A thrilling game from start to finish.

Not to say that I'm finally on the bandwagon, but just to point out the timeless truth that the team with the best player almost always wins the playoff series (Lakers excluded). And is there any doubt that Baron Davis is the best player on the court? Any doubt at all, you soul-less MVP voters?

A lil slack for MVP-to-be Dirk: Oaktown is just that bunch of mean muggin ice grillin n-words that gives the big Nazi fits by taking him out of his comfort zone. But that is precisely why Dirk cannot and should not and inaperfectworld would not (but, sadly, will) be MVP, cuz for any true MVP, when faced with a set of circumstances that denies him Option A, he simply goes smoothly and effortlessly to Option B, and he kills you that way. A true MVP does not let a buch of Fife-Dawgs (Fife, the five-foot emcee, Oaktown, the six-foot ball team) keep him from scoring in the paint, constantly bailing them out by shooting fade away - fade away! - jumpers. (At least Bargnani, the next one-dimensional great white hope, has the good sense to square up when he's going 2 fer 12 against smaller defenders.) A true MVP would not have allowed anyone - not even the talented Baron Davis - to soar over him for a basically uncontested lay up in the fourth quarter of a tight game. Dammit, Irk is a whole foot taller than Davis. Block that shid, fool! Do sumthin! Alas, Herr German, wherefore art thou?

Anyway, fantastically compelling series any way you slice it. And now Charles Barkley has thrown his ample behind into the mix by playfully jabbing at the Bay area. Honestly, is there any better bball show than the TNT crew? Is there any better bball production that what TNT is bringing to the table? I mean, these cats were playin Pac and Dre's "California Love" on the broadcast at one point during a time out. Yall peep that? When will ESPN/ABC get a clue?

Finally, are you ready to call it a series, Stop Mike? Or can Lil D use two 2 out of 3 home games to rise from the ashes?(And what's your real name, sun? I mean, Stop Mike Lupica is cool - and imperative, I might add - but it's hard to properly address you by that name. Then again, I understand if you don't wanna roll with the real name on the internets. After all, these Bulls fans you've apparently offended can be obnoxious!)

LP,
Seems I have the same issue with your moniker as you have with mines - I can never decide on whether to respectfully call you Last Poet, Poet, or LP. For me, SML is preferred. I'm certainly not a "Mike"! If anything, my name should be Miguel.

Back to the Warriors - I would call them the Buckshot (Shorty), like the BDI emcee from Black Moon. That's a true five footer right there - I worked (very briefly) for DuckDown Enterprizes a long time ago when I was in high school (circa '95, '96). I also caught a Black Moon/Smif N Wessun/Fab Five show at Pace University back in '97. Homeboy is truly the biggest five footer in the game, representative of what the Warriors is doing right now. No offense to Pfife and the Tribe (true story: one year the company I work for had a bowling league - the team I was on called ourselves "A Tribe Called Bowling". Stupid name, yes, but it shows the love we shared for Tribe.)

The Warriors may not win game five in Dallas, but as long as they don't do anything stupid to cost themselves game six in Oakland (i.e. no suspensions, no injuries, no brawling), they will win it at home. There is no way the Mavs won't implode at the first sign of pressure. The problem with Dirk is that he never really steps it up. He plays at the same level all the time, which is good and bad. It means he doesn't play down when there is no motivation, but he doesn't step it up when it's clutch time. He's not Big Shot Bob. He's always the same. Sometimes you got to find a higher gear, that's all. Jordan found it. Jordan may have been a half-foot shorter than Dirk, but he would have blocked that Baron layup, you know? And I ain't even a Jordan fan like that, that's just truth....

And I did catch the snippet of the California Love (remix, by the way, not the Mad Max video version, but the second video version, where Roger Troutman really got to go off and jam at the end of the song)! You are absolutely right, TNT is far superior to ABC. So is the old NBC coverage. ABC's coverage is hurting the NBA more than it's helping.

One last note: Dirk showed a little post move early in the third, and he had a couple of big rebounds and putbacks. For Dallas to have a chance, he has to do that more. Like all the time. That, and Dallas has to keep a player or two deep when they are on offense (like they did early on) to stop the fast breaks off rebounds. That difference in yesterday's game was the 25 fast break points. In a half court game, the Mavs can exploit the biggest advantage they have over the Warriors - their superior FT shooting abilities.

