The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 9

Now, I know there were lots of you out there who were big Marcus Williams fans in his draft year, weren't there? Okay, well, the Warriors today declined to pick up his option for next year, a big slap in the face.

A scout friend, when apprised of it, had this to say:

"No surprise. The kid cannot play."

And sure enough, Nellie's not playing him.

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They're dropping like flies. AP drives and the play ends with two Warriors sprawled on the court.

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Here we go. I look up and there's Bosh going back in. It's time to decide this one.

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Jermaine O'Neal is 2-for-10 from the floor. Chris Bosh is 10-for-20. Oh, and O'Neal gets his fifth foul with 6:17 left and it's time for Bargnani to replace him.

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Andris Biedrins is a horrible free throw shooter. Bet Hoffa could make more of 'em. Maybe that's why they took him.

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The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 8

Same old 60 seconds of madness, if you want to call it that, at the end of three when the dancers come out and toss t-shirts to the masses. Best time ever: When they really sucked a couple of years ago and some dude behind us threw his back. We giggled. Or maybe laughed out loud. I forget.

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Then it's that mind-numbing White Stripes thing. Borrrrrrring.

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This might be interesting. Roko's in and playing a lineup with Stephen Jackson at the point. That's got danger written all over it.

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I don't know why, but Jamario Moon's playing defence with his mouthpiece sticking out of his mouth. A horrible look. Actually, it's a telltale sign of exhaustion, usually, which is why Joey just replaced him.

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Maybe this is why Sam was yelling "Jamario, rebound!" Moon's played 27 minutes and has as many rebounds as I do. (That'd be zero for those of you keeping score at home). He had one in 24 minutes at Philly the other night. That's simply unacceptable.

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A wee bit of offensive discombobulation going on out there for the Raptors, I believe it's time for Jose to come back. Soon. I tell ya, I'm a seer. He here is, right in front of us.

I'm gonna run for a bit 'cause there's a timeout and I can get working on my gamer.

Be back in a bit for one more transmission.

Warriors 78, Raptors 77 with 8:48 left. Buckle up.

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 7

Now that's a great Halloween costume. There's a girl, or a guy, running around the arena dressed in a little red dinosaur outfit. With an old white Raptor uniform on. For real!

And the people are eating it up! They love her. Or him. Or should I say 'it?'

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A Bargnani rebound in traffic. Seriously. It was. Honest.

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In one stretch, the Warriors committed turnovers on three straight possessions. Nice to have versatility but you've got to take care of the ball.

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Okay, Raptors miss, Jamario seems entirely bored with going to the glass for a long rebound and Sam yells, "Rebound, Jamario!" Wonder how many times he's said that in a season and two games? A billion?

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Sam desperately wants Jose to take whoever's guarding him off the dribble.

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Jose just drew a nice offensive foul while defending the post. He's done a pretty good  job down there considering he never has to guard guys on the block.

We're in for a big finish, I think.

Toronto 75, Golden State 73 at three.

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 6

All that defensive prowess Toronto showed the other night? Not so much tonight. Warriors shot 50 per cent from the field and, not surprisingly it seems, killed the Raptors on the boards -- 23-14 -- in the first half.

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Of course the Warriors go with what worked for them. They've got Jackson running the point to start the half. DeMarcus Nelson gets the seat on the bench and Rony Turiaf's out there.

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Here's a season first: A technical foul. On Jermaine O'Neal.

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Things you won't likely see tonight: An all-Italian meeting of Bargnani and Golden State's Marco Belinelli, who was a DNP-CD in the season's first game and may have a suit on under his warmups for all we know.

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It should be hard to lose 6-11, 240-pound Andris Biedrins, right? Then how come Bosh just absolutely couldn't find him on a dive through the lane for a layup? I don't know, either.

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This continues to be an excellent game. I'd love to watch the Warriors all the time.

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Still no celebs. What a boring crowd in that regard. But there's the usual zaniness from the real fans.

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Okay, gotta run. I'll be back

Toronto 67, Golden State 65 with 5:20 to go.

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 5

Hey, in case you were wondering, the $8.5 million TV set that hangs over the court now displays the game stats, too. Looks pretty good. And very informative.

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Check out the Warriors bench sometime. The lead assistant is a guy named Larry Riley. And why should you care? 'Cause he was the first player personnel guru of the old Vancouver Grizzlies and a good guy.

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This is exactly how they drew it up. Ball into O'Neal in post, double team comes, he kicks it out to a wide open Kapono for a three. Next possession, ball into O'Neal in the post, no double team, he goes to the rim and finishes a layup. Textbook.

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Score a win for the basketball people around here. The new scoreboard HAS TEAM FOULS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE THEM! Just like they've been asking for, oh, I dunno, a decade. Very nice.

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Very lame, very old Chicken skit last time out. The one where he stands in his big silly getup and scares passersby on the concourse outside the arena. Snore.

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Small Warrior run with Jackson at the point gets 'em within five with three minutes left and Sam calls timeout so he can get AP back into check Jackson. Not sure where Jose goes but Jackson's too strong for Jose on the block.

