Gotta say I had to turn off the Houston game in the 3rd period
last night ... awful, awful game. Can't blame Murphy for it either
although he sometimes appears to be operating in a zombie-like state
this year. Maybe not fully back from injury yet. Two questions: Where
is the will to win that everyone talked about earlier in the season,
the never-say-die attitude? Dampier seems to be disappearing after a
promising season start and no one is stepping up to make shots at key
points. I admit it's hard to step up against Yao and Cato, but ...
The tough defense shown early on seems to be evaporating, too. I
notice less and less blocking out for rebounds. 2nd question: Why
does Mike Dunleavy pass the ball so often when he drives to the
basket? In fact, finishing a drive with a score generally seems to be
a problem for this team. I'm amazed at the number of times a guy will
drive to the hoop and end up needlessly kicking the ball back out
onto the perimeter, rather than trying to finish and maybe picking up
a chance at freethrows. Dunleavy is especially fond of this. A guy
with Dunleavy's size and gifts shouldn't dish off when he's two or 3
feet from the rim ... just idle thoughts ... I'd say all the Warriors
except maybe Cardinale are playing as if they've got mononucleosis on
this road trip ... I suspect something's going on off the court vis-a-
vis team unity that we haven't heard about yet ... there's just been
too dramatic a fall-off in efficiency to be accounted for simply by
being on the road ... or maybe not, what are your thoughts? Maybe
they just aren't that much better than the past few years' teams
after all. Or maybe other teams have gotten that much better, too.