Something happened behind the scenes last night in Phoenix between Warriors head coach Don Nelson and Baron Davis. Golden State who needed a win to have any shot at making the playoffs played the entire second half without their best player in Davis. Baron Davis was not injured by any means, but he was shooting 2-13 in the first half. I don’t know about you, but something tells we didn’t get the full picture from Don Nelson last night as his team will now watch the playoffs from a sofa.

If you watch the Warriors play every night, it is easily visible who the hardest worker on the team is. Baron Davis literally plays every game of the season like it’s his last. Davis who was indeed struggling last night was apparently benched by Don Nelson because the coach said he was tired. “I gave Baron a much-needed rest the second half “, Nelson went on to say after game. Bullshit. Baron Davis doesn’t get “tired” when a playoff berth is on the line.

I’m starting to think something went down in the locker room at halftime last night in the U.S. Airways Arena in Phoenix. Nelson could have suggested to Davis to start playing better and maybe words were exchanged? It honestly puzzles me to think that someone would bench a team’s best player when such important things are on the line. If I was a Warriors fan I would be at Oracle Arena today demanding Nelson be fired!

This story isn’t a major headline today because the Warriors didn’t make it into the Western Conference playoffs, but you can bet this won’t be the last chapter in the Baron Davis-Don Nelson saga. My favorite quote of the game comes from Suns guard Leandro Barbosa who said, “When we saw Baron Davis wasn’t going to start the second half, we thought that the game was going to be easy.” Well Leandro was right.

All in all I feel there is just a tad bit of information missing here. Phil Jackson wouldn’t bench Kobe and Gregg Popovich wouldn’t bench Tim Duncan. I’m sure Nelson had to answer to the front office today with the decision he made at the start of the third quarter. If Baron Davis was in, you could have bet anything that he would have done everything in his power to secure a playoff berth for the Warriors.