The Association

Grading Trades and Acquisitions... So Far

By Craig Kwasniewski

 
Why bother wasting time talking about the impacts of all the summer trades and free agent signings? After all LeBron, Wade and especially Bosh are all mortal locks for the next 6 NBA championships, a World Cup title in 2014, finding the cure for AIDS and solving the "Is the Hills real or not?" crises. There's no competition these three guys will win EVERYTHING. Pack it up fellas, you're either with the Heat or against mankind.

Okay let's keep the defense honest and pretend that there's actually a season to be played and actual competition out there. One week into the free agent signing period, here are my thoughts so far:

Drew Gooden and John Salmons signing 5-year contracts with Milwaukee: One guy's been on nine teams in nine years, the other is a ballhog. N-I-N-E! Maybe Drew's a great guy and maybe he finally gets it, but something tells me that if he's anything decent one of the other eight (E-I-G-H-T) teams would have kept him. John Salmons is your prototypical ball stopper. Yes he had a good run in the 2009 playoff with Chicago, but he wasn't good enough to stick around. People suddenly made Milwaukee an instant contender. Why? And why five years for these guys? F-I-V-E! Who's else wants them for even two? Grade: D

Steve Blake signs with the Lakers: Three words: I LOVE IT! The money's good at $16 mil over four years, he's a good defender, a good spot-up shooter (perfect for the Triangle) and a willing learner (he said he's coming off the bench behind Fisher). The Lakers were chasing several mid-level point guards and landed their number one option. His age is the only downfall but Jerry Buss is going all in on the Kobe Bryant era so why not. Grade: A

Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes & Brian Cook sign with the Clippers: First off, I like Gomes.  He has a decent baseline jumper and plays hard every night.  Foye?  Ehhhh... DC took a chance on him after being a bust in Miny and he really hasn't panned out.  His claim to fame is NOT being Brandon Roy.  But as a backup not much will be expected and maybe he'll fit.  BUT... Brian Cook for two years?  T-W-O???  What the hell?  This guy shouldn't be in the league and really he wouldn't be if the Clippers didn't sign him.  But why the two years? Who else is offering more than a 10-day contract?  Grade: F (sorry but the stink of Brian Cook knocks a B- down to a solid F... HE SUCKS!)

Golden State trades for David Lee:  Turiaf, Randolph and Azubuike for Lee? The blogosphere LOVES Randolph! I keep hearing (for what feels like decades) that he's a sick talent waiting to break out. To me, the Dubs (BTW - are they still that? can you really have a cool nickname if your team is annually back in lottery-land?) gave up very little to get what is a slightly upgraded version of Andris Biedrins, an active offense-first C/F. He'll fit Nellie's No Defense, No Problem system perfectly and put up some sick offensive numbers. It's just that Golden State won't stop anyone on D.... EVER. Grade: B

Jermaine O'Neal signs with the Celtics:  Make no mistake, this is a great deal for the Celtics! (And yes, I was just looking to utter my second most favorite ex-athlete-on-TV cliches.)  People are knocking O'Neal's playoff numbers against the C's this year, but they're not acquiring him to put up #2 or #3 option numbers.  His job is to fill in for Perkins until he returns and then play 10 to 15 minutes as the first C/F off the bench.  Plus, the hope is that one last shot at a title and KG's leadership will be enough to motivate the guy.  Mix this deal with Ray Allen returning and IN MY OPINION the Celtics are still the top team in the east.  I know that's just crazy to think the defending Eastern Conference Champions actually have a shot despite having veteran leadership, a great defense, team chemistry and quality size up front.  I feel guilty for actually thinking they're better than the Heat, should I go into hiding like Salmon Rushdie?  Grade: A-

