In Golden State, shooter Crawford, coach Nelson at stalemate

He is a prolific scorer, one of only four players in NBA history to score 50 points in a game with three different teams, a man who once hit 16 shots in a row and who ranks in the top 25 in scoring this season, at 19 points a game.

His coach is a 30-year veteran of the league, a prolific offensive mind whose teams, playing his patented Nellie Ball, routinely rank in the top five in points scored, fast break points, points off turnovers and points in the paint.

So, how do you explain a perfectly healthy Jamal Crawford missing three straight games -- two because coach Don Nelson benched him to dole out time to young players like Marco Belinelli and Anthony Morrow and another (and counting) because Crawford benched himself -- now asking not to play in order to practice more?

Just four months ago, Crawford was plucked from New York in exchange for Al Harrington, who had shut his season down (he had a bad back) after asking for a trade that Nelson wasn't eager to facilitate. Instead of Crawford coming in and igniting a Warriors' run, the 29-year old "tweener" with the $9.4 million player option for next season became expendable when the 23-year-old Monta Ellis (locked into the organization for $55 million over the next five years) returned from an off-season moped injury.

With Ellis back and Nelson-favorite Stephen Jackson also owed $35.4 million over the next four years, Nelson decided his backcourt of the future was Ellis at the point and Jackson playing shooting guard. The coach didn't like the idea of a $10 million a year backup in Crawford, especially when Morrow and Belinelli were capable of filling that role.

So Crawford became a "redundancy," a cruel word that's applied to the bottom line in corporate America but rarely finds its way into sports.

"I've always been very open and honest with my players and I did tell him he probably would either opt out or we would move him next year," Nelson told the San Francisco Chronicle, coolly describing what in essence was an ultimatum.

Crawford, who earlier in the year got in a shouting match with Corey Maggette and declined to comment on the incident, is mum again about his current situation, saying, "We'll keep that in house."

But Aaron Goodwin, who represents Crawford, was indignant in response to Nelson's plan to bench Crawford in lieu of younger players.

"Jamal wants to play," Goodwin said. "That's what he came here for. If the coach doesn't want to play him, he should have a valid reason why he doesn't want to play him.

"What is the message that Coach Nelson is sending the team? That he does not care about winning?" Goodwin said. "You would think, in this day and time, when fans work hard to pay for these tickets, that the coach would field the best possible team."

Nelson preferred moving Jackson from small forward to shooting guard instead of going with the combination of Ellis and Crawford. Nelson, never one to spend too much time fretting about defense -- he even handed the reins over to assistant coach Keith Smart as a quasi-defensive coordinator this season -- said that at 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, Crawford struggled trying to guard some of the bigger twos in the league.

Whatever the case, the woeful Warriors now have one of the league's best scorers requesting more time off to practice, and a coach seemingly willing to do anything to get the player out of his hair. Only time will tell if Crawford's request for a breather will be a temporary respite or a permanent vacation from Nellie Ball.

For as much press that the Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony generated for refusing to sub out of a game, the real crisis facing Denver is its inability to win on the road. The Nuggets finally snapped a six-game road losing streak by rallying from a 17-point deficit to beat the Grizzlies in Memphis, 111-109, last week.

Denver coach George Karl emphasized that win's importance as the Nuggets prepare to play six of their final 12 games on the road, including a three-game road swing against potential Western Conference playoff teams. The trip starts Monday in Phoenix and is followed by New Orleans on Wednesday and Dallas on Friday.

"A losing streak always has a kind of heaviness to it," Karl told NBA.com on Thursday. "I like getting over that hump where next week we have three very tough road games and I think because of the release of the burden of having a losing streak we will go after those games with a little more confidence and a little more energy that we would have with being kind of tied up by the losing streak."

The Lakers' bench has been as important a component to the team's success over the last two seasons as Kobe Bryant's play or Pau Gasol's presence. But after losing Ronny Turiaf to free agency last summer and turning Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza from substitutes to starters in the last couple months, the second unit has been second rate.

"I said that they didn't look like they were complimenting each other out there, which is what teammates have to do," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We're trying a different formation or rotation with them."

The different rotation has worked so far. L.A. has won two straight after losing to the Sixers in a game in which the bench was outscored, 36-27.

"Everybody has ups and downs and it's better to have them now than in the playoffs," said Sasha Vujacic after scoring 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting in his first game after Jackson shuffled the substitution patterns. In the Lakers' next game, a win over Chicago, it was Jordan Farmar's turn to get it going, scoring 13 points off the bench -- more than he has since his first game back from a knee injury in late January.

"I think it was a great learning experience because now we know if we play as a team and we play together, we are unstoppable," Vujacic said.

"Right now Andrew, I would say at this point, it looks like he's a month away and that's like the end of the season."
-- L.A. Lakers coach Phil Jackson on status of Lakers center Andrew Bynum's return from a tear of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Bynum told reporters a couple of days prior to Jackson's statement that his timetable for recovery was 2-3 weeks.

"Mathematically, I've missed three years worth of games and I missed 5,000 free throws. If I was there, I'd probably be No. 2 or No. 3 right now."
-- Phoenix center Shaquille O'Neal on why he was actually disappointed in himself after passing Moses Malone to become the No. 5 scorer in NBA history with 27,411 points.

"I played outdoors in Puerto Rico when I was with the Celtics and it was a disaster. It rained and there were a lot of other crazy things. There was a hostile crowd and they were throwing stuff. It was amazing.''
-- Golden State coach Don Nelson, recalling the last time his team was a part of a basketball game outdoors. The Warriors and Suns announced they will play an outdoors exhibition game on Oct. 10 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, just outside of Palm Springs, Calif.

7 -- The number of games in a row that New Orleans guard Chris Paul has scored 25 points or more. The Hornets are 5-2 during the streak, with Paul's 22.1 points per game season average jumping to 29.0 in the last seven games. He trails only Glen Rice for the franchise lead of 13 consecutive 25-point games set by Rice during the 1996-97 season.

18.2, 5.8, 11.0 -- L.A. Clippers guard Baron Davis' points, rebounds and assists averages over his previous five games before shooting 3-for-15 from the field and totaling 12 points, four rebounds and four assists in a 24-point loss to the Raptors on Sunday.

31, 30 -- Points Sacramento guard Rashad McCants scored combined in five games from March 8-17, and the amount he scored on March 18 in one game against Charlotte. McCants followed up his season-high 30 points with 10 on 3-for-10 shooting in a loss to Philadelphia on March 22. McCants averages 10.0 points per game for his four-year career.

The Rockets' Carl Landry is expected to miss three more weeks while recovering from the "flesh wound" sustained on his leg after being shot following a car accident. Landry says he feels lucky to be alive ... Spike Lee's documentary about Lakers star Kobe Bryant, Kobe Doin' Work, is slated to debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 25 ... Despite Donald Sterling's tight pockets, word is that the Clippers are looking into somebody to take Mike Dunleavy's place.