OH, I BELIEVE

The Warrior fans are sporting yellow T-shirts inside Oracle Arena that read "We Believe", and I have to say that I do, too (apparently the fans of the NBA champion Miami Heat were all clad in white T-shirts on Sunday afternoon, which apparently stood for "We Surrender"). This Mavericks-Warriors series reminds me a lot of the 1976 Sunss-Warriors series. That Golden State squad were the defending NBA champs (and thus, Western Conference champs) and had an MVP-caliber player in Rick Barry (in a world without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he might have been). But the Suns, who'd just squeaked into the playoffs with a blend of youth (Rookie of the Year Alvan Adams) and exceptional tans (Keith Erickson, Paul Westphal) shocked the NBA by beating Golden State and advancing to the NBA Finals.

Those Suns, like these Warriors, were 42-40 during the regular season. And, like the Warriors, they played in front of some outrageously loud fans. And they were led by a guard (Westphal) who, like Davis, had begun his career in the Eastern Conference. And, most of all, they were just so much fun to watch, with folk heroes emerging as the postseason continued (Ricky Sobers, anyone?).

The Warriors have long been the Golden State's fourth team in terms of Q rating, but only because California doesn't have a fifth. The Lakers have always had Jack and Dyan (two 'merican kids, who bought the best seats they can), the Clippers Billy Crystal, and the Kings the Maloofs and Tyra Banks (at least for awhile). The Warriors? They haven't been sexy since the Run-TMC era.

On March 29th I plopped on the bed in my hotel room in rural Ohio, flicked on TNT, and then fell promptly fell off my bed. Was that score, as the kids say, fu'real? The Warriors, then six games below .500, were up 25 on the Suns in the 3rd quarter. Sure, I thought, Phoenix is idling into the postseason, but check this team out. They were like the Suns on steroids. Or asteroids. They were playing Phoenix's game but simply, that night, better than Phoenix.

I recall thinking, This is a dangerous team. I also recall thinking, I think I broke my elbow on the fall.

Anyway, I wrote a little piece on the GSW and their late-season Laz-R-Us act on the day of their final regular-season game, which you're welcome to read here:

http://www.nbcsports.com/columnists/1378322/detail.html

And so the only question that remains is, trailing 3-1 in this series, is Dallas Texas Toast? No. But if role players such as Matt Barnes, Andris Biedrins (Is he the worst free-throw shooter in NBA history?) and Mickael Pietrus keep playing defense the way they have and frustrating Dirk Nowitzki, while Davis, Jason Richardson and Stephen Jackson keep doing their thing, you can almost pencil Golden State right past the next round and into the Western Conference finals.

Sunday Night Viewing

Did you catch former CIA director George Tenet on 60 Minutes? It was as if he finally got his day in court, and boy is he ticked off. Sounds as if he's tired of being the fall guy for everything that happened six years ago and since.

Sopranos....So in one episode Tony bets on Jets-Chargers and Mavericks-Spurs? And there's a "Latino Day" parade, which is really the Puerto Rican Day parade, which takes place here in New York each June? Hmm. David Chase is time-traveling...speaking of Chases, Entourage was totally on cruise-control this evening. Nothing happened and, worse, Lloyd ("Lloyd!") got no air-time. E. would have been totally justified in telling Amanda that he, too, felt sexual tension and needed it to be resolved.