, who suffered a sprained left knee with 3:43 remaining in the fourth quarter of last night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, underwent an MRI exam earlier today in Palo Alto. The MRI confirmed the injury as a mild left knee sprain. Ellis will be evaluated again on Wednesday and his status for tomorrow night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers will be determined at that point.

This season, Ellis is averaging 26.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.19 steals per game, shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from three-point range.

The 13-37 Warriors are currently the 14th seed out of 15 teams in the Western conference.

Warriors have no chemistry

Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group reports:

The Warriors have used 27 starting lineups in 49 games. They’ve lost 280 games due to injury. They have five players currently on the roster who didn’t take part in the team’s training camp.

So when forward Corey Maggette says the team has “no chemistry whatsoever,” it’s easy to understand why the Warriors are in such a predicament though the season is more than half done.

“It’s pretty hard when you don’t have a consistent group that’s playing together,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “Chemistry is just a good balance of players who play off of each other well. That’s what we’re talking about.”

As tonight’s opponent — the Dallas Mavericks — can attest, Golden State once had a special chemistry on the court and off. It helped the Warriors upset the Mavericks in the 2007 playoffs.

Monta Ellis scores 46 in loss to Mavericks

Marcus Thompson II of the Oakland Tribune reports:

Lately, Warriors games have been like that song on the radio that you get tired of hearing.

Monta Ellis scores 46 in loss to Mavericks

Guard Monta Ellis goes out and dominates. The rest of his teammates struggle to score and, eventually, the opponent double-teams Ellis. Warriors wind up losing.

It happened again in Wednesday’s 110-101 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Ellis had his best scoring night as a pro, totaling a career-high 46 points on 17-for-23 shooting. He would’ve topped 50 had he not missed five free throws.

“A remarkable performance by Monta,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “Didn’t have a great supporting cast, but he fought and kept us in the game, gave us a chance to win.” …

“It doesn’t mean anything to me, this being my career game,” said Ellis, who had 37 points and eight assists his last trip to American Airlines Center. “I just want to win. We’ve lost seven straight now, so I’m not looking at the career high. I look at that we’ve got to find a way to turn it around.”

Warriors sign Coby Karl

The Golden State Warriors today signed guard Coby Karl of the Idaho Stampede, making him the 11th Call-Up of the 2009-10 NBA D-League season and the third from the Stampede to the NBA. Karl joins 70 current NBA players with NBA D-League experience.

A 6-5 guard, Karl has appeared in five games with the Stampede this season, averaging 27.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He scored in double-figures in all five games, including scoring a season-high 36 points on two occasions. A two-year member of the Stampede, Karl played 22 games in Boise’s Qwest Arena during the 2008-09 season, when he averaged 18.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists.

Karl rejoins the NBA having appeared in three games for the Cleveland Cavaliers before being waived on Jan. 6. A member of the 2008 Western Conference Champion Los Angeles Lakers, Karl appeared in 17 games for L.A. during the 2007-08 season. During his tenure with the Lakers, he was assigned three times to the NBA D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders, where he averaged 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.2. During his NBA career, Karl scored 30 points in 20 games for Cleveland and Los Angeles.

A three-time Western Athletic Conference All-Academic Team selection at Boise State, Karl ranks third on the Bronco’s all-time scoring list with 1,698 points. In his senior season he averaged 14.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists, and was named a First-Team All-WAC selection. Karl, son of Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, left Boise State as the all-time leader in games played (127) and three-pointers made (266).