On a day where the reigning NBA Champions were unceremoniously swept by the lean and hungry Chicago Bulls, the nation will awake this morning to the news that this may not actually be the biggest story from the 2007 NBA playoffs so far.

Golden State 3.  Dallas 1.

Yes, that’s right.

The league’s best regular season team was taken to the brink of elimination, as a coach often referred to as a Mad Scientist continued his very real mastery of his former ballclub.

It’s time to go behind the boxscore;

Chucks

Baron Davis

Last season, it was Sam Cassell who played the role of veteran point guard who showed the biggest stones in leading his underdog team to clutch postseason victories.  This season, it’s Davis.  The 6-3 maestro lead his Warriors in minutes (44), points (33), field goal percentage (.706), boards (8) and assists (4) as he literally willed his team to another stunning victory over the Mavericks.

Luol Deng

Against the Miami Heat in last season’s playoffs, Deng averaged 10 points a game and 5 rebounds, shooting 43% from the field.  Modest numbers, and certainly nothing to be ashamed of.  But this year?  26 and 9, at 58%.  Yes Sir.  This indicates not only what a superior player Deng has become over the past 12 months, it also shows his developing leadership skills and the trust his fellow Bulls have in him.

Jason Kidd

It would seem both Nash and Kidd are engaged in personal battle being played out in the boxscores, as each game one or the other seems to be flirting with yet another playoff record.  And in directing New Jersey’s 21 point rout of the reeling Raptors, Kidd had 17 points, 13 assists and 8 boards in 28 minutes before sitting down with the job done.  He could have come back for 2 more rebounds, but no, Kidd’s focus immediately went towards game 5.

Shawn Marion

If we had overlooked the sublime Marion here in favor of either of his stat-heavy associates (Stoudemire 27 points and 21 boards, Nash 17 points and 23 assists), we’d have risked a nasty email from Mike D’Antoni for the damage it would have caused Shawn’s precious ego. Just as well his 22 points on 67% shooting, 11 rebounds and 2 steals is an accomplishment worthy of a Chuck in its own right.

Chumps

Jordan Farmar

And to think Mitch Kupchak could have had Jason Kidd playing against Nash, Barbosa and the Suns if only he’d been willing to give up Andrew Bynum at the trade deadline?  Instead, Farmer started, again, and proceeded to miss all 3 shots plus commit 2 fouls in 12 minutes of game time.  Ouch. Sunday’s performance is also believed to be the first time a basketballer named Jordan has gone scoreless in a playoff game in LA.

James Posey

Pat Riley went with his third starting small forward in 3 games, as he kept searching for a way to combat Deng’s unique skill set.  And Posey certainly had an eventful night.  He scored just 5 points on an abysmal 1 of 8 shooting, including 1 of 6 from 3 point land as his once-sure touch from outside deserted him.  Yet Posey didn’t use that as an excuse to stop working; he finished with an astonishing 18 rebounds.  Must be a contract year.

Devean George

Last summer, with Dallas in the new, fiscially responsible Mark Cuban posture, the Mavs didn’t make a big splash in the free agent pool, choosing calmly ink George from the Los Angeles Lakers. It was a move that made sense – Devean is versatile, can score inside and out, is a good defender, and brings a winning mindset (plus 3 rings) to the club. What they didn’t expect was a scoreless, reboundless, steal-less 14 minutes on court in a must-win first round playoff game.

Rasho Nesterovic

When you’re the starting center for a Division Champion, you’re expected to be a factor in the playoffs, even in this era where there’s barely enough 7-footers to go around.  A case in point is with the  Nets – their starter, Nenad Krstic, is out for the year, so they are forced to go with Jason Collins, who averaged just 2 points and 4 boards per game this season, in the middle.  But instead of dominating him, on Sunday, Rasho was him – 2 points, 2 fouls, and only 1 rebound.

Ruminations 

One of the best things about the extraordinary performances by the Bulls, Warriors and even the Nuggets in this playoffs has been the fact that Joey Crawford hasn’t been involved in any of the upsets.

Miami lost despite shooting 43% from the field to Chicago’s 38%.

However, they also had 17 turnovers to the Bulls’ 5, and missed 14 of 27 free throws.

If it indeed transpires that GP and Zo will retire this summer, it will be ironic that in their last ever NBA game they had no steals, and no blocks, respectively.

Ben Gordon hit 9-10 FTs.  Ben Wallace hit 7-8.

Shaq missed all 7.

Andres Nocioni was a factor again, with 11 points and 5 boards off the bench.

Eddie Jones went from starter, to reserve, to DNP in the space of 4 games.

Deng was the only Bull to shoot at better than 50% from the floor.  And he also had 4 steals.

Wade was 3 turnovers short of a triple double.

Phoenix lead by 14 at 3-quarter time.

Kobe finished with 31 points in 46 minutes.

The Lakers finally were able to keep Barbosa under control, he scored just 16 points on 3-12 shooting.  However, Marion and Stoudemire enjoyed the extra space, and combined for 49 points on 20-35 shooting.

Nash had more assists than the Lakers did.

Raja Bell – 2 field goals, 3 steals, 4 rebounds, 5 fouls.

Lamar Odom had another solid game – 19 points, 13 boards, 5 assists.

Luke Walton had 7 turnovers, Kobe 6.

Funny how Sam Mitchell didn’t receive any credit when his Raptors were winning, but is suddenly taking a whole pile of blame now they’re not.

The Nets were up 32-15 after the first quarter. I turned the game off.

Carter 27, Jefferson 23. 

All 12 of Toronto’s players scored, and they all also got at least 1 rebound. And all but 2 had at least 1 turnover.  The Raptors had 22 overall.

Chris Bosh’s rough series continued, he had 13 points, with 10 boards.

New Jersey finished with more assists than Toronto had field goals.

Once again, Kidd didn’t (need to?) get to the FT line.

Marcus Williams got 19 minutes of valuable court time, and will learn from his 6 turnovers.

Andrea Bargnani had 4 free throws, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 fouls, and 16 points.

Kidd and Carter combined to hit 10 of 14 threes.  Toronto had 3 of 13 total.

Wonder how much Mark Cuban would pay now to have Don Nelson back in Dallas?

The tone for game 4 was set as Jason Richardson drove and scored after just 9 seconds.

DeSagana Diop started and had 13 boards and 4 blocks.

How’s this for clutch?  Baron Davis scored 5 points and had 2 assists in the final 3½ minutes.

Josh Howard scored 20 points in the first half, and 2 in the second.

Dirk hit 2 desperation threes in the final 15 second, but it wasn’t enough. Expect a much more selfish, authoritative Nowitzki in game 5.

Mikeal Pietrus was huge off the Warriors bench, with 16 points, 2 steals, and 2 threes.

Stack had 24 points, and hit 9 of 10 FTs.

For a while, it looked as if Dallas had found a way to exploit the inexperience of Andris Biedrins, as the 6-11 Latvian missed 2 free throws and was lured into a simple touch foul deep in the 4th quarter.  But Don Nelson brought him back in for the final 3 minutes, and Davis found him for a key dunk to break the tie and put the Mavs up 2.

Golden State won despite shooting 62% (23 of 37) from the FT line.

Dallas committed 28 fouls.

Ask Al Harrington what’s better – scoring 20 a game for a lottery team, or scoring 1 point in 13 minutes for a playoff team.

Richardson had 22 points and 4 steals.

and finally, Cuban hasn’t posted an entry on BlogMaverick for almost a week.