Makes Love to Pressure

46-27 is the Golden State Warriors’ record when Stephen Jackson was able to get into the game. A 63% winning percentage, if extrapolated over the full 82 games would have landed the team in the 7th spot in the Western Conference playoffs, which shows how tough the conference was in the 2007-2008 Season.

Stephen Jackson had a new career year as he ended the season averaging 20.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists. His season-high in points was 41 against the Washington Wizards on February 11, 2008. His season high in rebounds was 12 against the Memphis Grizzlies on December 17, 2007 and his season high in assists was 9 against the New Orleans Hornets on January 4, 2008.

Not seen in the stats, Jackson brought leadership and defense to the Golden State Warriors. Before becoming hampered by injuries, Jackson was routinely asked to guard the best scorer on the other team whether it be a quick guard or a bruising post player. He did it with such aplomb, you would think any player can guard any other player no matter the size. The Warriors as a team held the opponent to 3 point less when Jackson played in the game.

On and off the court, Jackson contributed immensely. On the court, Jackson worked with the bigs to keep them in the game in Nellie’s guard-centric offense. Every game, he would work the pick-and-roll with Biedrins to perfection and would almost routinely hit him with a lob from the corner or sideline. When the offense was stagnant, Jackson worked to get to get easier buckets inside even when the calls weren’t going in his favor. And when the pressure was on late in the game, more often than not, Jackson was put in the position to make the shot. His step-in 3’s were money during those times. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to miss 10 straight shots earlier in the game and then hit the next 10 when the game is on the line.

Off the court, Jackson stepped up his contribution to the community. When he wasn’t speaking to kids, he was breaking ground on new basketball courts, visiting families as Santa, and working to set up the Jack 1 Foundation. The community service did not end when the season ended; Jackson made plans during the season to visit Africa in the offseason as part of John Legend’s Show Me Campaign. Stack Jack is going global!

The one blemish to Stephen Jackson’s 2007-2008 season was becoming hampered with injuries late in the season. Although he never made injuries as an excuse, it was clear he was being slowed by a series of sprained ankles in the last three weeks of the season. Compounded by a career high in minutes (39.1 per game), Jackson could not move laterally as well as earlier in the season to stay in front of his defender. Nor could he make the dribble drives; instead, settling for jump shots. Maybe next season the bench can actually step up to give the starters rest in each game.

In the end, Stephen Jackson improved on his game in what is now his 9th year in the league which is unheard of in the league. Hopefully, Jackson will finally receive the national recognition for his play on the court and his work off the court instead of being forever linked to the Detroit brawl.

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Stephen Jackson and the Golden State Warriors ended the 2007-2008 Season on a sour note, losing to the Seattle Sonics 121 to 126. Kevin Durant scored a career-high 42 points and accomplished his first double-double of his career. This was not a surprise, many opposing players get their career-high against the Warriors style of play.

This game was not televised and it was too late in the day to grab a ticket for the game. Based on the box score, the Warriors chucked the most 3s in the season with 45 attempts. Jackson contributed seven attempts to the cause. Below are Stephen Jackson’s stats for the game.

Stephen Jackson’s Line:

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Taken by Barry Gossage (NBAE/Getty Images)

The Phoenix Suns officially eliminated the Golden State Warriors from playoff contention with a 122-116 win. But like many of the Warriors’ previous games, there was still a lot of drama to be had.

Baron Davis shot a horrid 2 for 13 early on and was subsequently benched by Coach Don Nelson for the rest of the game in what amounts to one of the most important games for the team in the 2007-2008 season.

The Warriors got down big, at one point trailing by as much as 17 points. With a lineup of Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson and spare parts, the Warriors erased the 17 point deficit and built a 11 point lead. Jackson was especially hot in the third quarter hitting a number of long-distance threes, willing the team to take action.

Unfortunately, when the 4th quarter rolled around, the players involved in the comeback were on tired legs. Davis, having sat out for two quarters so far, was not brought in to steady the course and perhaps help win the game. In a questionable call, Nellie stuck with the players he had on the floor and the game was lost.

Stephen Jackson’s Line:

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On Stephen Jackson’s Day, Stephen Jackson scored 28 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 122-116 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and pulled the team into an 8th place tie with the Denver Nuggets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Unfortunately for all the good done in the game, the implications amounted to nothing more than a little bit of pressure on the Denver Nuggets to beat a Houston Rocket team on the 2nd half of a back-to-back in Denver. With the Rockets loss, the Nuggets now only have to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in the last game of their season to get into the playoffs.

The only thing the Warriors can do is try for the empty consolation prize of becoming the only team to have 50 wins in a season and not make the playoffs. Hopefully, the Coach plays some of the young guys in the final two games so fans could see how the future will turn out.

In the Clippers game, Jackson’s defense was actually decent in the 2nd half of the game; most likely due to the rest he received in the 2nd quarter after getting chopped in the back of the neck. He played pressure defense on his man and was at times able to disrupt the offensive player’s dribbling. We can only second guess how the team would have responded in the later half of this year if the starters had received some type of rest in each game.

Stephen Jackson’s Line:

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The season is all but over at this point. The Golden State Warriors were out-played and out-coached in the most critical game of season against the Denver Nuggets. After starting hot and taking a 16 point lead in the first quarter, the Nuggets went into a zone defense and the Warriors settled for jump shots. Coach Nelson also did not call a timeout during the Nuggets comeback run to emphasize to the players to break down the zone; instead, the team became more and more frustrated and chucked up shots quicker and quicker.

It didn’t help that the main chuckers, Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson, were a combined 14 of 42 including 3 of 15 from the three point line. The lack of bench play was also a sore point for the Warriors. While the Nuggets received 34 points from their bench with the athletic JR Smith and the scrapper Edjuardo Najera, the Warriors received 7 points from Kelenna Azubuike and Matt Barnes. The fact that Coach Nelson did not play the bench at all throughout the entire season may have attributed to the undeveloped bench’s play.

Since the Coach did not trust the bench enough to play them decent minutes through the season, the starters were forced to play a high amount of minutes. In some cases, the minutes played were a career high as can be seen by Stephen Jackson’s 39:23 minute average. The game against Denver was no different. The bench contributed nothing, the starters played almost the entire game. As the legs got tired and worn down, the drives to the basket ceased, the passes become lazy and the focus goes out the window.

The only chance left for the Warriors to make it into the playoffs is to win their last three games of the season and hope Denver loses 2 of their last 3.

Taken by Rocky Widner (NBAE/Getty)

Stephen Jackson’s Line:

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