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This is a very tough lineup -- Jackson, Harrington, Maggette, Biedrins and Turiaf -- for Toronto to defend. So what do they do? Play zone.

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A Jackson three puts Golden State up one and sucks all the air out of the joint just before half.

Toronto 51, Golden State 50 at the half.

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 4

Now, this may or may not be true, I can't say either way but I'm told the intro song is "In the ayer" but someone, or something, called Flow Rider.

It's got a good beat and a catchy tune. I'll give it a 10.

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Stephen Jackson begins the quarter on the bench and it's the first breather he's had this year. He played all 48 in the opener.

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Okay, that was sick. Jermaine O'Neal just blocked a Brandon Wright dunk in a defensive play we haven't seen in these parts in a very, very long time.

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Okay, this is sick. Bargnani's just had a great finish on layup out of the post and then a dunk. I swear I saw him look over at the bench after the dunk and show more emotion than he did all last year.

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The Warriors are not, how do you say it?, very deep. In fact, their bench is woeful right now.

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Wow. Did you see Sam? They blew that block-charge call on Bargnani and before they reversed it and called it a block to get AB the free throws, I thought Sam was gonna storm the court. Quite unimpressed.

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Am trying to find celebs in the crowd. To no avail.

Gotta jet, back at the half.

Toronto 40, Golden State 33

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 3

You know who was drafted just three spots after Rafael Araujo in 2004? Andris Biedrins. Yeah, the guy who's got eight points and three rebounds already. If the logic (or illogic) behind taking Hoffa over Iguodala was they needed a big guy, why didn't they take this kid. He's good. And big.

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Raps show some zone, which they did in a handful of possessions the other night in Philly. Stephen Jackson drills a three against in and mutters something to the Raptor bench. Shocking, I know. Jackson jabbering.

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This is a  pretty entertaining game.

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So Jamario makes a three, to the surprise of many; then a minute later he goes up to take another three and suddenly spies JO under the basket. Changes his mind, makes a pass, right at the same time JO looks up to see where the shot's going. Turnover. Sam grimace.

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Are you proud of me? Almost a quarter in and not a snarky remark about any silly people in the stands in costume? Very good, I say.

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Bargnani's the first sub, again. This time for O'Neal. And now Roko for Jose, which is a couple of minutes earlier than in Game 1, guess he did earn something from Sam.

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Bargnani scores!!! On a dunk!!! First points of the year.

Raptors 28, Warriors 22 at one.

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 2

Okay, the intro.

I have no idea who was singing what (and the First Lady Of The Beat, who knows such things) is off covering silly skating so she's of no help). But it was pretty cool, I guess. Shorter than I'd expected but that's all right, too.

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They do the intros, subs, coaches and everybody but the beat grunts, it seems, then they dance and the drummers drum, then there's some more music and, honestly, I think these guys have to warm up again it's been so long.

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First play? Of course it's for Bosh, who misses a little jumper.

Al Harrington's guarding Bosh and that's a terrible mismatch. On both ends, really. Go back and check out the first post from tonight. The point about Nellie going at people? Harrington had the first three Warrior shots.

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Four minutes in and Jermaine O'Neal draws his first charge, stepping in to get hit by Corey Maggette. Get used to it, he'll do it often.

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And M-V-P chant for Bosh five minutes in? Really. People. STOP.

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Golden State is really fun to watch. I don't think they have any plays. They just play.

I gotta run, be back at the end of the quarter

Toronto 11, Golden State 10, six minutes to go

The Goods On The Game, Vol. 2, No. 1

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and all the ships at sea.

Season 14. Man, I'm old.

Anyway, usual suspects start for the locals, and it's the rookie DeMarcus Nelson, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Al Harrington and Andris Biedrins for the Warriors, who lost their home opener on Wednesday.

Nothing big to report pre-game. There's a chance Hassan Adams and/or Will Solomon will dress; it's doubtful they get on the court.

And what to expect? Well, this is what Sam said at shootaround:

"One thing we did tell them is, you’re going to know early what Don Nelson thinks of you as a defensive player because if he looks out there and thinks you can’t guard who you’re guarding, they’re going to run a lot of isos and post-ups for you.

"We’ve got to be ready to help each other but (they) have to take the individual challenge and guard your man."

So, lots of weird offensive sets, probably plenty of scoring and, hopefully, something of an entertaining game.

As usual, we'll get something up about twice a quarter but I'll have to leave with about three minutes left to scribble a game story.

And I know you all love to make comments and I appreciate 'em but if I don't get to post them tonight, please understand. It's 'cause I'm tied up with other work (including a little something special in the post-game time/overnight time slot) and then I've got to head out to a Church Social. Or something like that.

Enjoy.

Who needs mail when you've got ... this

I know, you probably expected mail, right?

Well, truth be told, there are a few little items I figured had to be done today rather than not done at all and, frankly, it takes a bit less time to do this than answer 6,000 words worth of questions. And yesterday (5 a.m. wake up call in Philly, 6 p.m. file main story for paper) was pretty much a long enough day anyway.