Phoenix trades for Hedo Turkoglu, Josh Childress and Hakim Warrick: Lose Amar'e to free agency and get back LENGTH.  Not a bad deal for a team that lost their marquee players for absolutely nothing. Wait, who knocked out the Suns in the playoffs?  The taller and longer Lakers.  So the Suns counter with length and handles.  Hedu has something to prove after the Toronto disaster and with Nash and co. he'll get a lot of healthy looks.  Childress was a little overrated this summer, the Suns basically got Joe Smith 2.0.  Still that's not a bad thing with this system.  The best part about Hakim Warrick will be listening to Lakers PA guy Lawrence Tanter botch his name.  Warrick is his albatross... It's unfair to compare these guys directly to Stat's impact in 2009-10, given the situation I think the Suns did a hell of a job here. Grade: B+

Dallas extends Brendan Haywood and trades for Tyson Chandler:  I see what Dallas is doing here and it may work, but in reality they're probably going to end up like the 2000 Portland Trailblazers.  They went for height to counter the Lakers but in the end they may have too many players to choose from.  Kidd, Terry, Haywood, Chandler, Marion, Butler and Nowitzki... that's a talented top 7 but can Carlisle find the right rotation?  He didn't last spring and they fell to the Spurs in the first round.  Still, I like the effort by the Mavs and can't fault them for what I think might happen.  Grade: B

Al Jefferson to the Jazz:  Here's another blogoshpere favorite.  The Jazz did what they needed to do, find a replacement for Boozer and continue on with the 50+ wins and second round elimination gameplan (which actually isn't bad for a small market team).  Jefferson is a slight upgrade but not as dramatic an improvement as others claim.  His overall winning percentage is LOW, he's injury prone and his defense is suspect.  The low winning percentage is one that I can't let go.  If he's as good as people claim, shouldn't he have some kind of impact on the overall team record?  Is he possibly one of those good-guy-on-a-bad-team type of players?  Anyway, Utah did EXACTLY what they needed to do and for that... Grade: A-

Bulls sign Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver: As of now, rumors are the Magic will match the offer sheet to JJ Redick, so we're only talking about the ex-Jazz guys. The Bulls were shooting for LeBron or Wade and ended up with Boozer.  Funny how the joke was that the Knicks would probably end up with Rudy Gay and Boozer after missing out on LeBron. Now that the Bulls got Boozer, people forgot the joke and instantly made them a top 3 contender in the east. You gotta love July hype!  I do think Boozer is a good signing and as long as he's not facing the Lakers he'll be fine.  His health has been a concern the past few years, but maybe playing in the #3 market with a strong up-and-coming team will keep him on the floor.  Redick would have been a better signing than Korver, who's clearly lost a step last year, but it never hurts to get a few quality outside shooters.  Plus the REAL key acquisition for the Bulls was Tom Thibodeau.  Grade: B-

Jordan Farmar to the Nets:  Farmar asked for a starting role with an offence that caters to his talents. Instead he gets to back up Devin Harris for the Clippers East who just hired NBA retread Billy King as their GM.  Have fun big guy! Two years ago the Lakers basically structured their roster for Farmar to take over and start after the 2010 season.  Fisher's contract was expiring, Farmar needed an extension... the keys to a fine tuned Lamborghini were his. Instead he regressed and both parties went their own ways. Sad... Grade: D

Amar'e Stoudemire to the Knicks:  Quite simply the NBA is a better league with the Knicks as playoff contenders.  It's basketball mecca... nuff said.  Mix in all the other pieces from the David Lee trade and the Raymond Felton signing and you might have enough for a playoff run.  If anything Amar'e has created a buzz not felt since the Ewing era (they sold out season tickets for the 2010-11 season).  God I hope the Isiah Thomas rumors are just BS, because there's actually hope for the Knicks, not band aid work with a bunch of overrated veterans but actual hope with potential down the rode hope.  Grade A-

Did I miss anything?

LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Miller and Ilgauskus to the Heat:  Message to the blogosphere:  can't you just let things organically happen?  Seriously... as soon as this deal went down all you talked about were multiple titles and legacy.  Sprinkle in the anti-hate "unique" point of view (which wasn't unique at all)... you know, the whole, hey LeBron is NOT a bad guy here and I'm tired of the hate (BTW - all two hours of hate, because HOW DARE WE actually criticize THE KING!!!!) angle and I'm already tired of reading about this deal.  Can't we just enjoy the experience before calling them the greatest ever?  As Phil Jackson has always said, it's all about the journey not the destination.  Before handing over the next 25 NBA titles, let's enjoy watching this team grow together,  work together through tough situations and experience two superstars combining for one cause.

