[h1]Davis rolls to finish line[/h1] [h2]Tonight is 66th straight game[/h2]
Janny Hu, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Baron Davis is treating his jammed pinky finger the same way he has treated all his other injuries this season: He'll get it looked at, taped up, then hit the court running.
Davis is set to play in his 66th consecutive game tonight as the Warriors open their mini-road trip in Sacramento. And not only is he insisting that this is the best he's felt so late in the season, Davis also believes the hardest part is over.
"Usually the second half of the season is where I come around and start feeling better," he said. "It's getting through the first 60, 70 games - that's the grind part. I made it through that stretch.
"Toward the end, (it's) just continuing to work out with the training staff, continuing to diet, drop a couple of pounds right before the playoffs and be ready to rock."
Davis' unusual durability is perhaps the biggest reason the Warriors remain on a 50-win pace. The point guard hasn't played an 82-game season since 2001-02, when he made his first All-Star appearance for the Charlotte Hornets.
Davis is set to match his highest total (67) in the last five years in Wednesday's game against the Clippers in Los Angeles. And he'll do so while averaging nearly 40 minutes a night.
"I've thought on maybe three for four occasions this year that he'd take a game off, but he's played," coach Don Nelson said. "I think he and (Stephen Jackson) have just decided as many games as they can possibly play this year, they're going to play, play hurt, to have a special year."
Nelson attributes at least part of Davis' lengthy run to luck, but the point guard points to his systematic upkeep.
"The training staff, strength and conditioning coaches and everybody, we have a good routine," said Davis, who arrived from the Hornets in 2005. "It took me a good year and half to really get that, and from that point on, it just seemed like my body and everything is working out."
Davis says his in-season regimen consists of the following: core work twice a week, upper body weights twice a week and leg weights three times a week. He also does daily yoga exercises and receives routine massages.
His diet isn't as much about eating less as it is about eating right. Though Davis has his "cheat days," his plates are usually filled with vegetables and lean proteins. Bread and heavy, stick-to-your-rib-type offerings are mostly bypassed.
The routine has worked to perfection. And though Davis is currently sporting a black wrap around the pinky and ring fingers of his shooting hand, courtesy of a bad smack of the ball in Saturday's win over Memphis, he isn't planning on giving up his games-played streak anytime soon.
"I feel great," he said.
Webber watch: With Chris Webber (sore left knee) missing his eighth straight game tonight and still nowhere near healthy, even Nelson is saying that Webber might not have a role on the team when - and if - he returns.
"It's get more difficult the longer we go," Nelson said. "We're down the stretch drive now. We'll probably have to play the way we've been playing."
Great to see Baron continue to his streak.
Good to see Cweb may not have a role with us even if he's healthy.
