Warriors need Biedrins to regain old form

Warriors center Ronny Turiaf is listed as day-to-day after he sprained his right ankle midway through Monday's 117-114 loss to Cleveland. He did not practice Tuesday, and Golden State coach Don Nelson wasn't sure if Turiaf would be available for tonight's home game against Miami.

In other words, now would be a good time for Andris Biedrins to regain his old form.

"I hope that he'll round out here," Nelson said of Biedrins. "It's (taken) longer than I anticipated. But he's going to keep playing, so he should get it back."

Biedrins is penciled in as tonight's starting center, but he hasn't scored more than eight points in any one of the seven games he's played since he returned from an abdominal injury. Against the Cavaliers, Biedrins was 0-for-4 from the floor, had three rebounds and picked up five fouls in just under 13 minutes of playing time.

Last season, Biedrins averaged 11.9 points and 11.2 rebounds and garnered mention as a possible reserve for the All-Star Game.

"I think he just has to stay with it," guard Monta Ellis said. "Like I told him (Monday) night. The only way you're going to get yourself out of it is by just playing basketball. Keep shooting the ball. If you miss, who cares? Just get yourself going. If you're not hurt, just leave it all out on the court."

Biedrins, who missed the better part of two months before he returned Dec. 28, said his conditioning still needs to improve but that he's not feeling any discomfort.

"It's kind of hard to get back that game rhythm. It's taken a little longer than I thought," said Biedrins, who spent an extra 20-30 minutes after practice working on drills with Warriors assistant Russ Turner. "It's been a little frustrating for myself."

Forward Vladimir Radmanovic had probably his best game as a Warrior on Monday night with 18 points, nine rebounds and three steals. In the previous four games combined, Radmanovic was 3-for-10 from the floor with nine rebounds and one steal.

Radmanovic also suffered a right ankle sprain Monday but is listed as a probable starter for tonight.

"I can't say he's played differently than before. We're asking him to do a few different things, and he's doing them. Maybe that helped a little bit," Nelson said. "He just played better."

There was no rehashing Tuesday of the final few seconds of Monday's game, where Ellis grabbed a rebound off a missed 3-pointer from LeBron James, looked to the bench and almost called a timeout before taking the ball up the floor. Ellis passed to Stephen Curry, whose hurried 3-point attempt from 34 feet as time expired missed everything.

"You would think that Monta would know that playing for me after all these years that I like to push it in that set. But it didn't happen, we missed a couple seconds and that probably hurt us a little bit," Nelson said. "It's no big deal. He'll learn for next time."

Guard Raja Bell, who had surgery Dec. 3 to repair ligament damage in his left wrist, will begin rehabilitation in the near future, a team spokesman said. After the surgery, the team said Bell's wrist would be immobilized for six weeks.