So some putzing around on this in the evening, a quick finish this morning and it’s better for all concerned. I think. But not to worry, the mail will arrive Sunday, loads and loads and loads of it.

So away we go:

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Imagine our surprise when Chris Bosh showed up in Philly the other night sporting a brace on his right knee. He’d been telling us the entire time of training camp how he’d never felt better, was in great shape and that’s why things were going so well for him.

So, what’s up?

Well, as he told me yesterday, it’s a bit of “preventative medicine.” He’s not hurt, there’s no pain, he’s just being careful that something doesn’t go wrong.

Sorta weird, since he’d always told us that he hated the brace because psychologically he worried that it limited his mobility. That fact was brought up to him in our quick conversation, too.

"I did. But the brace made up with me.”

Hmm. Feelings for inanimate objects.

Odd.

But whatever.

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Those Golden State Warriors are quite the spoil sports.

I think they have the greatest array of uniforms in the league, especially in the throwback vein because the jerseys with The City logo are outstanding.

But they blew it for tonight.

They’ve got a set of orange uniforms in their closets but aren’t, apparently, going to wear them tonight. They’ll go with boring old white ones.

Really?

Could have worn orange against Toronto’s black? Today? And didn’t? Someone missed a great chance.

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Hey, I’m told they have the kinks worked out in the $8.5 million television set that hangs above the court and that the in-game stats panels should work.

We, as they say, shall see.

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Better do this one ‘cause it’s on a lot of people’s minds:

Q: Hey Doug, maybe I'll see you at the home opener if I take my binoculars. Anyways, I have always liked Al Harrington. Besides zero to none (I have been reading you for a while), any chance we get him for say Hump, Joey and Parker. The $ work, but that leaves the team shorthanded.
Bonus Question:  Should ownership ever change its heart regarding the mid-level exception, can they use it in the middle of the year?
David S, Ottawa

A: Quite short-handed. But if I know Bryan, and I know enough about him, I’m sure he’s at least thought about making a call to the Warriors to see what’s up.

Harrington’s pretty good and could probably do a good job at the three here but it’ll be a tax-creating move (if they do a two- or three-for-one, they’d have to fill the roster up to 13 and that’ll put ‘em over the limit) so there are financial concerns.

But I also think Bryan, and the coaches, want to see how this team does over a bit of time rather than make a significant change a week into the season. I honestly think they need 15-20 games to find out exactly what they’ve got and what they might want. And, who knows, they might find they like what they have. They might also find that a guy like Harrington from some other team is available, too, because other teams may stumble.

On the mid-level question: Yeah, they’ve still got what’s left of it to spend.

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Great Moments In Home Opener History

Not many, actually, they sort of blend into one another over the years.

Of course, the very first one stands out because, well, mostly because it was the first one and also the first day we had to deal with a player arrested (Alvin Robertson).

And glancing back through the pages of the media guide, I see the 1997 home opener was a 104-86 drubbing of the, ahem, Golden State Warriors and some guy named Marshall led the Warriors with 20 points. Yup, Donyell could shoot it back in the day, too.

Oh, and one other thing about that night? The win over Golden State was followed by a 17-game Raptor losing streak, the longest in franchise history. They wouldn’t win again for more than a month.

Just sayin’.

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You know, we’ve held up the Knicks as the poster boys for dysfunction but maybe it’s only ‘cause we live on the wrong side of the continent. The Warriors have to be in that discussion.

To wit:
Team president Robert Rowell seems to have frozen out GM Chris Mullin on all significant decisions. It was Rowell who decided on the 30-game suspension for Monta Ellis. It was Rowell who signed coach Don Nelson to a two-year extension. It’s Rowell who’s dealing with a contract extension for Stephen Jackson, which has to be done today. You’ve got to figure Mullin, in the last year of his deal, isn’t signing any long-term leases.

Al Harrington’s wanted to be traded for months and made his feelings known publicly on the eve of the season, always a delightful distraction.

Ellis is appealing his suspension and the team’s still got the option of revoking the contact entirely, which would create even more appeals and controversy.

Oh, and the coach stretched his best player out for the full 48 in the home opener, as my friend Janny reports here in today’s Chronicle.

Yeah, that’s a well-oiled franchise out there, isn’t it?

Not sure how the Jackson-48-minutes thing played with public in the Bay area but can you imagine the hue and cry if Sam did it with Bosh here? The reaction would crash the entire internet, I’m sure.

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The Lovely Ladies Of The Foundation tell me that ticket-dinner-limo package today made ‘em $1,600. Way to go.

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Here’s another mail thingy:

Q: Doug, got to disagree with you on retired numbers.  I think that #20 should be retired in honour of Alvin Williams.  Not that he was such a great player, but for the fact that he gave way over 100% for the Raptors, playing through injuries and surgeries that would have stopped most players for a season.  (was it five surgeries on one ankle?)

Keith W, Whitby

A: It was his knees actually. But to your point, I think there are other ways to honour someone – specifically Alvin – than hanging up a number, which should only be reserved for the absolute great players and not necessarily great guys.

How about an in-house award? The Alvin Williams Trophy for contributions above and beyond the call of duty, both on and off the court? Works for me.