Can Baron Score?

The often injured Baron Davis tied his career high scoring mark last night with 40 points. This was puzzling to sports broadcasters and to me as well. I mean, it's not like he's playing hurt all the time. You would think that someone like the great Baron Davis would've had at least one game in the 50 point range, you would apparently be wrong.

In the interest of full disclosure (not sure why it's necessary on a fan blog where I use a pseudonym, but whatever) I should tell you that the Golden State Warriors are my second favorite team in the NBA. This makes no practical sense, because my favorite team is a very smart, defensive minded, paced kind of team. The Warriors on the other hand look like a bunch of guys playing a pick up game. I suppose this is why they'd be my second favorite team. They are built to be streaky and cheering for a team with ups and downs like that would undoubtedly give me a heart attack before I turn 35. Their streaky nature is what is so much fun to watch though, it's also why I don't think you'll ever see Baron Davis hit the 50 point mark in a game.

Golden State plays Nellyball, which is named after their Boris Yeltsin look-alike coach Mr. Don Nelson. Now, Nellyball demands that the players run a lot. The main objective is to score quickly with the first open shot and to try to force the opponent into bad shots. Now this means that EVERYONE on the team is going to be shooting the ball, frequently. This style of play doesn't mean that someone is going to just dribble the ball up the court and pop off a quick shot without passing at all (well, not all the time anyway). The objective is to find the first open person with a decent shot. Nelly demands that his players be aggressive, and they are. This is why Baron Davis isn't likely to hit 50 in a game. Everyone in their starting five is looking for offense (except possibly Andris Biedrins, although he gets in on the action sometimes). That means that the offense isn't going to run exclusively through Baron, which you would likely expect if you saw that he was making $10 million more this season that anyone else on the team. I mean, nobody gives a huge contract like to that to a player who isn't going to be a big offensive weapon...

So, since Baron is going to be sharing a lot of shots, I think this will keep him under the 50 point mark.

Speaking of the Warriors, one of my biggest disappointments this season was seeing that Matt Barnes got rid of the mohawk, so sad. On a related note, Damon Jones has a mohawk now. I was really not much of a fan of Damon Jones, but I found myself intrigued by his play the other night when I saw the mohawk. That's right, I'm not watching the Cavs for Lebron. I watch for Damon Jones' mohawk.

Speaking of bad teams, I think I know what the Chicago Bulls' problem is. They have no team chemistry. None. Joakim Noah got in trouble with the team for questioning everyone's desire and what not. He got in trouble for being right as far as I can tell. I was struck by how much this team doesn't seem to care about each other the last time I watched them. It just seems like nobody on that team hangs out together. I bet they don't go see movies together on the road, go whoring for women together or take long walks on the beach together. You know, all the things you're supposed to do with teammates.

That's all for now, more later about a what-if scenario and Damon Jones.

-Dusty