Warriors Fans Take Out 20 Years of Frustration on Owner Joe Lacob (Video)

By Albert Samaha Tue., Mar. 20 2012 at 12:41 PM

Categories: Sports

You win some, you lose some

No Monta Ellis, no Jeremy Lin, no Dwight Howard, probably no playoffs, and possibly no lottery pick. So it's not surprising that there were no cheers for Warriors owner Joe Lacob last night during Chris Mullin's jersey retirement ceremony.

There were plenty of boos, though.

When Lacob took the mic to introduce the crew-cut sharpshooter at halftime of Golden State's loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, mild boos rained down immediately, but subsided as Lacob began to speak.

"Now that we got that out of the way," said Lacob, who replaced highly scorned owner Chris Cohan in November 2010 to much fanfare. "Tonight is about two things: Embracing history and respect."

Then a wild voice from the stands shrieked: "We want Monta!"

Cheers erupte, and morphed into a sustained chorus of raucous boos.

Clearly, a good number of Warriors fans didn't like the team's decision to trade superstar Monta Ellis, promising forward Epke Udoh, and center Kwame Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks for center Andrew Bogut -- who will miss the season with a fractured ankle -- and former Warrior Stephen Jackson, who was two days later traded to the San Antonio Spurs for Richard Jefferson.

This latest rebuilding effort christened the 17th losing campaign in the past 20 seasons -- and Lacob felt the heat for every single one. Not even the beloved Mullin could calm the crowd.

Here's what it looked like, in all its uncomfortable splendor: