Sunday was an extraordinary day of playoff basketball.

As expected, the Wizards cruised.

Completely unexpected, the Spurs and then the Mavs got torched by their upstart opponents.

And then it was all as expected again; first the Lakers lead Phoenix by 9 behind Kobe’s 28 first-half points, then the Suns over-ran them to an emphatic 8-point victory, and finally as Kobe proved that he couldn’t carry his team single-handedly, afterall.

Chucks

Baron Davis

This gamble to trade for Davis 2 years ago, along with the decision to re-hire Don Nelson last summer, has proved to be the turning point in Chris Mullin’s reign in Oakland. The mercurial point guard, who lead the Hornets to the playoffs with his strength and guts (good) is nonetheless always injured and has terrible shooting percentages (bad). But what can you criticize about his 33 point, 14 rebound, 8 assist, 3 steal effort Sunday?

Leandro Barbosa

Maybe every player in the league needs a designated, full-time assistant coach just for them? LB plays with such confidence, and the Suns have empowered him with the license to shoot literally whenever he’s feeling it. Which was just about the entire second half, as Phoenix exploded from a disjointed 39 point half to score 35 in the 3rd period alone. Barbosa, the 6th man of the year, finished with 26 on 10-22 shooting.

Larry Hughes

Up against his former club, the oft-maligned hybrid guard played his best game of the season, a 27 point, 7 rebound, 2 steal masterpiece that had Danny Ferry realizing why he signed him in the first place. Hughes, 6-5, started at the point against the speedy Antonio Daniels and was also able to cover DeShawn Stevenson, the man who replaced him, in what was an expected but still satisfying win.

Carmelo Anthony & Allen Iverson

So, was it worth it? Well, there still need to be 3 more wins before we can categorically proclaim the mid-season marriage of these 2 ball-hungry scorers a success, but Denver can see the mile-high payoff already. AI scored 31 points on 11-21 shooting and 8-8 from the foul line, and Melo scored 30, on 10-18, and 8-8 from the foul line in the Nugget’s stunning upset.

Chumps

Jerry Stackhouse

One pillar of Nellie’s masterful gameplan was to neutralize Stack, who’s a key part of the Dallas machine with his leadership of the Maverick reserve unit and his ability to get to the line. So from the moment he hit the court, the Warriors attacked him – and Stackhouse ended up scoreless in 20 minutes, with 0-6 from the field and 5 turnovers.

Kwame Brown

How long before Phil Jackson, and maybe the entire league, gives up on the former #1 pick? Instead of developing into the next Kevin Garnett, Kwame seems destined to be the next Pervis Ellison. Yes, Amare Stoudemire is virtually impossible to guard, but when you’re 6-11, 25 years old, and paid $8 million, you have to do a better job than this. 29 minutes, 4 points, 7 rebounds, no free throws, no steals, no blocked shots.

Etan Thomas

Thomas finished the regular season with 10 blocks in his final 2 games, and Eddie Johnson was counting on the 6-10 banger to be a factor in the middle against the plodding Zyndrunas Ilgauskas. But playoff games are played in the mind as much as the body, and the experienced Cavs out-smarted Thomas with clever spacing and well timed entry passes. The result? 4 fouls, 3 turnovers, 2 points, and 1 block.

Francisco Elson

This time last season, Elson was banging bodies for the Nuggets – now he’s going up against them. And it’s not an enjoyable proposition. The Spurs signed him over the summer to replace the placid Rasho Nesterovic in the middle, and they certainly didn’t expect this sort of return; 13 minutes, 0 points, 4 boards, 3 fouls. Expect Fabricio Oberto (4-4, 8 points, 6 boards, 2 fouls) to start over him before the end of this series, maybe even as soon as game 2 Wednesday.

Ruminations

Referee Tom Washington officiated the Washington game.

Antawn Jamison played an impressive lone hand – 28 points and 14 boards, and still found time to launch 6 threes, making just 1.

Anderson Varajao had 10 rebounds in 25 minutes off the Cavs bench.

In case you were wondering why Darius Songaila played just 16 minutes? 6 fouls.

LeBron had a tidy 23, 9 and 7, and hit .500 from the field and .818 from the line.

Michael Ruffin did not score in 15 minutes.

Three of Phoenix’ starters scored 59 points, 29 rebounds, 12 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. The other 2 scored 5, 3, 1, 0 and 0.

Jordan Farmar, Smush Parker and Sasha Vujacic all took turns ‘defending’ Barbosa in the second half. Maybe Phil Jackson will decide to switch Kobe onto him, where his long arms and quick hands may be able to thwart the quicksilver Brazilian.

LA’s bench shot 4 of 12 from the floor, and didn’t make a three or a free throw.

Odom finished tied with Stoudemire with 16 boards.

The Lakers committed 23 personal fouls to the Suns 11. Marion didn’t commit a single one in 40 minutes on court.

San Antonio had 22 assists to Denver’s 13.

George Karl used just 3 reserves.

Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley did not collect a rebound in 42 combined minutes.

Denver shot 21-25 from the FT line compared to San Antonio’s 7-10.

Duncan did not make a free throw. And neither Finley nor Ginobili attempted one.

Nene had 8 offensive rebounds.

Duncan finished with a modest 14 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks.

Both starting power forwards had 5 turnovers.

Big Game Rob had 14 points in 24 minutes off the bench, but he obviously needed 6 more.

The most amazing thing about the Dallas loss was that, whilst warming up, they had already heard about San Antonio’s stunning defeat. Their pre-game locker-room would have been a mix of joy at their intra-state rivals misfortune and steely resolve not to let the same fate fall upon them. And yet they still came out and got out-played by the Warriors.

Dallas scored just 4 points off the bench.

Golden State took fewer shots, had fewer rebounds, had more turnovers and committed more fouls.

Avery Johnson may have out-smarted himself by starting Nowitzki at center. By bringing Devean George into the starting lineup, he weakened his bench, and at the same time failed to exploit a potentially advantageous matchup with 6-9 Al Harrington not having to worry about defending either Erick Dampier or DeSagana Diop in the paint.

Dallas’ forwards shot 5 of 11 from 3 point range, and their guards shot 1 of 8.

So much for the vaunted Maverick offense, the Warriors D kept them to just 38 points in the first half, and .353 shooting overall.

Jason Richardson had a sub-par game (13 points, 1-7 threes, 4 turnovers), so there’s even room for improvement in this Warriors team.

Is Dirk Nowitzki (4-16, 14 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks) really our MVP?

And finally, the most extraordinary stat of all, on an amazing day of playoff basketball… there were no technical fouls.