Sorry, had to go dig it out... here is the California Love pt 2 video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTDotA7TgZw&mode=related&search=

That's the one I think they played yesterday, not the part one, Joe Cocker "Woman to Woman" sampling, EPMD sampled it first on Knick Knack Patty Wack version.

From Oakland to Sacktown
The Bay Area and back down
Cali is where they put they mack down. The Warriors are gonna make the Mavs shake... shake, Dirk, shake....

Cool then, SML it is, with an occasional Miguel, or A-City's Finest, thrown in to confuse the listeners.

No doubt that was the Cali Love remix, like you said. I just remember noddin my head all the sudden during the broadcast. Then I realized that Dick Stockton and Reggie Miller were in the cypher rhymin over some ol school Pac, Dre and Roger Troutman (hate to think that Cali Love came out so long ago we gotta call it "old school," but we do. Am I old as Jesus Christ the Nazarene? I am.)

You on point again with the Black Moon/Buckshot reference. Now there's plenty of tributes to the sticky icky in hip hop, but "I Got Cha Opin" has got to be top 5. I'm talking about the remix with the ill Barry White sample. Who else besides Buckshot can be only five foot, and make a ryhme with the word "diaphram" in it (in the chorus, even, so he got n-words sayin "check the dialect from the diaphram, my man" over and over again!), AND STILL be hard?.

But "Sound Boy Burial" is the song that perfectly describes whats hap'nin between Oaktown and the Mavs. If memory serves, that was a Smiff-n-Wessun joint, with Buckshot guestin (or was Buckshot an actual member of Smif-n-Wessun? All that Boot Camp shid got confusing after a while...)

"They say [the Mavs] #1 wicked select-a/ I say you punanny and I wetcha

"Keep the bull or I pull this here trigga/ Cuz you don't wanna test me when I'm tipsy off tha liqu-a"

Shid, who else could put the word "tipsy" in a rhyme and still come off hard? (now that I've typed that, I also seem to recall KRS saying "I get tipsy, but never in ur life try to diss me" in one of his rhymes, but I think home boy was in decline by then).

On your last note on Dirk: that's the problem, holmes, Dirk CAN'T do consistent damage from the paint. I was lurking in a chat over at ESPN.com with that fool John Hollinger (I know, "WHY," right?) when he actually responded to somebody who asked why Dirk didn't get on the block versus all them six-footers with this bit of wisdom: "Dirk's body isn't built that way."

Essaywhuman?

Dirk IS seven foot, aint he? Isn't it the myth that all them Europeans have been taught fundamental basketball? Well, ain't nothing more fundamental then establishing post position, catching an entry pass, and then using footwork plus superior height to turn and shoot from five to eight feet out. But apparently the media has accepted the fact that this behavior is beyond the scope of the L's MVP. Damned ridiculous. I hope they hand out the award before Dirk goes back home to Germany this summer, otherwise, Dutch Stern will be explaining how "Dirk couldn't be here tonight, so I'll accept this award on his behalf..."

Last thing, home skillet (yeah. that's some wack shid me and some other n-words from around the way got to calling each other back in high school, but it never left the hood, thankfully!), try to watch the Nuggs-Santone game tonight. I'd love to have a chance to ramble on about that series like I do this one!

I'm Audi 5000 (sorry, man, can't help it, you be bringin back memories!)

Poet

Poet is Swayze... but I'll keep an eye on the Spurs-Nuggets game tonight.

This right here is pure knowledge:
Isn't it the myth that all them Europeans have been taught fundamental basketball? Well, ain't nothing more fundamental then establishing post position, catching an entry pass, and then using footwork plus superior height to turn and shoot from five to eight feet out.

Only in ESPN world could Dirk be considered a better player than Boring Tim Duncan. I can recognize that the media hates Kobe, and doesn't want to award Nash another one (though I think they will, personally), but come on... Duncan. T-Mac. Even half-ass LeBron is more worthy (and maybe it would inspire him to try).

Smif N Wessun was only those two cats (with a half-dozen monikers each). I told J.E. Skeets that when the Nets win, I want only pure Brooklyn early 90's on the show that day - M.O.P. (Rugged Nueve Smooth), Smif N Wessun (Bucktown), and one wildcard I have yet to determine... What do you think - Smooth the Hustler (Broken Language), early Jay-Z (Feeling It) or Blahzay Blahzay (Danger)? No Jeru, had to rule it out because I figured we're talking instrumentals, you know?...