That said, Bosh is an All-Star not a superstar, Miller is on the downside of his career and Ilgauskus averaged less that 2 points and 2 rebounds in the 2010 playoffs.  (That was the most disturbing thing of them all, Z was brought back to the Cavs after the Jamison trade as a final piece to an eventual NBA title.  He was lost and didn't contribute a damn thing.  So how is it now literally months later, he's back to becoming an All-Star?) There's still work to do roster-wise and even though everyone not named LeBron or Wade will get clean looks, they still have to ALL play defense. And they still have to get by the Celtics and Lakers.  People completely forgot the concept of veteran experience, defensive continuity, team chemistry and in the case of both the Lakers and Celtics, quality size.  You gotta stop KG, Perkins, Bynum, Gasol and Odom... and that won't happen in 2010.  Grade A+ but they're not winning a title next year!

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The Clippers Get Baron Davis, Let's Sing About It

by Brett Edwards

Wow, that escalated quickly. Turns out the picture I put up yesterday was a bit prophetic, as it looks like Baron Davis and Elton Brand will be teammates in Clipper-land. The Clippers get Baron Davis, and the Warriors get ... absolutely nothing in return. Nice job, Dubs. Anyway, while Warrior fans are likely singing the blues today, Clipper fans are rejoicing, as is evidenced by this video. By the way, this guy's some kind of songwriting genius to have put this together so quickly.

[via FanHouse]

Free Agency Begins With Elton Brand and Baron Davis Opting Out

by Brett Edwards

As of midnight on July 1, the NBA's free agency (negotiating) period began, and did so with a couple of big names unexpectedly opting out of the final year of their deals. Elton Brand and Baron Davis both walked away from big money, a little over $16M and $17M respectively. Brand might very well remain a Clipper; he just wants to make sure the team signs some other pieces so they can compete for a playoff spot. Baron staying in the Bay area? That seems a lot less likely.

The other big name in question is Gilbert Arenas. He's expected to stay with the Wizards (for less than a max deal), but it seems his status may remain unresolved for a few weeks yet. Stay tuned.

Thank You Nellie!

By Craig Kwasniewski

CRASH! BAM! BANG! BLAMMO... Down goes the Golden State Warriors bandwagon! The Warriors were officially eliminated from the post season after losing to Phoenix 122-116. So down goes one of the best home court advantages! Down goes one of the most explosive and exciting teams in the NBA! Down goes the most sensitive fan base in all of sports. (Seriously, with all the time you have this summer, you need to get a backbone! Stop whining!) But most importantly... as a Lakers fan, down goes a very scary first round opponent!

And I have Don Nelson to thank for all of this.

Thanks for only going six deep all season! The NBA regular season is a grind and going retro and playing at most eight a game, you wore your team down. One of my favorite coach-speak applies to this team, "fatigue makes cowards of us all." The Warriors were simply gassed for all of April. A team that lived off of heroic late-game rallies were blowing huge early leads. This wasn't the same team that put fear into the rest of the league back in February and March. Nellie needed to look at the big picture and develop a bench.

Thanks for the C-Webb fiasco! Y'all remember that Chris Webber stopped for a cup of coffee with the Warriors? No seriously, a guy who was unemployed for half of the season was picked up off the street AND STARTED for the Warriors. Obviously he was out of shape! Obviously the game passed him by! And obviously it was the worst mid-season acquisition of the year! While the rest of the league was shoring up their rosters for the stretch drive, Nellie gambled on a one-legged, old power forward that is notorious for chocking.

