"Everyone agrees that Don Nelson brought in a gaggle of free-throw gurus shortly after he returned to the Warriors. Everyone agrees that one of them was a practitioner of the two-hand underhand method who tried to make a convert of center Andris Biedrins.

"We brought Rick (Barry) in," Nelson said after practice Tuesday. "It was one of the first things I did when I arrived. He spent at least an hour here with (Biedrins), showed him the technique. I was standing here for the whole hour with him. I really enjoyed it."

Biedrins believes it was former Warriors center George Johnson, who adopted Barry's granny shot and pumped up his free-throw percentage to a respectable career mark of .694.

There is no disputing how the tutorial was received.

"I tried a couple times," Biedrins recalled, "but obviously there was no way it would work."

Nothing's working for Biedrins at this point, at least at the free-throw line. The rest of his game was stellar in Monday's victory over the Chicago Bulls - nine points, 19 rebounds, eight blocked shots in 39 energetic minutes. It was something of a breakthrough for Biedrins, who has missed 25 games this season with groin and abdomen injuries."