Case of the Mondays: Farewell, sweet Warriors

May 14th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

On Friday night, in the midst of the Warriors’ dunk-fest blowout win over Utah, I got this exact text message from commenter PMK:

Dear ESPN … We know it’s loud in Oakland. Put away the stupid decibel meter … NOW! Love, PMK

At the time, I wholeheartedly agreed with him. Leave it to ESPN to bring us an annoying, overdone feature trying to hype up a team and a venue that didn’t need any hyping. This isn’t ARCO Arena; everyone knows how loud it is in Oakland! Can’t we just watch the game and appreciate the crowd organically?

Perhaps I spoke too soon. Because if the Warriors lose to Utah at Utah, and we see this run come to an end, I’ll realize the bad karma I’ve created. Here’s my pledge, Golden State: if you keep winning, I’ll keep tolerating the decibel meter. Screw it: I’ll let them run the decibel meter all the time if it means you guys will pull this off in seven. Do we have a deal? OK — don’t let me down.

As for the actual basketball on the court, the Jazz proved a lot by winning in Golden State last night, and have sealed themselves as winners of this series. Decibel meter or not, that crowd is no joke, and Golden State seemed like a different team there Friday night. For Utah to take the punches and keep coming back out — led by incredible performances from Carlos Boozer, who is suddenly a Top-15 player — is really impressive stuff. You never know: maybe the Jazz can take the winner of Phoenix-San Antonio. Crazier things have happened, even within the past two weeks.

Speaking of the Suns-Spurs, I’m ready to agree with MJD: there’s no reason this series shouldn’t be better than Warriors-Jazz in the long run. The teams are better, they seem to genuinely hate each other (fuck Bruce Bowen), and, thanks to aging stars, both should be playing with a certain level of desperation. Duncan and Nash aren’t exactly retiring next year, but the window is closing quickly for both. No reason this shouldn’t go seven games, and be totally worth it the whole way. But the Suns have to find their balls first.

Finally, one more note about Warriors-Jazz. Huge cheers to TNT for televising the conversations between Jason Richardson, Mehmet Okur, and Derek Fisher after Richardson’s hard foul on Okur in garbage time last night. If you didn’t see it, with about a minute left and the game sealed, Okur drove the ball hard to the glass and rose up for a big, both-arms-extended dunk. It would have been the sort of “Screw you” slam that is basically just for show, and Richardson was having none of it. He fouled Okur hard, got a flagrant-2, and was ejected, but before he left TNT zoomed in just enough to see him yelling at an incensed Okur: “Stop being a pussy, that’s a hard foul! Stop being a pussy! It’s a hard foul, stop being a pussy!”

I nearly fell off the couch laughing. These are the kinds of things that make me smile about competitive basketball — despite huge chasms in skill, you can hear the same banter in the NBA Playoffs as you can at your collegiate rec gym, and everyone understands it on the same level. Fantastic.

This wasn’t even B. Diddy’s best effort…

May 12th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

…but it was still rather emphatic. There was that 360-degree layup that somehow made its way off the backboard and into the hoop. There was that up-and-under scoop that looked so effortless.

Those were more jaw-dropping to me, but this dunk against AK-47 stands as a testament to what the Warriors did to the Jazz last night. They made them look docile. They made them look vulnerable. It’s a series once again.

Oh, and it was totally worth lifting his shirt up and getting the technical. Totally worth it.

(Video via FanHouse.)

Weekend Fun: Refocusing on high quality

May 11th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

After last night’s debacle — which even prompted a Glass Joe comparison from currently blacklisted FanHouse friend Matt Watson at Detroit Bad Boys — I’ve come to a new and resolute conclusion: I’m not going to lament this loss at all. Sure, I was furious for a little bit last night, but now it’s time to face facts. The Bulls are simply not that good yet. As encouraging as the Miami series was, this Pistons team is the class of the conference, and Chicago simply doesn’t have the horses. They have a good team, a solid team, a team that will probably only get better … but they’re not there yet. And I’m OK with that.

The reason it’ll be easy to get over that is because despite what Bomani Jones tells you, this is an effin’ great playoffs so far. The Warriors-Mavs series is something that any basketball fan should treasure forever, and right now the Suns and Spurs are locked in a Finals-worthy contest. Not only that, but that series is getting overlooked thanks to the continued insanity of the Warriors, who are now getting overlooked thanks to Jazz. Everyone out West is one-upping each other, and it’s made for a conference without a single playoff dud so far. OK, so the East has flopped, but we should have seen that coming. What are we complaining about again?

So that’s why I’m choosing to forget about the Bulls. I’ll watch the game Sunday, and if they win, I’ll watch the next day … but it’s time to change the focus from geographic loyalty back to where the real entertainment lies, and that is not in the Eastern conference.

With that, we’ll see you around this weekend. Since we neglect the sport so much (we don’t even have category on the sidebar there), I’m going to try and learn about hockey and write a post at some point in the near future about what I’ve learned. If it doesn’t show up, that’ll show you how much the topic has enthralled me.

UPDATE: Just noticed I titled this “Case of the Mondays” instead of the appropriate title, Weekend Fun. I’m sure you were shocked at the oversight. We’re back up to speed now, though.

Baron Davis is very good at basketball

April 29th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

For some reason, I always keep forgetting this. It probably has a lot to do with injuries and the fact that Davis has spent most of his career at outposts like New Orleans and Golden State, but still.

Anyway, here’s a helpful reminder of exactly how good Davis was in college. As the Lakers and Suns figure things out, I’m already thinking about whether the Warriors can really upset the Mavs. If Davis continues to unleash, that prospect looks more and more likely.

We sucked. We’re sorry. Forgive us.

April 17th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanE

If only all teams had such balls.

Via The City, the Warriors of that Golden State down southwest there have offered a penance for their garbage season with a collective “We’re Sorry” to their fans. Not only that, they offered 500 free tickets to whoever bought them on Ticketmaster as part of Fan Appreciation Night.

Honestly, I don’t care about the Warriors. I never have, except when Jason Richardson provides 10-12 seconds of excitement to my life via Sportscenter.

But you kind of have to respect the gesture, even if it is sort of empty. It’s right there, in plain sight. We sucked. We’re sorry. Please don’t abandon us.

I wonder if Mike Davis ever considered a similar ad…