[h1]Warriors struggling at the line[/h1]
PERFORMANCE AT THE LINE HAS SUFFERED
By Geoff Lepper
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 03/23/2008 01:37:23 AM PDT
The Warriors picked a bad time to regress at the free-throw line.
Just last week, Golden State's free-throw shooting was hovering barely above the 75 percent mark, a level they have bested only once in the past 11 years.
But despite all the hard work of Sidney Moncrief, assistant coach in charge of all things shooting, the Warriors have been backsliding with 15 games left on the schedule. In their past four games, the Warriors have under 70 percent three times, including a 24-of-38 performance in Sacramento on Tuesday that multiple players thought was a key to Golden State's 122-105 defeat.
"I don't think it's a trend, because the five games before this, we shot (a combined) 77 percent," Moncrief said Saturday as the Warriors packed up to fly to Los Angeles for tonight's game against the Lakers. "We're just not yet consistent the way we need to be."
Over those four contests, Monta Ellis is 15 of 23 (65.2 percent), Al Harrington is 6 of 13 (46.2) and Andris Biedrins is 3 of 10 (30.0).
"Whether they're getting out of their rhythm or the things that Sidney has them doing, occasionally that happens," Warriors Coach Don Nelson said. "You've got to get back to doing what got the improvement."
Moncrief has watched tape with some of his slumping shooters in search of those keys, but is trying to walk the line between correcting small details and messing with guys' psyches.
"The thing we don't want to do is talk about it too much,"
Moncrief said. "I'm trying not to overreact, trying to look beyond just percentages."
That's not to say Moncrief has stayed silent.
"We have been missing a lot of free throws lately," swingman Stephen Jackson said. "You know Sid doesn't ever not let us know that. That's something we're going to have to concentrate on because at the end of the day, free throws win games. You might miss two in the first half and the next thing you know, you've lost the game by two points. They definitely matter."
One problem has been a lack of practice. A heavy workload of games means less practice time, which in turn cuts into the amount of instruction that he can impart. And a paucity of attempts in recent games - Golden State had only 18 against Houston on Friday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday - has magnified the impact of every miss, percentage-wise.
For Moncrief, who didn't join the team until October and didn't become full-time until months after that, this is a mere bump in the road, albeit a poorly timed one. He still sees the rehabilitation of Golden State's free-throw problems as a multi-year process.
"Given the nature of the team, there will be inconsistencies," Moncrief said. "Then you'll have a game - we're hoping it's Sunday - where you break out of it."
• The status of forward Mickael Pietrus, who has played his best ball of the season over the last month, is in doubt for tonight's game. Nelson said that Pietrus suffered a strained groin in the Warriors' 109-106 loss to Houston and would be "questionable, for sure" for tonight.
If Pietrus can't go, Nelson could slide Harrington to power forward and start him alongside center Andris Biedrins, or promote Matt Barnes to the starting lineup.
. Care to post the info for the Baron and Stephen signing?
