You have got to love the NBA Playoffs.

Even if the games haven’t been close – like Jersey taking a 2-1 lead over Toronto – they’ve been gutsy. And even if they haven’t been unexpected – like the Bulls coming back at Miami to lead 3-0 – they’ve been thrilling.

And best of all, when we have had upsets, they’ve been simply extraordinary displays of pure basketball – like Golden State smashing Dallas in game 3 late on Friday night.

Chucks

Kirk Hinrich

The Bulls’ 3rd year point guard has made the playoffs each year of his career, but this time it looks as if he will experience something new – a series win. On Friday, Hinrich lead his team into the heart of the NBA Champions’ house, and the Bulls ransacked the building with a furious 8 point win. Kirk scored 22 points on 7-14 from the floor and 7-7 from the line, many of them clutch baskets, as well as 6 assists.

Jason Richardson

Golden State’s longest-serving Warrior missed 21 games this season, and was almost traded at the February deadline when he became technically expendable with Stephen Jackson coming on board. But Don Nelson decided it’s allowable to start 4 guards in the NBA, with Richardson often matched-up against Dirk Nowitzki in this series, scoring 30 points (on 8 of 9 two-pointers and 4 of 10 three-pointers), plus 8 rebounds in game 3.

Vince Carter

So, maybe his critics won’t be conclusively answered until the outcome of this series is determined, but VC nonetheless silenced the nay-sayers for the next 48 hours. Tied at 1 and returning home to Jersey after a pair of sub-par performances in Toronto, Carter lead the Nets to an emphatic victory with 37 unstoppable points on 65% shooting (15-23 from the field). Boom. When he’s this good, it’s unconscoinable that he can’t do this every game…

Chumps

Udonis Haslem

Coming into this series, one of the few question-marks in the Bulls’ comprehensive strategy to Beat the Heat was how the 37 year old PJ Brown would handle the swift, spritely Udonis Haslem in the post. But instead of a Miami strength, Haslem has actually been a weakness, scoring only 5 points on 1-5 shooting with just 1 solitary rebound in game 3. In the series, Haslem has only 11 boards, none on the offensive end.

Devin Harris

The Dallas/Golden State matchup is becoming one of philosophies as much as it is points. Both coaches are routinely adjusting their starting fives in an attempt to find the optimum lineup to exploit their opponents’ weaknesses – real or perceived. And it may be time for Avery Johnson to move Devin Harris (8 points, 4 fouls in game 3) to the bench, and start either Jerry Stackhouse, Greg Buckner or Austin Croshere.

Joey Graham

A second Chump in a week for Graham, who needs to sit down with Sam Mitchell and decide before game 4 whether he’s going to be a scorer or a stopper. Each player’s game, even a bit-player, has a unique personality, and going up against Carter and Jefferson in this series has been schizophrenic for Graham. Instead of doing either, or both, he’s doing none; 2 points, on 0-4 shooting, and zero personal fouls in game 3.

Ruminations

Superb performance by Jason Kidd, who was allegedly in doubt pre-game with a knee injury. Even if nobody was fooled, by the report, it was an extraordinary stat-line; 16 points, 16 rebounds and 19 assists. As Lawrence Frank said, it was almost a 20-20-20 deal.

The Nets shot .526 from the field and .933 from the line.

TJ Ford kept the Raptors with striking distance (at times) with 27 points and 8 assists.

Bosh had 11 and 11.

Jose Calderon hit 6 of 6 from the floor (that’s good) and had 6 turnovers (that’s not).

Jersey finished with 31 assists on 41 field goals.

Jason Collins Update – 1 of 1 from the field, still batting 1000 for the series.

Lucky 13 for Golden State – it had been 13 years between playoff appearances in Oakland. And the result was a stunning 18 point upset of the 67-win (yes, 67-win) Mavericks.

3 tech fouls on Dallas, none on Golden State.

Another basketball lesson from Don Nelson; You wanna play offense? We’ll score 61 points in the first half. No, you’d rather D it up? Then we’ll restrict you to .388 shooting.

Both the Mavs and Warriors hit 25 free throws, and had 16 assists.

Each of Golden State’s starters scored in double-figures, and all had a blocked shot.

Josh Howard (20 points, 9 rebounds in game 3) has been hands-down the Mavs’ best player in this series so far, which has not been as difficult an achievement as it ordinarily would be.

Andris Biedrins started at C, and had 10 points, 10 boards and no offensive fouls.

Dirk struggled with foul trouble, finishing with 20 points, 12 boards, 3 steals and 4 turnovers.

Matt Barnes fouled out in 22 minutes.

Baron Davis did not collect a rebound.

The simplest reason Miami lost game 3 – free throws. They made just 16 of 35, that’s 19 misses in a game decided by 8 points. That’s inexcusable. Shaq was the main offender, missing 9 of 12 but Wade also missed 6 of his 10.

Both teams committed 29 personal fouls.

Pat Riley went for offense over defense by starting Jason Kaponovic over Eddie Jones at the 3, figuring Luol Deng was going to go off either way. He did, to the tune of 24 points on 9-17 shooting, whilst Kapono scored just 2 points in 15 minutes.

Gordon finished with 27 points, and hit 11-14 from the FT line.

He also had 6 turnovers – totalling 19 over the 3 games.

Rookies Thomas and Sefolosha failed to score.

The Heat forced 18 Chicago turnovers.

Miami shot .457 from both the field and the line.

Ben Wallace drew 2 offensive fouls on Shaq in the first quarter.

Posey and Walker continued their strong play with a combined 22 points on 9-19 shooting and 4-7 from three, plus 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 10 fouls.

If the Heat lose Sunday, expect Riley, Payton and Zo to retire. No team has ever come back from 3-0 down in a best of 7 series. Or best of 5, for that matter.