Anthony Morrow drops 37 points, pulls down 11 rebounds in
121-103 win at Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES
In the first meeting between Baron Davis and Corey Maggette since they switched teams as free agents this summer, an undrafted rookie named Anthony Morrow stole the show.
Morrow had 37 points and 11 rebounds in his first NBA start, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 121-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. His point total was the highest by a rookie this season, topping O.J. Mayo’s 33, and was the highest ever by an undrafted player in his rookie campaign.
“It was just one of those things where I caught fire,” Morrow said. “All the vets have been on me since training camp, telling me: ‘Just do what you do.’ So that’s all I’ve been thinking about. I didn’t feel any pressure. I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose. It’s all a part of being a rookie.”
Morrow, who averaged 7.7 points as a reserve in his other three games with Golden State, played 42 minutes and was 15-for-20 from the field. The 6-foot-5 guard from Georgia Tech signed with the Warriors on July 25 after playing for their summer league team.
“I think my highest game at Georgia Tech was like 30 or 31 my senior year,” he said. “Today was just one of those things. I mean, you don’t shoot 15-for-20. Sometimes, I don’t even shoot 15-for-20 in drills, man.”
Morrow was at home on draft night and watched the proceedings on TV. But he didn’t get discouraged when his name didn’t come up.
“It was kind of a weird situation because I kind of knew I probably wouldn’t get drafted. But I never really lost faith in myself or faith in what I’ve been doing,” Morrow said. “I knew I put in the work. I just wanted to refine my entire game in the summer league, and it’s working out pretty well for me right now.”
Coach Don Nelson started the 23-year-old shooting guard in place of C.J. Watson because he liked the matchups.
“It was just a feeling I had. I wanted to get an extra shooter on the floor,” Nelson said. “We put in a couple of plays in practice yesterday that were specifically looking for him coming out of the weak side because he is a good shooter and he comes off screens fast and has a quick trigger. Every time I called his number, he made the shot. So we kept calling it.”
Morrow was the third player to score 30 or more points against the Clippers in their last three games, including Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki (33) and Sacramento’s Beno Udrih (30).
“This was one of the most exciting things that I can remember in a long, long time,” Nelson said. “I’ve been in the league 30 years, and I’ve never seen a performance like that from a guy that got his first opportunity to start and play consistent minutes.
“He had the game of a lifetime, and I hope there’s a lot more like that in him,” Nelson added. “He’s improved so much in the two months of training camp that we just finally decided to make the move and start playing the kid and bring him along. He got his opportunity today, and I’m so proud of him and so happy for him.”
Andris Biedrins had 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Warriors, who blew a 14-point lead before pulling away early in the fourth quarter. Biedrins recorded his 16th consecutive double-double, the team’s longest streak since Nate Thurmond’s 18 straight in 1971-72. Stephen Jackson had 20 points and 10 assists.
Davis finished with 25 points and 11 assists for the Clippers, who also got nice efforts from Chris Kaman and reserve Marcus Camby. Kaman had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Camby got 12 points and 11 boards. Cuttino Mobley finished with 19 points.
“We have a good team. We’re just not as good as we need to be right now,” Kaman said. “You want to start pointing fingers, but there is no one to point fingers at but yourself. Everybody needs to dig down and work harder. With this team, it’s far from over.”
Maggette, playing his second game after missing the previous four with a strained left hamstring, had 17 points during a foul-plagued 26 minutes. He had two fouls in the first 2:03 and got his third with 3:24 left in the first quarter.
Maggette’s fourth foul came with 9:24 left in the third and Golden State leading 62-54. The Clippers then went on a 14-2 run to pull ahead 68-64 with 6½ minutes left in the quarter.
Davis opted out of the final year of his contract with the Warriors in July, turning down $17 million and signing a five-year, $65 million contract with the Clippers on the same day Elton Brand left the Clippers with a year left on his contract and signed a five-year, $82 million deal with Philadelphia.
“We’re without a starting point guard,” Nelson said. “Baron Davis was our best player. I think we have a good backup in C.J., but you’re throwing him to the wolves when you start him. Baron’s left a void for us in the way we like to play, push the ball, create and run screen rolls, so it’s been quite a change. We have to attack in a bit of a different way.”
Maggette opted out of the final year of his contract with the Clippers – turning down $7 million to sign a five-year, $50 million contract with Golden State. The Clippers are off to a 1-8 start, while the Warriors are 4-6.
“I had a better situation somewhere else. That’s just how it is, man,” Maggette said. “The NBA is now like the National Business Association, and you’ve got to treat it as such. I always say that because when I was 18, I got traded from Orlando to the Clippers and I heard it on the radio. So you’ve just got to handle it as a business.”<
Notes:
Jackson was the first Warriors player to record double digits in assists. Davis did it 20 times for them last season, and the team was 13-7 in those contests. … Maggette, who turned 29 on Wednesday, was the Clippers’ leading scorer in three of his eight seasons with them – including last season, when Brand missed the team’s first 74 games after tearing his left Achilles’ tendon in an offseason workout.
