Golden State vs. Dallas - Game 6 Blog

Thick Playoff Beard
-Baron Davis’s playoff beard just keeps getting thicker, I believe he’s becoming a biblical character who gains his strength from this beard.
Early Hole
-Dallas found itself in a hole early (down 12-3 just a few minutes in)… the solution? Shoot more 3s! The gap is closed by the Mavs getting their next 15 points on five other three-point baskets to close the gap to 19-18.
Baron Davis injures his Hamstring
-Baron Davis appears to have tweaked a hamstring midway through the 1st quarter, and is forced to go into the locker room. He then returns to loud cheers with 9:40 left in the 2nd quarter and immediately commits a turnover. Davis is actually hobbling badly at this point, based on the ensuing possessions, and cannot even move laterally! While it is admirable to play through pain, its not even worthwhile to have a PG in the game who is unable to move. Davis continually is lumbering down the court – both to play offense and to play defense. They need some of that super-spray that the European soccer players use when they are in pain. Oh wait – Baron wasn’t flopping on the play, as most European soccer players do, and Baron is experiencing REAL PAIN. As I finished writing that last sentence, Baron Davis just scored the last 11 points for the Warriors, including a silly off-balance heave that resulted in a 3-pointer swish when Baron only was trying to get free throws… maybe the hamstring is looser now? Maybe the painkillers are starting to work? I think from now on, there should be a channel you can tune to that gives you a live videofeed of the treatment an injured player receives during the game. This way, we can find out which teams use more painkillers, which rely on witch doctors, and which focus on female “pleasure artists” to soothe the players pain.
Sideline Reporters Search for the Truth
-The 2nd half starts with a shocking quote from our informative sideline reporter: “Coach Avery Johnson has said the Mavs will go after Baron Davis on the offensive end as much as possible.” What would we do without sideline reporters???
-Don’t Mess with Stephen Jackson
-Jackson was angry after the last game and said he would let his playing do the talking. Jackson single-handedly made a 13-3 run against the Mavs to get a 12 point lead half-way through the 3rd quarter. The funny thing is at this point, he is 7-7 from 3-point land but 0-7 from 2-point land at this point.
-Comic Book Storylines
-After a hard foul by Dallas bench player Austin Croshere on Baron Davis, the announcers reveal that they used to be high school teammates! Austin and Baron are in each other’s faces before being separated by every other player and referee. Just like when you read a comic book, there’s always some prior connection between different characters in a great story. If this were a comic book, we’d have a flashback to the time that Austin tried to steal Baron’s girlfriend. Speaking of comic books, it appears someone has brought kryptonite to the building, because Dirk only has 4 points, and the Mavs are now down 18 points with about 16 minutes remaining. I want to see a game 7, but I’m not feeling too optimistic at the moment.
-No Fight Left
-After 67 wins, and a hard-fought series in the first 5 games, the Mavs just gave up. They got outhustled, outworked, outrebounded, and this was even AFTER Baron Davis got dinged up! Jason Richardson really put an exclamation point on the win with a reverse dunk, a steal, all followed by a 3-pointer with a few minutes to go.
Looking Ahead
-Golden State will be playing the winner of Utah-Houston. Utah would be the tougher matchup for them, simply because Golden State can make a slower center, such as Yao, a detriment to the team. Even Diop on Dallas had a hard time slowing down the pace and making much of a difference (and Diop is certainly more mobile than Yao). The Jazz at least have enough team speed to keep up with the Warriors to some extent. It still seems at this point that Golden State would be a favorite in either matchup.