SPORTSHYPE: Oaktown Revolution

Baron Davis leads the most exciting team in the NBA





To be a champion requires the heart of a Warrior. Baron's got it. It's how he dominates the game. It's how he scores at will when it matters most. How he never surrenders. Baron has tough-minded character and crazy skills and his Golden State Warriors are making a mad dash for the playoffs, and points beyond. They're hip, they're hype, they're happening. They're unpredictable, but guaranteed to thrill.

Even in the Wild West, where everyone's going for their big guns, where the Warriors' gaudy numbers are barely good enough for an eighth seed in the playoffs, nobody wants a part of this team.

So far this year, the Suns (twice), the Lakers, and the champion Spurs (twice), among many other teams, have fallen at the hands of Baron's merry band of streetballin' downtown-shootin', steal-you-blind, fastbreakin' cold-blooded assassins. Of the Western elite, only the Jazz have yet to be beaten by the speed demons of Nelson's Flying Circus. All of these teams know: when the Warriors start hitting on all cylinders, you can't catch them. No one can!
















"Old School"
Monta Ellis



One of the main reasons why is the emergence of Mississippi's own "Money" Monta Ellis, the "Mississippi Bullet", "Kid Flash"! In high school, Monta scored 80 points one night. Now, in his third year with Golden State he emerges as perhaps the fastest man in the league, with an astonishing array of finishing moves. With a 15-foot jumper becoming automatic, Monta leaves defenders with two bad choices: take the jumper in your face, or watch the kid go right by you and to the rim.


Monta Ellis in 2007 Rookie-Sophomore Game

As important as the raw speed and youthful energy of Ellis is, let us not forget the (apocryphal?) quote of Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry, following his victory over a younger pitcher: "Age and corruption will beat youth and beauty every time!"





Captain Jack shows the way
















Not that he's corrupt or anything, but soon-to-be 30-year-old Stephen Jackson is certainly a cold-blooded assassin. Time after time this year, in desperate situations, injured, in the fourth quarter and overtime, under pressure, the three-pointers of Jack would blot out the sun. He was suspended for the first seven games of the season as punishment for firing a gun in the air outside a strip club. He arrived in camp showing off his new tattoo to the press:











Praying hands holding a gun. It meant, he said, "I pray I never have to use a gun again."








And must give props to Dre! Goose! Beans! Whatever they're calling the big man this week. The Latvian giant has held down the front-court for Nellie's undersized and overspeed lineups all year, and he has not only survived, he has prospered -- remember him tying Shaq's record for most games in a row with over 60% shooting, or his monstrous 26-rebound night against the Knicks? Finally a center with excellent hands and feet, hard-working, never-complaining, Warrior fans give it up for Andris Biedrins!



















If only his beautiful girlfriend could fatten him up on Aukstais galds back in the homeland in the offseason. Twenty more pounds, and he'll play like Ivan Drago boxes!












Golden State Warriors
Golden State of Mind - Warrior Fan Blog
Fast Break - Warrior Fan Blog

Golden State Warriors - Here I Come
Golden State Warriors - Baron At War

Recent blockbuster trades (see "Big Men Go West", below) have the experts writing the Dubs' obituary all over again, but this is a team that thrives on adversity, often at their best with their backs against the wall -- in the last thirty games of this 2007-08 regular season, they will fight to achieve greatness.

Go Warriors!
We believe... the Hype.

SPORTSHYPE: Big Men Go West

If you follow the NBA, you know the West is where it's at. The biggest, baddest, best basketball teams in the World come from the Western territories of the United States. In dusty towns with names like San Antonio and Phoenix, giants roam the land, dunking at will, smothering the pathetic drives of Eastern Conference foes, forever frustrating the King-In-Waiting...

Three of the East's biggest headed West this week --

Shaq was traded from a disintegrating Miami Heat team for fed-up-with-Phoenix Shawn Marion (The Matrix). He is certainly still a veritable mountain under the rim, but is age catching up to the Big Aristotle and will the heat of the Suns force him out of the kitchen he has dominated for years?















Shaquille O'Neal to the Phoenix Suns

In the trade expected to have the biggest impact, Memphis Grizzly Pau Gasol was picked up by the Los Angeles Lakers for a bus transfer and a pocketful of lint (actually Kwame Brown and some draft picks, or ball-racks or something). He will join Lamar Odom and recovering-from-injury Andrew Bynum to make a formidable front line for DFish and Ebok (you must say his name backwards) to operate behind. Lakers: Title contenders?



















Pau Gasol to the LA Lakers

He may not be considered on the same level as Gasol (age'll do that to you) or Shaq (still one of the top pitchmen in the ad industry), but his story might be even more fascinating. Chris Webber, in his 14th (?) year in the league, returns to play with the same coach, on the same team, where in his sophomore year he rebelled against said coach, demanded a trade, and some say, destroyed the team for years... The Prodigal Son? A Quest For Redemption? Or just more crazy entertainment from the City on the Other Side of the Bay?






















Chris Webber to the Golden State Warriors



Phoenix Suns Introduce Shaquille O'Neal

Getting to be NBA Hype Time, baby!

SPORTSHYPE: Marco Belinelli's Blog

Check him out: Marco Belinelli -- EuroLeague superstar and Warriors first round pick. Man, Is it November yet?!?



It's My Life

Posted by Marco Belinelli on September 11, 2007, 5:10 p.m. ET

This has been very busy summer for me, playing NBA Summer League in Las Vegas to now the European championships in Spain. Playing in Las Vegas gave me a lot of confidence because I played very good in my first game when I scored 37 points. All the games were very important because I know the NBA style of basketball is different than European. In Italy and Europe, it's much different physically and mentally from American basketball. I am a person who likes to work and I think I have to improve. I have to improve my offense and defense. But I like to play. It's my life.

It would be a dream for Italy to win the European Championships. It is very important to play for my country because I am Italian and I want to play with the players on this team like Bargnani, Basile, and Soragna. Bargnani is very good player. Last year he couldn't play with the national team because he was the top overall pick in the draft. Playing for your country is especially important to European players. There is a lot of pride to wear the colors of your country on your uniform. There are so many teams in this tournament that are very good, like Greece, Spain and Lithuania. Some teams have one, two, even five players like Spain, who are playing in the NBA. These players want to play for their country. The Finals MVP Tony Parker is playing for France while the regular season MVP, Dirk Nowitzki, plays for the German National Team. Nowitzki is incredible, now especially, because he is MVP of the NBA. Now he is the top scorer in the European championship.

I started playing on high level for Italy last year in the World Championships in Japan. Playing against the U.S. and LeBron and Wade was my most memorable basketball moment. That game changed my life because I score 25 points. We lost, but that is a game I remember especially. But before last year, I played on Italy's under-20 national team.

In this tournament we haven't played really good. We won only two games against Poland and Turkey. But this team has a great coach, Carlo Recalcati, and for me and the team, it's important to play together. And for European players, it's one of the best experiences you can can have as a basketball player.

SPORTSHYPE: Here Comes Belinelli

Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli

Translation (according to Fear the Beard):
Andrea Bargnani is saying something like: “Congrats on making it to the show. You think you’re balling, huh? Well now you get to do Baron’s laundry, guard Crazy Eyez Jackson in practice and check Kobe in your 12 minutes of game action. Buona fortuna, balla.”

SPORTSHYPE: Streetball

I can't wait for the Warriors' season to start...


Streetball moves of the NBA