The Warriors at the All Star Break
With the NBA All-Star Game (the WonderCon for posses) coming up and the season kind of, sort of halfway over, it's time to take a look at your 2004-2005 Golden State Warriors. So far, it's been a thrilling season as the team has been one of the big surprises of their division, winning with an exciting up-tempo game and landing two stars on the All-Star team.
Oh wait. That's the Washington Wizards, not the Golden State Warriors.
Sorry.
This season so far has been just about like every other last place Warriors season- the sporadic win and hope-inducing streak of well played games sandwhiched between losses. Lots of losses. Lots of never in it, never showed up, never making the big play losses. It's been the kind of season where the beat writer for the Chron, either out of hopefulness or boredom, has taken to writing headlines like "Warriors Outplay Opponents, Lose by 10" or "New Lineup on a Roll, Don't Get Blown Out." On the other hand, the Warriors did beat Western Conference studs Seattle right before the All-Star break, a sign of either marked improvement or the Sonics being more concerned about which rap star to chill with during the break.
The problem with this team, though, is pretty much the same problem that the Warriors have had ever since Don Nelson hurt wittle Chris Webber's feelings- the team is not only bad, but boring and bad. They aren't loveable losers, they' aren't gritty underdogs, nor or they even a collection of over-paid stars. It's a team that loses without flair, without heart, without much of anything. They just lose. The result is that this team isn't even entertaining in their badness. If they were a baseball team, they'd be the Pirates or the Royals. If they were a rock band, they'd be Three Doors Down. And if they were a TV show they'd be According to Jim.
Still, if there's any hope, it's in what's going on in with the Wizards. That's a team made up of three ex-Warriors- Antwan Jamison, Gilbert Arenas, and Larry Hughes- who are suddenly one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference and looking like contenders for the next couple of years. What this shows is that maybe what the Warriors need to do is just hold tight for the next couple of years, be patient, and see what happens. Maybe it's just a matter of the team congealing and finding their way. Maybe it's just a matter of Montgomery learning the NBA ropes. Maybe Chris Mullin knows what he's doing and that guys like Murphy, Richardson, Dunleavy are up and comers and that in a year or two, they'll be like Wizards. Or even the Sonics or the Pistons.
Then again, maybe not. How long before J-Rich or T-Murph or M-Dun get a little too frustrated with losing and can't take it anymore? Which will come first, the winning or the whining? How long before Richardson starts bailing on practice to play golf or pull a Vince Carter and stop trying?
You know how the Romans finally got pissed enough at Carthage that when they sacked the city at the end of the Third Punic War, they spread salt all over the ruins to keep Carthage from ever being able to rise again? That's the Warriors- one big salty ruin.