Photo: AP
The Golden State Warriors continue to steamroll past the competition after going 16-0 to start the season, following a 111-77 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. Warriors center Andrew Bogut started and played 20 minutes, registering eight points and seven rebounds in the record win. Bogut has regained his starting position and is averaging seven points and seven rebounds in a little under 20 minutes of action. Chances are that the Warriors are still taking it easy on Andrew after the injury, at the same time, the Warriors do like to run small ball with Draymond Green at the 5.
League MVP Stephen Curry paid tribute to slimmed-down teammate Andrew Bogut after they helped the Golden State Warriors to the best season start in NBA history. “He looks like a teenager out there running laps around the other big men in this league, catching lobs, playing great defense, blocking shots and it’s great to see,” said Curry in a teleconference on Wednesday.
Andrew Bogut Throws It Down against the Lakers
Comments made by rival teams and players have not gone unnoticed by Andrew Bogut and the Golden State Warriors. Andrew insisted his teammates fail to receive the credit they deserve, but the NBA champions are driven by the doubters in their quest for back-to-back titles.
“We feel we haven’t probably received the credit we deserve after everything we achieved as a team last season, and the way things have panned out to begin 2015-16,” said Bogut. “It’s probably better for us to come into a season after winning a championship and then being doubted once again. It gives us more fire and drive, and maybe that’s the reason why we’ve started the way we have. Look at the way Steph is playing right now. At the beginning of the season, people said other players should have won the MVP instead of him, and now Steph has more than proven that he deserved it last season. Right now, he’s probably leading the race again up to this point. We definitely notice what people say and use that as motivation.”
Photo: Gol.HR
The Brooklyn Nets long season continues with another disappointing week. Brooklyn started their week by losing 116-111 to Charlotte, as Bojan Bogdanovic scored only two points in 18 minutes. Rookie shooting guard Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has started to cut into Bojan’s minutes. The losing streak continued with a humiliating 120-95 defeat to Boston. Boston shot 58 percent from the field to go along with outscoring Brooklyn by 20 points in the second quarter.Bogdanovic only played 17 minutes, although fared much better with nine points from three of seven shooting. Lionel Hollins will continue to look for more young talent in what already appears to be a lost season.
Brooklyn bounced back against Boston at home by winning 111-101 to win their third game of the season. Bojan struggled from the field by shooting one for six in 17 minutes of action. Five of those shots were from three-point range, as the second-year player failed to capitalize on open opportunities. It was easily Bogdanovic’s worst week of the season.
A tough road stretch starts tonight against Oklahoma City. They travel to Cleveland on Saturday, as Bogdanovic will have the opportunity to play against Kevin Durant and LeBron James in consecutive games. Brooklyn returns home on Sunday against Detroit, before finishing the week against Phoenix on Tuesday.
Photo: Associated Press
It continues to be a weekly struggle for Mario Hezonja to receive actual playing time. The fifth overall pick played only eight minutes in Orlando’s 104-101 win against Minnesota. As Evan Fournier continues to have the best season of his career, Hezonja has been reduced to playing in small spurts. Mario contributed with two points, two assists, and two rebounds in Orlando’s last second-victory that featured a buzzer-beater from Fournier.
Hezonja’s minutes slightly increased against Sacramento. In a 97-91 loss, Mario played 17 minutes in another forgettable performance. Hezonja shot only one for three from the field, along with two careless turnovers. Orlando continued their losing streak against Cleveland in a 117-103 defeat. Mario contributed with two points and six rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Shabazz Napier’s emergence has played a role into cutting Hezonja’s role within the offense. With less ball-handling responsibilities, the rookie will have to continue finding his niche on a roster full of scorers.
Orlando starts a three game home-stretch against the rising New York Knicks tonight. They face Milwaukee on Friday and Boston on Sunday, which should prove to be excellent litmus tests. Milwaukee and Boston are arguably the youngest teams in the Eastern conference. Orlando finishes their week on the road against Minnesota on Tuesday.
Photo: AP
Damjan Rudež is back in the Minnesota Timberwolves rotation after featuring in two games this week. The Croatian international played only six minutes on Friday in a 86-96 loss to the Detroit Pistons. Damjan failed to score and finished with only one rebound. Five days later against the Atlanta Hawks, Rudež played a season high 17 minutes in a 99-95 win over the Atlanta Hawks. Damjan finished with 13 points, going 3 out of 4 from downtown.
Photo: Fox Sports
Sacramento Kings undrafted rookie, Duje Dukan, made the Kings’ opening night roster but hasn’t been on the team’s active roster sheet during the first three weeks of the 2015-16 NBA season. The Kings announced on Friday the 13th that they have assigned Dukan to the NBA D-League to further develop his game. The Split born forward moved to the United States when he was 10 months old and played college basketball for the University of Wisconsin.
@green croat
idiot, get your facts straight. Lucic and Kopitar are not of Croatian origin. Now f*** off.
I always read on this site: “keep politics out of sport”, “this is a sports site, not a political site”, “sports and politics don’t mix”.
Okay, then let’s ditch politics and do what the entire sports world outside of Croatia would rather see and that only politics prevents: a reunification of the Yugoslav basketball team.
We don’t have to have “Yugoslavia” in the name of this entity the way the nation of Macedonia has it in their political name. Am I the only one who noticed this & thinks it significant?
So in essence we’d be following the British model whereby they have 4 soccer teams: England, Scotland, Whales & Northern Ireland; and one basketball team: Great Britain.
Off the top of my head, we can call our basketball team: Illyria-Sarmatia. Unlike the name “Yugoslavia”, this would be an accurate description of our true origins.
It’s pretty ridiculous Strk writes a tomb week in and week out about a few Croatian role players and no role bench warmers. If Strk wasn’t so intellectually lazy, he’d make his points in a few sentences. Maybe you guys should scrap this NBA thing? A ‘Croatians around the NHL’ would be more interesting; aren’t Hamonic, Vlasic, Lucic and Kopitar top class players in that sport?
I see a sighting of a Croatian with the HNS jersey in the front row of the Kings/Warriors game.
Hezonja looks like a player who is trying to learn the system and feel his way through with the new coach. It also hurts that Fournier is shooting lights out.
I always see Duje sitting on the bench in a suit when watching the Kings, I don’t believe he has been playing with the D-League team in a month.