Warriors hope Bogues' return means big improvements

By Matt Steinmetz
TIMES STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Sometimes it's the smallest things that can give a team optimism and confidence.

Take Muggsy Bogues, for example, who will return to the lineup after missing nine games with a slight tear in his right hamstring.

Bogues, the Warriors' 5-foot-3 backup point guard, will play tonight when the Warriors face Phoenix at the New Arena. And right about now, the Warriors need something to look forward to. They'll take a 10-game losing streak into the game.

How nice will it be to have Bogues back? Well, even the player whom Bogues will take minutes from is happy to have him back.

"It helps us a lot," Bimbo Coles, the starting point guard, said. "It helps the whole team. He's the best on this team at pushing the ball upcourt. He gives us a spark off the bench. He'll help us there. We definitely need him."

Bogues tore the hamstring during the second quarter of a Dec. 27 home game against Philadelphia. The Warriors went on to lose that game, the first loss of their current losing streak.

What the Warriors miss in Bogues is not only what he can do physically for a team -- get them running -- but what he can provide in the mental pick-me-up department. Bogues is perhaps the only player on the Warriors capable of making teammates better.

Without Bogues the Warriors became exclusively a halfcourt team. Even before Bogues got hurt, the Warriors were beginning to lean heavily toward a halfcourt, patient style. But once he went down even the idea of a fastbreak seemed to vanish.

"The month of December we got some wins," Bogues said. "Guys were having fun, we were building some confidence. We've got to get good play from everyone every night. That's what we have to get back to. Sitting and watching is difficult, but hopefully we can get it back and regroup. That's when this team is at their best: when everyone's confidence is high."

Now, no one is maintaining that the Warriors would have won some of the past 10 games had Bogues not gotten injured. Then again, maybe they would have. Without a doubt, Bogues makes the Warriors (7-29) a better team.

"He gives us another excellent point guard," said coach P.J. Carlesimo, perhaps handing out the compliment too easily. "What he gives us is a spark. He's someone who has had the best turnover-to-assist ratio in the league for some years and we're a team where turnovers are a problem. That's a plus."

The Warriors have several problems, including lack of offensive firepower. Bogues should help there because he is the team's best distributor and seems to do a better job than Coles of getting teammates better shots.

When Bogues enters a game, his teammates seem to play with more energy. The defense picks up, guys run the floor better and the intensity level picks up. One of the Warriors' shortcomings during their recent 0-6 road trip was lethargy.

"He adds another dimension for us," Carlesimo said. "A lot of what happens during a game is not a diagrammed play. He's very good at getting other people the ball, making a basketball play. He's also good at pressuring the ball. I don't think one guy is going to turn things around 180 degrees, but it's safe to say that with Muggsy out, we've missed him."

And Bogues has missed playing, too.

"I'm feeling great," he said. "I don't feel anything in the hamstring so I feel 100 percent. I wouldn't have come back unless I was fully healed. I'm just going to try to get back in the swing. We were playing relatively good when I got hurt, now I just want to help to try to generate some wins."

Edition: SRVT,  Section: C,  Page: 3