San Antone and Denver is an interesting series. The Spurs are clearly superior, but Denver is an excellent team and they're playing their asses off. Houston and Utah is damn sure turning into a 7 game duke-fest for supremacy. So none of them can be lumped into the group of teams whooping serious ass in the first round.
The Bulls and Pistons successfully completed sweeps, humiliating their respective opponents. The Cavs should join that club by finishing their sweep of the Wizards tonight. Despite all the shit being talked all over the league about how great the Raptors are, they will likely be shown the door tomorrow night on their own home court. The Nets have pretty much wrapped up a very convincing argument that they are not only better than the Raps, but so much better it's not really even a contest. The Suns gave me a scare losing that one game to the Lakers, but as I expected, Kobe's heroics are really only good for 1, maybe 2 games in a series. Unless a miracle occurs, Suns should take it in 5.
Which leaves only one series. I certainly expected that I'd group that series in with the other slaughterhouses. But I expected to be talking about a Mavs sweep. I never thought in a million years I'd be writing about the Warriors with a 3-1 lead. I was at Oracle arena in Oakland last night to watch Baron Davis wash away years of bad memories of shoddy work ethic, poor conditioning, injury, disappointment, lack of leadership, bad breath and dandruff, with a legendary performance in a blemish-free Game 4 take down of the Mavericks.
It was a glory to behold.
The Warriors played defense. For real, no-shit, man-up, lock down defense. Dirk had a good game, but he looked tamed out there. Mikael Pietrus is a defensive whirlwind who can drain 3s. Matt Barnes may be the most energetic, level headed, fundamentally sound 6th man in the business. Biedrins is a spry 7 ft rebound machine, and he's faster than the dickens. Monta Ellis is a breath of fresh air in a sea of disappointing prep-to-pro air heads. Jason Richardson? How about one of the most versatile, athletic, high energy guards in the league. Al Harrington has been cold on the offensive end, but never out of energy. Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson are writing their names into playoff legend. They're hitting shots, creating shots, playing D, and hyping up the home crowd like you can't imagine.
When Baron hit a nearly half-court 3 pointer at the buzzer before half time there was a palpable feeling in Oakland. A foreign emotion for Bay Area basketball fans that's as tangible as the 20,000 "We Believe," towels being twirled by the Warriors faithful:
We can win this.
And not just one game, or one series. The Warriors are a threat. A scrappy, energetic threat to the NBA's Southwest power elite. Dallas is soiling their pants wondering what to do next. That's for sure. But you have to start wondering if Houston, San Antonio or Phoenix can have much more luck against this rowdy bunch from Oakland. Buckle up Bay Area fans. The Warriors mean business.
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2 comments:
Ok, here's my point with the Bulls. First off, don't call them the Baby Bulls anymore, because they have clearly grown up.
Ben Wallace joining the Bulls was perhaps the biggest move of the entire year, and it isn't just for what Wallace brings to the games - it is what he brings to the practices. I don't know if you've ever seen footage of Wallace working out, but he is a beast. He lifts, presses and squats ridiculous weight for the simple reason that it turns his post game into an absurdly one-sided affair. I'm pretty sure he is working out with his teammates, because I saw Nocioni pick up Hinrich during yesterday's game like he was a rag doll. I don't mean he gave him a hand and helped him up, I mean up picked Hinrich up under his armpits and lifted him to his feet. I could go on, but I won't because this is your blog and I don't want to steal your thunder. I might want a log-in to blog the Bulls - Pistons match up though, it's going to be HOT!!!
Can't believe you went to this game! Unreal! If Baron could have stayed healthy his whole career, we would be mentioning him amongst the all-time greats. Of all the athletic, skilled, talented, amazing players in the game, I can think of nobody else that shows this level of confidence and versatility. He just looks tough and mean. They will try to triple-team trap him and he splits it like Moses and the sea. Giving Dirk the MVP trophy after he is eliminated from the FIRST round will be so funny. I bet Dirk pukes at the podium. This should put an end to all this phony debate once and for all. If you ever had a funny feeling calling Dirk the best in the game, it's cause he's not. He is not even in the same class as Duncan, KG, Nash, Kobe, Lebron, Wayde, T-Mac, Kidd, Arenas, and Yao. There's yer top 10.
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