oh warriors, come out and pla-ay

i'm in a glass case of emotion. the bad man just punted baxter.

the warriors took it to the mavericks on some serious WHO'S THE ONE SEED NOW, BITCH? shit. seriously, the mavericks looked RATTLED to even be on the court with the warriors.

observe: stackhouse airballing 3s!
see: jason terry getting stripped then falling on his ass!
watch: mickael pietrus going apeshit, and almost putting stackhouse on what would have been the guaranteed poster of the playoffs!

this series is a serious referendum on the state of basketball. if you didn't already stand up and take notice when the warriors finished the season streaking like frank the tank, it's about damn time you did.

first they take 1 in dallas, then self-destruct in game 2, take game 3 in a rocking home gym, and game 4 made all that shit look silly. in every series there is a turning point. for the mavs it probably came when avery johnson decided to start dirk at center in game 1. he made the mistake of bending to the will of the warriors. you have to understand that as soon as you play the uptempo game with a team designed to play uptempo, YOU HAVE NO CHANCE OF WINNING.

that's how the lakers were able to take the suns to 7 last year, that's why they're getting effectively swept this year. the playoffs are all about will imposition. a team simply cannot win if it plays to it's competition: the heat beat the pistons in part last year because detroit tried to run its offense through tay because he had d-wade on him. ride with the horse that brung ya should be the mantra of every succesful playoff coach.

another reason the warriors are winning is they have some serious interchangability. it seriously matters not who is guarding whom when the warriors play defense. everyone is between 6-4 and 6-7 and quick as fuuuu, so the mavs simply cannot break people down off the dribble. their best player is a slow-footed, 84-inch jumpshooter who relies on drives, dishes, and single coverage to make his living. well guess what dirk? they have an intimidating-looking russian and are totally prepared to double team you whenever you have the ball.

in all of this talk about how cleon's crew is neutralizing the mavericks defensively, let's not forget their sick break, lead by barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrron! (everyone get on your jim jones hats and do the fadeaway) davis. seriously when this dude decides to get down to serious b-ballin, shot-callin there is not a more unstoppable scorer from the pg position. nash comes close, but he doesn't quite have the competitive fury that davis conjures. when nash gets upset, it's cute, but when baron gets mad, hit the deck because shots might be fired. legit the entire warriors team could be packing gats in their warmups and no-one would be suprised.

let's see you handle that, mavs.