How unlikely is this? Up 3-1 on the Mavs…
Not very (it would seem), but when Larry Bird went on a mid-season “attitude purge”, he undoubtedly gave Don Nelson and his Warriors a new lease on life. Take it for what it’s worth, which in this specific case of an 8 seed versus a mighty 1, it’s not worth what the numbers alone would have you believe. The fact is, after calling out the team in front of the press with a little over a month left in the season, these guys responded in a big way. Baron Davis (good knee), Jason Richardson, Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson – has a nicer ring to it than Davis, JRich, Mike Dunleavey and Troy Murphy! Not only in terms of the added scoring and defense, but with this lineup they’ve been able to go small and still run up and down the floor consistently. Pietrus and Barnes are dropping an average of 3-4 from the arc every night combined, and the youngin’ (Monta Ellis) is one of those once in a decade second round picks that some teams (Spurs) end up winning with and others (Sonics, Wizards) squander, while even others (Celtics, Celtics, Celtics) just never get a hold of period.
I’d been a hard-core Mavericks hater for as long as I can remember, and there is a key memory that sort of laminated the sentiment a couple years back. Five of us were meeting up at a place across the street from the Fleet Center for food before Antoine Walker’s big return in a Mavs uniform. As heart breaking as was for a backdrop, I get there late to find one of our crew wearing a Nowitski jersey. Back then I wasn’t messing around when it came to “getting right” before a game, and for that I had a pint with me that was mostly gone already. Needless to say, the ‘HEY! We don’t take kindly to your TYPE ’round here’ Al gets excited and before you know it, there are two bets for a total of $120 riding on the Celts winning outright – No Spread – and I’m the dumbass according to everyone. I take pride in the fact that I haven’t lost a personal sports bet in years, and that Mavericks hating moment was pretty special since the upset happened as I predicted, and the entire time I was giving this guy w/ the jersey on worse shit than the fans in the rows behind. Great time.
Obviously the stakes are higher now, and those free throws Dirk missed versus Miami in the finals last year are about to require some medication if this is how he follows up. A point I touched on earlier and reinforced with the story in the last paragraph is all about the concept of an “upset” in professional sports, and how even the 4 vs. 5 matchup with teams boasting of identical records can even be called an upset when the 4 comes out on top…it’s a stupid concept for the most part, but I can’t deny that any time an 8 seed is beating a 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs, it qualifies. What I want to point out though, is that the team that compiled that record to just squeak into that final spot, is NOT the same team that is on the court right now in Dallas. Golden State won 9 out of their final 10 games going into the playoffs, beating Phoenix, Dallas, Utah, Houston and only losing at San Antonio. In 6 of those wins they scored over 120 points.
They’ve got that mojo working, and Don Nelson is the man responsible for lighting that fire at the precise time that he did. That said, whether the series is 3-1 or 2-2 going into game 5, it still remains the most pivotal out of them all in my opinion. If the home team in the series doesn’t have it figure out enough to protect their home court in a game 5, then you can probably bet it’s just not their year. And with a team like Dallas being as thick with talent as they are, the boost from winning at home, getting a 30+ point forth quarter under their belt, could be the medicine they needed to turn it around. If they squeak out a win tonight and lose away in game 6, everybody will be busting out their bullshit Bambino Jr. rants about how Dirk this and Dirk that…Al’s telling you right here and now, Don’t Believe The Hype! This Warriors squad is for real!
One person that will be happy to hear your prediction is out buddy Kosar in San Francisco. Warriors are his team.
I’m a Warriors fan, and this sure is a fun time. Big Game 6 coming up, but GS was soooooo close last night.
I’ve got to abstain from my favorite event of the year (NBA Playoffs) to concentrate on my course work, and not being able to watch GS-Dal in particular has just killed me. Being able to catch the 2nd half of games 4 & 2 was a blessing…the Denver-SA game the other night was amazing…I’m a huge AI fan, so my heart is definitely with Denver, but what can you do about Horry? They had Camby bounce out to cover him on that shot he hit, so he had to rainbow it…doesn’t seem to matter as long as it’s him shooting though.
