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Tickets at Ticket Master
Warriors coach Eric Musselman insists on approaching the season one game at a time, rather than projecting how many wins they need to make the playoffs or emphasizing certain opponents.
"I've been with coaches who prior to the season have taken their pocket
schedules and written W or L (by each game) and stuck it in an envelope,"
Musselman said. "That's wasted energy."
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Any hopes of the Warriors making the playoffs are slowly dying, one game at a time. The latest dagger was Friday's 94-93 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers before 15,273 fans at the Arena in Oakland.
The Warriors were in perfect position to pull out the much needed victory.
Calbert Cheaney's reverse layup sparked an 8-0 run that gave the Warriors an
89-88 lead inside of four minutes. Portland reclaimed the lead, 92-89, on a
post score by Zach Randolph, who finished with 19 points, and a jumper by Damon
Stoudamire.
But the Warriors answered with a dunk by Erick Dampier -- who followed his two-point
effort against Shaquille O'Neal with seven points and nine rebounds -- and a
clutch pull-up 20-footer by Jason Richardson, giving the Warriors a 93-92 lead
with 29.7 seconds left.
But Stoudamire corralled a long rebound, Portland's third offensive rebound
in its last two possessions, and drove past Speedy Claxton before bouncing a
pass down low to Randolph. Randolph got free for the game-winning score with
1.8 seconds left.
There's been so many of these games that have gone against the Warriors.
There was the three-point loss to Phoenix in Oakland in early November, followed
by two-point losses at Sacramento and Houston a week or so later. There was
the overtime loss at Milwaukee in December, when the Warriors ran out of gas
in the fourth quarter of a game they'd dominated, and the two losses to Memphis
in which they blew fourth-quarter leads.
What about that home overtime loss to Toronto, when the Warriors put up a deuce
in the fourth quarter?
Even Wednesday's 100-99 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers hurts their chances,
especially when followed by Friday's missed opportunity.
If the Warriors are to make the playoffs, Portland (26-28) is one of the teams
they must beat out. The Trail Blazers are currently 10th in the Western Conference,
five games behind eighth-place Denver for the final playoff spot and 21/2 games
ahead of the Warriors (23-30).
The Warriors offense struggled a bit early while the Blazers connected on better
than half their shots. But Richardson, who finished with a game-high 22 points
on 9-for-23 shooting, was able to get to the rim on several occasions. He was
5-for-10 in the first quarter, scoring all of his 10 points on layups in transition
or on cuts to the rim. Because of Richardson's success, the Warriors trailed
only 25-21 at the end of the first quarter.
Musselman started the second quarter with Richardson on the bench and Speedy
Claxton and Nick Van Exel sharing the backcourt. The Warriors offense thrived
with that combination and took their largest lead of the half.
Van Exel opened the second-quarter scoring with a runner in the lane to ignite
a 14-4 Warriors run, all 14 scored by Van Exel and Claxton. Claxton capped the
run on the next possession with a jumper from the top to put the Warriors up
35-29 with 8:20 left in the half. Van Exel finished with 20 and Claxton with
18.
But Portland stormed back with a tear led by Shareef Abdul-Rahim. The Cal product,
who was recently dealt by Atlanta in exchange for Rasheed Wallace, scored 10
points in a four-plus minute span, capped by a three-point play that answered
a Van Exel 3-pointer and tied the score at 44 with 2:26 left in the half.
The Warriors managed only a Dampier free throw the rest of the way and trailed
50-45 at the break.