Thanks for trading J-Rich! The same guy that destroyed the legendary RUN-TMC era when he traded Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens was at it again. When the Warriors traded Jason Richardson to Charlotte it looked like they were clearing the way for Yi Jianlian. Nellie loves him some point forwards and with the rumors that Yi wanted out of Milwaukee along with the huge Chinese population in the Bay Area, it looked like a perfect match. But nothing ever happened and the Warriors lost a key player from the 2007 run. Yes Mont-eh stepped up with a brilliant season, but the Warriors sorely missed J-Rich's minutes down the stretch and eventually they wore down. Nellie even candidly admitted last Thursday that the Richardson trade was a mistake. Was he trying to put blame on the front office or was he admitting his own gaffe? All I know is that Don Nelson has a reputation for tinkering with his roster (remember all those Dallas trades?)... he just may have destroyed another Warriors team.

Thanks for sending a message by NOT playing your best player down the stretch in one of the most important games of the season!

(Time to play "Really" with Seth Meyers and Amy Pohler.)

Really? You're sending Baron Davis a message in the 81st game of the season? Really? You chose the Steve Nash-led Suns to bench a top-five point guard? Really? You tighten your rotation from 6 to 5 for an all ready exhausted team? Really? Really? You bench your best clutch player with the playoffs on the line? Really? REALLY??? You benched a player who can opt out of his contract this summer? Really? Really? REALLY???

Thanks again Nellie!

Write What You See: A Great Night in the Association

By Craig Kwasniewski

Okay this is not some long-winded gloat-fest about the Lakers win over the Suns. I'll save that for the playoffs. Instead, tonight was a night for all the hardcore NBA fans out there. You had major debuts, a sick game winning jumper, a triple double, a very smart trade and even a Clippers win... simply fantastic!

So let's just run with another edition of Write What You See:

Boom Dizzle hits a SWEET game winner against the C's: I gotta give Baron Davis and GSW Hoops credit for beating the Celtics without Captain Jack. Normally I'd try to find something negative in the W just to get under the very sensitive skin of the Oaktown fans, but you guys deserved this one. I thought the Celtics would come out on fire after their loss last night at Denver and I thought Golden State would drop a second loss in a row, but instead they rode the wave of their incredible fans and once again rallied in the 4th quarter for a huge win. That has to be something like 12 fourth quarter rallies by GSW this year. It's a damn shame that they currently sit 9th in the west. The NBA *NEEDS* this team to make the playoffs!

Spurs get Kurt Thomas: Once again, while other teams are making panic deals in trying to keep up in the wild west (read: Dallas and Golden State), the Spurs go under the radar and acquire exactly what they need: a defensive big. This is why the Spurs have been contenders since 1999 and will still remain in the title race for the balance of Tim Duncan's career. Tim Thomas offers veteran experience, a tough/east coast style of defense and he's a great teammate. What makes the deal even better is that the Suns have been reeling defensively since they let Thomas go in a money-saving deal. So as the Lakers and Suns are scary-big, the Spurs counter with additional front court help and gave up nothing in return. They match up perfectly with what the Suns offer and can probably hang with the Lakers.... simply a smart deal.

LeBron with a Triple-Double: With all the debuts and game winners is LeBron's triple-double against the Pacers. The ESPN guys were praising Kobe tonight as a top MVP contender, but I'm still giving it to LeBron. The guy is simply carrying a broken and not-that-talented team to W after W. They may run out of gas in the playoffs against the C's and Pistons, but what LeBron is doing is straight out of the 80's (Bird, Magic, Mj, Isiah) with that will to win.

CP3 to Kidd: Debut This! Chris Paul drops a major schooling on Dallas in Jason Kidd's debut. I'm guessing that the Western Conference leading New Orleans Hornets are getting tired of all the talk about everyone else out west the past week and were primed to send a message to the Mavs. I know Kidd only had one practice with his new team and I know they'll get better, but expect a lot of the top point guards to have great nights against Kidd. The guy's simply not the same defender he was a few seasons ago. And I can't state this enough (especially after the Kurt Thomas trade), the Mavs are not big enough to hang with Phoenix, San Antonio or Los Angeles.

Shaq's debut in Phoenix: No gloating here... just a few facts: Fact, Shaq played his ass off and clearly knows his role with Phoenix (defense, rebounding and size). Fact, Nash and the Suns will learn to play with Shaq. Fact, Shaq is no longer explosive, but is smart enough to make a difference. Fact, with Shaq eating space, Amare will get some seriously monster numbers.

