Bay Area Sports Blog

This photo is going to pretty much sum up the Warriors’ current road trip. They fell 117-90 to the Magic last night, one day after losing to the Heat in Miami. They play three more games over the next five days, including a game Friday against an Atlanta team pissed about the comeback the Dubs executed last time around. They have only eight players, and one of them isn’t Monta Ellis.

So get out of the way, Warriors fans, this is going to get ugly. Want to see another bailout by a Warriors player in the face of a Dwight Howard dunk, but this time in video form? Of course you do.

Scott Van Pelt and the Bay Area Sports Blog say “Hi, YouTube” after a bevy of highlights from last night’s Warriors-Nuggets game. First, the brilliant minds at TNT compare Andris Biedrins’ free throw to Charles Barkley’s golf swing. Hit Doin’ Work for a poll on which is worse.

Second, Stephen Curry shakes the Birdman on a layup. If only they made posters for layups. Then we could say the Birdman got POSTERIZED. But he didn’t.

How much would you value a motivational seminar with Don Nelson as the big Sunday finale speaker? I mean here’s a guy who knows how to get the best out of people! Just listen to this energizing speech about Andris Biedrins!

He needs to light his own fire. We play every other day. You can’t light the fire for him every game. So that’s up to him. Give us something.

Speaking of fires, Nellie, wow us with your own spark!

My fuse is lit every morning when I get up. I’m very passionate about what I do and how I do it. The way that I choose to do it now is to let my assistants do a lot of work at practices and I coach the games, but the players still have to light their own fire. I can’t do that for them every game.

And when does that fuse run out? Preeeeetttty much around the time he hits 1,333 wins, we’re guessing.

Did Larry Ellison walk on water to deliver a win in the America’s Cup? With the way he’s being feted and fawned over, you’d think he was the savior of all things Bay Area sports.

In the last few weeks, the Oracle CEO and third-richest man in America has expressed his desire to bring the America’s Cup event to San Francisco, purchase the Warriors, or purchase another NBA team and move it to San Jose.

While plenty of rich people own sports teams, the prospect of having BIG NO. 3 own a local NBA team has hoops fans buzzing. “Ellison would be a god send to not only this franchise but a revival of Bay Area Sports Greatness” says user “Bobby Sura” on the Kawakami post.

But don’t count those chickens, fans. The super-rich often stay away from sports, and often find it a murkier swamp than they expected. Paul Allen still hasn’t been able to purchase an NFL or NBA title yet, and his buddy Bill Gates has had some unfortunate forays into the sporting life.

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Paul Pierce may have won the Three-Point Contest on Saturday Night, but Warriors rookie Stephen Curry won the night — and the hearts of thousands.

Curry’s shooting exploits and baby face had the ladies dumping Lil’ Wayne and drunk on love…

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So much to love about this video of Stephen Curry draining not one, but two 3/4-court shots at the NBA All-Star Game festivities in Dallas.

• Curry coolly drains the first shot during what appears to be a relaxed shootaround for the other participants in tonight’s NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge.
• Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings asks, “What is going on in Golden State, yo?” It’s most likely a reference to Golden State’s growing reputation as Circus Shot Central, but then again, maybe not. There’s also some mention of the shot being mentioned on Twitter. Check.
• Curry, fresh off the first triple-double of his career, then cheeses for the camera and sinks a second shot from the exact same spot.

Wow. Like the man said, “that ain’t the LeBron commercial.” Steph and Monta Ellis should seriously consider bringing their acts to a regular season game.

Watch your behinds, kids.

Willie Mays yucks it up, unless you include all the talk about racism, with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show:

Andris Biedrins kicks out the scoreboard at Oracle Arena:

Steve Nash does everything random in the world:

Monta Ellis won’t have to choose between going fishing and attending this month’s All-Star Game because he’s still not invited to Dallas.  If one of the West’s guards tweaks something this week, Ellis could get the call, but don’t count on it. Has Ellis been snubbed? Ponder that while we take you back to your childhood with a little game of Go Fish.

Got any Monta Ellises?

Select the card below to Go fish.

Willie Mays is on the promotional circuit for his new biography “Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend.” This New York Times article says it’s “the  first time Mays has cooperated with a biographer,” but what about 1989’s classic “Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays“? Since Willie cooperated with himself on that one, it must not count.

Willie is apparently now sharing even more intimate details of his playing career, and avoiding controversy as ever. On steroids, he tells the Times:

I keep telling people, I don’t even know what that stuff is. I played 22 years in baseball and I never tried to analyze things I don’t know about. I’m not a doctor.

Willie Mays may not be a doctor, but he is an amazing catcher of fly balls and the inspiration for amazing songs. When doing research for this post, we stumbled across hundreds of similar athlete-songs. Not shockingly, the worlds of music and athletics often collide, and others have documented it here and here.

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Tonight’s game between the Warriors and the Charlotte Bobcats has subplots stacked on subplots. Stephen Jackson returns to town and isn’t worried about any potential booing because “I was booed while I was playing there, so I know I’m going to get booed. But I won’t pay any attention; I get booed in 15 (NBA) arenas. This won’t be any different to me.” How specific! When he gets booed in 17 arenas, that’s when Jax gets UPSET.

Jackson said he’s excited to see his old teammates like Monta Ellis. The Warriors’ star was snubbed for the All-Star Game this week but could still get a consolation prize: An invite to the new H.O.R.S.E. competition. TNT has announced the competition will be part of the All-Star festivities after a test-run with D-Leaguers last year, and hasn’t officially invited anybody yet. But at least one blog is calling for an Ellis invite. Monta basically plays his own personal version of H.O.R.S.E. at shootaround every day, so it makes sense.

If a game of H.O.R.S.E. breaks out between the Warriors and Bobcats tonight, Don Nelson might not be there to rein it in. Nelson tweaked his back and may miss the game, which means Keith Smart could get one more win toward the Nelson/Smart record. That’s what we’re officially calling it now.

One more weak transition before we go: Speaking of calling things, Dell Curry will call his son (BTW it’s Stephen Curry!!!!!) in tonight’s game. Dell’s a Bobcats broadcaster. He says he usually calls people by their last names but tonight his son will be called “Steph.” Wow. A little unprofessional? Maybe? No? OK.