It's no wonder Monta Ellis' ankle still hurts. He's on a seemingly endless roller-coaster ride.
Continuing a series of serious ups and downs that began with the signing of a $66 million contract in July and suffering a career-threatening ankle injury in August, Ellis began the day Wednesday with good news. Warriors coach Don Nelson, after drawing the conclusion less than a month ago that Ellis' future was at shooting guard, announced that his speedball would be the team's starting point guard -- his preferred position -- the rest of the season. So it was no surprise when Ellis did most of the ballhandling during his 31-minute stint against the Nets.
But what was surprising was that the stint ended with still 12 minutes to play.
Ellis had played well through three quarters, hitting nine of his 16 shots while also dishing off six assists. Being that he had not played since Feb. 21 -- he says it was exclusively because he was tending to a family emergency, while the Warriors claim his ankle was bothering him again -- it hardly seemed unusual that he went to the bench for a rest to start the fourth quarter.
The Warriors went on to build a 108-97 lead with a little more than three minutes remaining. Pretty much all they had to do from that point was take care of the ball and make free throws.
Ellis is as good as any Warrior at that combination, yet he never re-entered the game, even after Corey Maggette dribbled the ball out of bounds against the New Jersey press with Golden State up just five with still 53 seconds left.
Clearly unhappy not to be part of the action, Ellis was the only Warrior in uniform who did not walk onto the court to congratulate his teammates during timeouts as Golden State gradually pulled away to win. He stood expressionless outside the team huddles, clearly not feeling a part of the victory.
The roller-coaster ride continues. Only this one is not fun.
WARRIORS 116, NETS 112: For one of the few times since Jamal Crawford was acquired from the Knicks, the Warriors had Andris Biedrins, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Monta Ellis and Crawford healthy for the same game. For one night, anyway, it looked like a winning combination. Jackson (29), Maggette (18), Ellis (19) and Crawford (19) all scored at least 18 points and Biedrins contributed a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double, providing just enough to enable the Warriors to hold off the playoff-challenging Nets in Oakland.