However...

Fact, the Suns defense is not that good (especially with Nash, Shaq and Amare all poor on pick and rolls). Fact, the Suns will miss Marion's help defense (he was a great rotational shot blocker). Fact, the Suns will miss Marion's defense against Kobe (he split defense on Kobe with Raja Bell, who looked tired at the end). That being said, despite the loss at home to a Lakers team missing Andrew Bynum and playing the second of a back-to-back and despite blowing the season tiebreaker in a very emotional game, the Suns are still one of the teams to beat out West (three team race with the Lakers, Suns and Spurs).

That was a fun game to watch and I'll pay close attention to Shaq's "college basketball season" over the next few weeks just to see how it plays out.

Whatever happens, tonight was one of those "I love the NBA!!!!" nights.

Around the NBA and Blockquoting Myself Until I Go Blind!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Time to do my favorite thing of all time... outside of cracking on Pat Riley and the Miami Heat, which is way too easy these days, especially after getting rolled by the Celtics' Big One (KG and Ray Allen were out). I mean rolled... at home by a score of 117-87. And all D-Wade could do was score a Barkley-needs-to-remove-him-from-his-five 7 points.

EMBARRASSING!

Where was I? Oh yeah, my OTHER favorite thing... outside of cracking on the Golden State Warriors, which is never not fun, especially after losing to Houston 111-107. But I'm sure it's because the refs screwed over Tha Dubs, right? Actually not, the Yao Ming-led Rockets shot 2 more freethrows than the perimeter-oriented Warriors (32 to 30 in Houston). But unlike Miami, Golden State is expected to drop a roadie to a very good Houston team, so there's nothing embarrassing about it...

I'm just happy.

So AGAIN, where was I? Oh yeah, my OTHER, OTHER favorite thing... outside of cracking on the San Antonio Spurs, which... is... pure... fun! Especially after losing to a team currently on a Miami Heat-esque 14-game losing streak. Yes, the San Antonio Spurs fell to the redneck-owned Seattle Sonics 88 to 85. The loss puts the Spurs at 0-2 on their annual Rodeo trip.

RODEO-SMODEO... it's called a long road trip and many teams have their own brutal roadies every year (Chicago has the circus trip and the Lakers have the Grammy's trip), but all I hear over and over again is "Rodeo... Rodeo... Rodeo..." Deal with it and move on! Every team has 41 home games and 41 road games, unless your the Clippers where its 39-43 because of the Lakers. So what does a 9-game roadie at the end of January/early February mean? It means you have a crapload of home games coming up!

Suck it up San Antonio!

Anyway, my real favorite thing of all time... blockquoting myself (only because, as many of our regular readers know, I'm rarely right). Anyway, because of a first half injury to Son of Walton (vaginal inflammation?), the Lakers were forced to use a lineup that I've been suggesting for days. This is what I said on Monday:

Simple solution to Son of Walton crapfest: Shift Kobe to the 3 and start a backcourt of D-Fish and (heavy sigh) Sasha Vujacic. I can’t believe I wrote that, but Vujacic is a lot better offensively this year and his defense gets under the opposition’s skin. And Kobe at the three spot is a ton better than Son of Walton.

So with the Lakers trailing 100-91, a line-up of Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown put the Lakers on a 29-9 run on their way to a 121-109 win at Staples Center. Two key adjustments were made down the stretch: Kobe was moved to small forward and Son of Walton was NOT on the floor. And as I hoped, Vujacic's scrappy/annoying defense got under the skin of Nate Robinson, drawing a technical foul along the way.

One of the biggest flaws in Phil Jackson's coaching is his inability to change line-ups from game to game. Once he finds his rotation, he sticks with it all season. In many cases he'll start a rarely-used player instead of messing with his set rotation. The best example was with the 1994 Chicago Bulls, the season after MJ's first retirement. Instead of acquiring a big-time scoring guard, Jackson stuck journeyman Pete Myers in Jordan's shooting guard spot and maintained the same rotation from 1993 throughout the rest of the line-up.

