Anthony Morrow is the “Real Deal”
A-Mo’s got swagger like thatSo says Don Nelson. In his post-game press conference after Morrow followed up his 37-point destruction of the Clippers over the weekend (see the video evidence HERE) with 25 more last night against Portland, Nellie had this to say about the kid:
He’s the real deal. And we haven’t even learned how to play with him yet. We’ve got to learn first of all where he is… so when he’s open he gets the ball. I told the team that after the game. You’ve got to know where this guy is at all times.
The other thing is, that when he’s working off screens, we’d better get him open. Because he looks like the real deal.
And then Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News follows up with his breakdown of Morrow’s value to the Warriors:
It started slowly: Anthony Morrow, trying to follow up his 37-point revelation from the weekend, went just 1 for 2 in a full first quarter tonight against Portland.
Not much there. Kind of quiet. He barely touched the ball.
Then the Trail Blazers sunk into a zone to counter-act Corey Maggette’s driving, Morrow hit a three-pointer 57 seconds into the second quarter, and… it was on again, though Portland really didn’t seem to recognize it until too late.
“He’s the real deal,” Don Nelson said after Morrow made 8 of 12 shots, 4 of 5 from three, and scored his 25 points very, very efficiently in 36 huge minutes.(I haven’t looked at the reader comments yet, but I presume there are at least 10 ripping me for daring to suggest Morrow might not score a lot tonight and maybe there was an on-TV rip in there, too.
(Go ahead. It’s fair. Rip away. I can’t believe Portland Coach Nate McMillan chose to focus on Maggette instead of Morrow for so long tonight, but Morrow took total, blistering advantage. What a shooter.
(Morrow has convinced me of one true thing: He’s such a potent scorer that he MUST be dealt with in defensive gameplans, the way Leandro Barbosa or Rudy Fernandez must be dealt with. That’s large. That’s a large thing.
(If opponents treat him like just another guy, he’ll kill them, like he has killed the Clips and Trail Blazers. That means teams have to put a tough guy on him, but then wonder what to do about SJax and Maggette, and if they help on any two of those guys, Biedrins breaks free.)
Here’s what’s happening: Morrow is now the main man at the 2, which has totally energized the Warriors offensive flow.
That allows Nelson to play Corey Maggette at the 4, where Maggette is a very tough cookie (ask LaMarcus Aldridge, who looked befuddled against the smaller man for all 19 of Aldridge’s terrible minutes tonight).
And it opens the floor for Andris Biedrins and takes a lot of pressure off of Stephen Jackson. (Biedrins fell one rebound short of extending his double-double streak. But 17 and 9 is good, good. I don’t care about double-double streaks. I care about consistent quality play, which Biedrins is providing, whether he had 9 rebounds tonight or 15.)
Have you sen him play? Is he legit?
Source: Mercury News
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November 19th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Smitty313 says:
I need to see more of Morrow. Rember a few year back when Flip Murray looked like an allstar for Seattle until Ray Ray came back.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
heckler...formerly 'yallallreadyknow' says:
yeah. i’m a non believe too.
tony delk once scored 50pts in an nba game.
i aint convinced.
didn’t nellie say the same type of sh*t last year about belinelli?
November 19th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
fallinup says:
I’m sure Monta is fuming right now on his moped.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
JCARR says:
Is Morrow a temporary stud?
I hope not this would be great for the NBA. Morrow is showcasing his game at the highest level. And lets not forget his a rookie. This is just so impressive.
Until ellis, harrington, captain jack, Corey-M play, Biedrins all play together, I think he has to proof that he can play the roll of sixth man.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
dennis says:
exciting performance by the young fellow against my blazers. i would like to mention that his mugging of fernandez ,almost tearing the shirt of his back wasnt the best call by a ref ive seen this yr. also the call against lamarcus for the feet inside the circle was off by a good 6″ .these two plays killed our chance to take this game . very good energy from G.S.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
A-Slam says:
don’t know about many of you but i sure am a bliever here, the kid is legit. You can say all you want but his performances have been impressive and the examples you guys gave aren’t good ones. Flip Murray played the same position as Allen therefore when allen came back it’s obvious he wouldn’t get as many minutes. As for Delk, he’d been in the league for about 4 years before dropping 50, this kid dropped 37 in his first start as a rookie. Morrow will be good, he’s proven that all along, from the summer league to now he’s gotten his chance and is using the most of it.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Michorizo says:
Good today and Good toMORROW? We shall see.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
nerditry says:
Same way that the Denver Broncos were always able to plug a new running back into their system for 1,000 yards.
If you’re offensive minded at all, a player should be able to put up big numbers in the Golden State system. He’ll be benefited by a lack of direction in that system where any player who is not the center can be a primary ball handler and scorer.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Brown says:
Another gem the Warriors have unearthed. Their second round drafts and non-drafted signees have been keeping this team afloat for years. First it was Arenas, then Ellis, then Azubuike and now Morrow. Too bad we can’t find a big man to do the same.
If Brandan Wright or Anthony Randolph can break out, the Warriors could be serious trouble for the NBA again. At the very least they have a lot of young talent on the team and could make a significant trade if one comes available.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Desrat says:
Anybody think that Ellis will be cut? That is a lot of money for that dude, and this team could go somewhere w/o him.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Kudabeen says:
What happen to sharp shooting Belinelli?
November 19th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Hugo says:
Hey … The Warriors don’t need Elis anymore … Void his contract, release him … We at the mavs are just waiting …
I haven’t see him playing, but Nelson is a master on finding good players that nobody gives a shit. See Josh Howard, Dirk, Marquis Daniels (that one returned to earth after his first contract).
November 19th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
dat dood says:
once ellis comes back from his injury the warriors will have a pretty deadly lineup. You start ellis, morrow, jackson, maggette, and biedrins. then bring in bookie, watson, turiaf, wright, randolph, and bellineli off the bench.
this team is better than people think. and they have a chance to make the playoffs with some of the west power teams not playing as good as expected (dallas, san antonio, utah, clippers)
November 19th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Desrat says:
when the clips become powerhous in the west?
November 19th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
joshmo says:
Sure, playing in Don Nelson’s system skews the numbers – but the difference with this guy is that he has such a quick and fluid shot and so far in all the pre-season and the last two games has shown that he is accurate. NBA players often score 25 points but this guy didn’t sweat doing it, he let the game come to him without forcing anything. He only attempted something ridiculous like 12 shots and made 8 of them. Did you see that crossover step back jumper he made against the Blazers? You can have good and bad games, but this guy isn’t going to loose that technically beatiful and sound shooting touch.