Nellie wins the wins

By:Sherwood Strauss

I come at you with an apology: Saw the game, but missed the post game.  So if confetti rained down on CSN studios in celebration of Nellie, I missed it.  If Maggette set up to emotionally hug Nellie, only to lower a shoulder and flop, then I missed that too.

So in a way, I missed what the Warriors wanted me to see (Nelson getting the record), in favor of watching the actual game. I only had so much time on Wednesday and needed to scram after two hours—I guess the old coach outlasted me like he’s outlasted everyone else.

Nelson’s coached longer than I’ve been alive—there are stable countries younger than his career. I once bitched that ‘he’d never won anything,’ but that’s not altogether true: He won the most thrilling playoff series I ever saw.

But his legacy’s larger than the 2007 playoffs. Some coaches rack up these wins in an almost passive fashion (Lenny Wilkens comes to mind). Say what you will about Nellie, he’s certainly been a presence.  The mad scientist perhaps never won big because he was always pushing the limit. Think of him as the NBA’s royal taste tester: Other coaches learned what to ingest and what to avoid, based on Nellie’s tinkering.

Enough about Nellie…Let’s talk about the game!

  • It’s fun to laugh at Sota’s pain, as Curry glides around the court like a clairvoyant gazelle.  Or as Fitz said: “Don’t think for a second in Minnesota that they don’t think about that they could have drafted this kid”
  • Don’t think for a second in the booth that Fitz didn’t repeat that sentiment, only perhaps in a more cogent way. Curry was awesome, the only player in the league to make 7 foot fadeaways breath-taking. I’d lay off making fun of the Wolves, but they drafted 1,000 point guards, and none of them look great (I’m not sold on Rubio ever coming to Minny. I was with him on draft night and saying Rubio hates the cold is an understatement.).
  • Watching Chis Hunter throw a lock and lob to Reggie Williams is like watching a man slide a toothpick into his eyeball. They should inject that failed lob into the “A Clockwork Orange” brainwashing scenes. The last time I saw something that ugly, his name was named Popeye Jones.
  • Fitz and Barnett brag about injuries way too often. I say brag, because they like to excitedly yell out just how many the Warriors have dealt with. My fear is that an institutional love of injuries has taken root to the point where the Warriors subconsciously create a more injury-friendly climate. I’ll elaborate on that thought at some later point, there’s just too much to say about it.
  • Kurt Rambis was the worst coach this year. I’m sure Rambis hated Al Jefferson’s absence because it meant fewer awful lineup decisions to play with. It’s usually fun to watch a bench-bound Kevin Love glumly stare at a starting Darko Millic. I felt deprived of the opportunity.
  • CSN showed some cut-away clips of a relay race between dogs. There’s a metaphor about this match-up in there, somewhere.

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