Well, son of Walton's case of sudden vaginal inflammation caused Jackson to make the change tonight and hopefully this'll shed some light on the Zenmaster. Until Bynum and Trevor Ariza return, the Lakers best chance is Kobe at the three, facilitating, passing and attacking from the post and sides of the court.

Here's a few other things that I saw from Section 316:

Robinson and Lee were tired at the end: One other reason why the Lakers were able to pull away late in the game was that David Lee and Nate Robinson were simply gasses at the end. Both were having great games; Lee with his hustle and put-back points (21 points!) and Robinson who was hot from the perimeter. They both played a big part in that 100-91 lead but all the hard work and long minutes finally caught up with them. Lee had to fill in for the foul-plagued Eddy Curry and Robinson's taking up a lot of Marbury's minutes, both playing 10 more minutes than normal.

Nate was on fire! The Knicks were running Rip Hamilton-type of screens all over the floor and giving him decent looks, which mostly he hit.

Knicks bigs can finish: Curry, Z-Bo and Lee are all long, strong and have soft hands. Once they got the ball inside 3 feet they rarely missed. The Lakers, on the other hand, blew a lot of easy shots for various reasons. Obviously Kwame has no hands and Mbenga has no offensive games, but it was Odom and Turiaf who missed a few easy put-backs. Odom goes through these stretches where he puts so much English on his shots that they lip out.

Knicks fans not as much of a force tonight: Normally a huge contingent of transplant Knicks fans roll out to Staples for the Laker-Knicks game (with their "back home's" and "out here's"). But maybe the Isiah era has finally taken a toll on west-coast Knicks Pride or maybe they're all at the Super Bowl. Either way, Knicks games are always fun because of their fans but this year was a 3 on a 10-scale.

Laker haters rest easy: This is the last 316 section report until February 19th because the Lakers head out on a 9-game roadie because of the Grammy's. (Grammy's Trip... Grammy's Trip... Grammy's Trip!) So outside of a 10,000 word anti-Son of Walton post, there will be a lot less Lakers stuff here at TAB for the next few weeks.

Why Monta Ellis' Career-High 39 Needs an Asterisk

By Craig Kwasniewski

Not to rain on the parade of Monta Ellis after dropping a career-high 39 spot on New Jersey and leading the Golden State Warriors to a 121-119 win over New Jersey, but I will.

With a wry smile...

Not because the 39 points that came at home against a below average team from the weak-ass Eastern Conference. Not because he rested on defense against a Jason Kidd that simply doesn't shoot the rock anymore. And definitely not because New Jersey, in the midst of a 7-game losing streak, simply doesn't play defense nor do they have a legitimate big man to guard the hoop.

It's none of that at all... 39 points in the NBA is impressive no matter what the situation is. I won't take that away from Monta... big ups to the little guy!

What's amazing (not ironic, but more coincidental) about the career-high 39 is that Choke-A Monta Ellis scored the exact same 39 points in the ENTIRE Western Conference Semifinals against the Utah Jazz last season.

Yep, 39 points in a 5-game series against Utah or more specifically 7.8 ppg., far less than the 16.8 ppg. he averaged last season. Hey, but he did have more assists in that 5-game series than he did tonight... a whopping 3 to 2. So Golden State fans, if you want to crown Monta... crown him. He is what we thought he was... a regular season baller!

So let's put a nice big "*" right next to Monta Ellis' career-high 39 points* (Just like that!). And do this...

* - in the regular season which equals the total points he scored in the 5-game 2007 Western Conference Semifinals

Carmelo Anthony's All-Star Ballot

by Brett Edwards

Carmelo Anthony is too humble to hype himself up as far as the All-Star voting goes, but that doesn't mean he can't help out his friends. Right now, it seems that he's all about giving love to Baron Davis. And why not? 'Melo doesn't need the help, he's leading the Western Conference forwards right now. But Baron is mired in 6th in the very crowded Western guard spot, so he needs all the help he can get.

