Game 4: Utah Jazz at Golden State Warriors. (Jazz lead 2-1)

[Sanford - V. President of the Dangerous Crew Movement]

Flash Davis and company turn it around in Game 3 blowout

They called it disgusting. Ridiculous. Unbelievable.

No, not their 125-105 thumping of the Jazz in Game 3.

Baron Davis' monster dunk over Andrei Kirilenko in the closing minutes was all the rage after the Warriors charged back into their series against Utah on Friday.

Davis simply brought the house down with his one-handed jam that put the finishing touches on a 20-point blowout in front of another maniacal crowd at Oracle Arena.

"That dunk right there?" Matt Barnes said, shaking his head and pausing for effect, "What can you say?

"I mean, Kirilenko's one of the best shot-blockers in the league. And to go toe-to-toe with him, someone that's 7-feet tall (actually 6-9), and do what he did was incredible."

Just about everything was amazing Friday. After two tightly contested games in Utah, this one was essentially over after a 40-point explosion behind a barrage of three-pointers in the second quarter.

With Jason Richardson on fire and Davis wheeling and dealing, Golden State set a franchise playoff record for most points in a quarter and tied the NBA's postseason mark with 11 threes in the first half.

They finished with new playoff highs this postseason for points in a game, points in a half (70) and three-point field goal percentage (46.9) in improving to 4-0 at Oracle Arena with Game 4 set for Sunday.

"When we play in this arena, we're a totally different team," said forward Al Harrington, who had 15 points. "We just came out fired up, figuring the more success we have, the more we can get our fans into it, and they carried us through."

They had a little help from Davis, who had game-highs of 32 points, nine assists and six steals. But nothing was more impressive than his dunk that put the Warriors up 121-99 with 2:48 remaining -- especially considering Davis' gimpy legs and Kirilenko's tormenting of the Warriors with 13 blocks heading into Game 3.

Davis' dunk one-upped Stephen Jackson's own posterization of Kirilenko in the first quarter, when Jackson drove inside for a two-handed jam over the man who had swatted away at least five of his shots in Games 1 and 2.

"Jack's was nice, but B.D.'s was disgusting," Warriors' all-time blocks leader Adonal Foyle said.

So were the Warriors. Coach Don Nelson tried a new tactic on Carlos Boozer, starting Harrington in place of Barnes and having the bigger, stronger Harrington play Boozer from behind.

That took away most of Boozer's inside positioning and finally helped even out the rebounding game, though it's still far away from being in the Warriors' favor. Golden State was outboarded by a more respectable 44-32 margin -- thanks to Andris Biedrins, who had 13 rebounds to go with his 13 points -- after totaling 46 less rebounds through the first two games.

More importantly, they held the Jazz to a series-low 14 offensive boards for another series-worst 16 second-chance points. Boozer finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds while Kirilenko blocked just three shots en route to a 15-point, five-rebound game.

For the Warriors, redemption was the theme of the night. Monta Ellis had 10 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists and steals in 21 minutes after no-showing the first two games.

Mickael Pietrus, who bricked two free throws that would have helped Golden State close out Game 2, went 8-for-9 from the foul line and 14 points and two blocks in 19 minutes.

And Jackson, who's had at least five shots blocked by Kirilenko this series, got his revenge by spiking one of Kirilenko's own shots from behind before dunking over him with two hands.

"We believe we can beat anybody, on any given night," Davis said. "To come back after being down 0-2, it shows a lot of heart."


The Warriors are seeking to become the 13th team to come back from an 0-2 series deficit, and they need only look across the court to find the last one to do it. The Jazz dropped the first two games in Houston before winning Game 7 on the road and knocking off the Rockets in this year's opening round.

The only downers Friday were a late Jazz rally that cut Golden State's lead to 15 points with about six minutes left -- keeping things close enough for Nelson to leave his starters on the court in what should have been garbage time -- and a late technical foul on Davis, who now has five during the playoffs.

Two more will bring an automatic one-game suspension, and Golden State -- and its fans -- can hardly afford to be without him, if Friday's show-stopping dunk and performance was any indication.

"What more can you say about him?" Harrington said. "I know Dirk (Nowitzki) may have won the MVP of the regular season, but he's the MVP of the postseason."


lets get it to 2-2.   

[7even]

[thisoneguy360]

3-1 

[rik]

Bye bey, Warriors.

[lonestone]

^^ Yep they had a good run though. If they come back to tie it at 3-3 i'll be shocked. Same goes for the Bulls.

[Antonio_]

I think it's over for both the Warriors and the Bulls.
Nice runs. But Detroit and Utah are better.

[wcsoldier]

Detroit played "too easy".. jackin 25 3pts, Sheed was on some Arenas shit (2-12) , how the fuck did he take so many 3s (even if he's on fire since the beginning of the playoffs).. as I said before the Warriors gonna regret their poor plays down the stretch in Game 1 and 2

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Warriors coulda' easily won this series with better execution...Too bad. Spurs vs. Jazz should be interesting. Some retro shit. LOL.

[wcsoldier]

^^^^ Actually these are the two teams of the West which play that "academic" style of B-Ball, i.e, some good defense, inside-outside game offensive wise.. nothing mind-blowing but efficient.. like back in the 90es and before.. not that "new millenium" style where center run and take 3pt shots, the kind of game we see today and will see (unfortunately imo) more and more in the future