Utah-Houston is really entertaining as well. I’m playing it like Charles Barkley this year and convincing myself that the first round doesn’t matter…
Ugh…missing all those ‘Inside the NBAs’…GO WARRIORS!
S.R. – I was hoping Bernie would see this. Should bring a smile to his face. It’s been a long time coming w/ that franchise. The trade with Indiana was a carjacking, double homicide. Hate to talk bad about Larry Bird, but he’s got a lot of things wrong if that trade, and what it brought back in tallent (how it fit w/ the roster…shoot, they were running Dunleavy out there as the 2-guard), honestly convinced him that Rick Carlisle wasn’t the right guy for the job.
The Celts need to be talking to Carlisle already! If he ends up with somebody else and we’re counting on Doc Rivers to out-coach Flip Saunders in the first round of the playoffs next year…my feelings on the matter are known already:
Tell Doc Rivers to dust off his resume if…(10/06)
Fire Doc Rivers NOW!!!(11/06)
Right now, it looks like the Nuggets are done for. Maybe we’ll finally break through one of these years. It’s so frustrating watching them lose in the first round in five games every year.
Are you from Colorado? Look, the only thing I didn’t get at all was the Boynkins for Blake trade. Besides that, your team has made SOLID MOVES over the past couple of years. Kenyon Martin breaking down like that couldn’t have been predicted. I’d have gone after him at that point in his career any day of the week.
The other night (I only caught the second half) Carmelo was in foul trouble, and Iverson couldn’t get a call near the hoop. He was on another planet! The shots he took around the basket were precisely why I’ve been a huge fan of his for years now. He’s a step above everyone else on the floor. He’s been a team player in the games I’ve seen…deferring to whoever is open, and making people look silly on defense, like always.
They can still pull it out. They can beat this Spurs team if they play 4 quarters and don’t turn the ball over. Steve Blake missed a three, next time down he turns it over (easy 2 for SA)…that pretty much sucked the momentum they’d built up…and I’m not a fan of their half court sets. I like Camby at the high post with the ball, but nobody on the perimeter is open when he’s there (Greg Popovich is just too good sometimes)
Yes, I’m from Colorado. The thing that frustrates me about the Nuggets is that other teams have a lot less talent than they do and still beat them. You’d think that a team with ‘Melo, AI, Camby (Defensive Player of the Year), and several other solid players would challenge somebody in the playoffs sometime. BTW, they got clobbered tonight, just like I suspected. Hopefully, the Pistons will stick around for a while.
My brother’s always liked the Celtics.
One thing I didn’t get about this series was Karl always using only 8 or 9 players. Eventually, they will wear out.
Sorry about that…what they’re lacking is a post up scorer and continuity on offense. Blake and Smith stunk up the place in this series, and unless AI is your point guard (I don’t see why not), you don’t even need to spike the rotation like that, but instead focus on landing or settling on your #1 2-guard and picking up another big to compliment Camby and Nene.
They’ll be much better next year I think. Andre Miller is a great player, but AI is better. They’re missing a couple pieces.
I’m a Celts fanatic! Same for the Red Sox and Patriots.
The Red Sox are my favorite baseball team, as we don’t have much of a baseball team to cheer for here in Colorado, and I’m a staunch Yankee hater. I think the best series in sports history was the Red Sox coming back from an 0-3 deficit to bring down the Evil Empire. I also like the Patriots and Tom Brady (my favorite player), but the Broncos rule!
WoW! What a series. The fever around the bay area is infectious. I haven’t seen anything like it in years (Bay Bridge World Series ’89).
With the exception of a few minutes, maybe a quarter and a half, the W’s were in total control. I loved Nellie’s move to start Barnes. He will be a free agent at the end of the season; I would hate to see him go.
This is truly the best of times in Bay Area sports. The Giants are calling up their #1 draft pick from a year ago, Tim Lincecum (3-0 0.29 era 12k/9in in AAA)and will start against the Phillies on the Sunday night game.