Warriors fans and I have had our differences, but I'm in agreement that Baron deserves to be an All-Star this year. The problem is, so does Kobe, so does Steve Nash, so does Allen Iverson, and so does Chris Paul. It will be very interesting to see who gets in; right now it looks like inevitably someone is going to get screwed.

[via FanHouse]

Tables Have Turned, Mavericks Now Own The Warriors

by Brett Edwards

After a year in which the Warriors completely dominated Dallas, both in the regular season and the playoffs, it appears that the Mavericks have finally figured them out. As Kenny Smith screamed repeatedly during the dunk contest where Vince Carter was doing ridiculous things, "IT'S OVER!" Dallas dominated from start to finish, and the Warriors must now be wondering if they'll ever win a playoff series again.

The "BALLGAME!" play in this one came late in the fourth, when Dirk blocked Stephen Jackson's shot attempts twice on the same possession, then Stackhouse finished with an acrobatic spinning layup on the other end to seal the deal.

By his teammates accounts, Dirk played his best game of the year.

"He exorcised some of his demons," Jerry Stackhouse said. "It's something that needed to be done."

"He just refused to allow them to double-team him," added Jason Terry. "This was definitely his best game of the year. I liked everything he did."

Even a couple of the Warriors, who are occasionally a little cranky in defeat, were nothing but complimentary towards Dirk:

"I think Dirk just played his game, like the MVP," said Stephen Jackson. "I thought he played great. I think if I could put my hand on one thing it was that he was more patient on the block. I think he just stayed under control. He definitely carried them tonight."

Warriors forward Al Harrington noticed, too.

"Dirk was aggressive. He wasn't passive," said Harrington, who scored 21 points. "He was determined to put his team on his back and play at an MVP level."

So I don't think the Mavs have anything to worry about anymore when it comes to playing the Warriors. But Golden State has plenty to worry about when it comes to thinking playoffs. Now that they have lost their edge on Dallas, who exactly do they think they can beat in the first round? Obviously not San Antonio or Phoenix, and we know what happened when they met up with Utah. The Lakers? Doubtful, considering they were very lucky to beat them last time, and before that one they had lost nine in a row to L.A.

Unless GSW can somehow get one of the top three seeds in the West, there's just no way they're winning a playoff series this year.

Hey NoCal Drop a Banner!

By Craig Kwasniewski

So Golden State eeks out a 108-106 win at home against a team playing the second of a back-to-back with their best player (and the NBA's best closer since 1998) out with an injury... CONGRAT-U-EFFING-LATIONS!!!

So here's a few follow-up questions:

Did you hit the streets of Oakland (get robbed) and celebrate?

So where's the parade? Will it cross the bay into SF or is it just an Oaktown thang?

Will the Warriors bitch to the refs during the parade?

Will Matt Barnes get a flagrant foul in the ring ceremony?

How big are the rings? And will Stephen Jackson hock them at the local pawn shop?

Did Baron Davis get hurt putting the ring on his finger? (He's missed a combined 98 games since 03-04.)

Will they drop a banner for winning their second game in the last 16 against the Lakers?

Will any other of their celeb fans try to kill themselves in celebration?

Will Warrior Nation finally remove the tags from their brand new Baron Davis jerseys?

Will they spend another $72 on the new "We're Back!" tee shirt that dropped last night?

And by the way, what the hell are you back from? Back to advancing to the second round of the playoffs? Back to watching Nellie *NOT* take a team to the NBA Finals? Back from suspensions (Jackson for 7 to start the season, Matt Barnes for the flagrant on Turiaf last night)? (This can't be a historical reference since 90% of y'all didn't know the Bay Area had an NBA team before 2007.)

So call in sick tomorrow, enjoy the celebration and bitch to the refs... Bay Area Hoops earned their HUGE victory last night!

BTW - This ain't no rivalry, you're 2-14 against the Lakers. The last time Golden State won a season series was in the 93-94 season. (Yes GSW fans, you had a team back then.) Like Kobe said:

This is nothing. This is like slap-boxing. For a real rivalry, you have to match up in the playoffs. The regular season is nothing.

Exactly!

Anyway, I heard the celebration went on until the early morning... feel free to act like you've been there before!