More Must See TV Tonight...

The Jazz-Warriors epic reups again, as Game 3 brings the series back to the Bay area tonight, with the most pressing plot line being how Utah reacts to the crazy sea of yellow that is the Golden State home court advantage. After those first two games in Salt Lake City, could there be any doubt as to which series is the most entertaining of the remaining four? Let's give credit where credit is due, for all the Warriors' visceral appeal (their style is basketball eye candy), this is not exactly your easy-to-villainize Malone-Stockton Jazz neither, folks...

Golden State clearly should have come away with at least one of the first two games. What makes this series even more compelling is how the Warriors seem to be thumbing their nose in the face of so much of what is considered to be basketball conventional wisdom. Despite not getting that all important result away from home, I truly believe that GS can compensate for the insane rebounding advantage the Jazz are destined to tally up each game (for the record Utah carried a 60-32 advantage and managed the same number of offensive rebounds, 19, as Golden St. had defensive ones). The difference in the first two games has been down the stretch where Deron Williams has been peerless in his decision-making, even in the face of a 36 point explosion from Baron Davis last night (who will have that performance sadly footnoted by the free throw he missed to ice the game). It’s unacceptable for GS to finish off games by throwing up errant, contested, off-balance 18-21 foot shots off their isolations: there are still workable match-ups for the Warriors at any given moment; they either have to find them or just get out of Baron’s way to the basket. At least the Whoo Jackson's ‘potential game-winning' 3 point miss from Game 1 was a wide open look – even the Warriors' makes down the stretch were of a high degree of difficulty.

But the Deron Williams lovefest continues; it was agreed upon amongst the group I was watching the game with that he could be realistically traded for D Wade. Seriously. We actually discussed it. Alright, the objectivity may have been somewhat blurred, especially during the 4th quarter, but one has to consider the fact he may have leap-frogged Chris Paul in the pecking order of point guards – given his youth, he makes a compelling argument for top 3.

But when speaking of Utah's current success, it bares mentioning the re-ermergence of Kirilenko. Granted, GS doesn't even make the most token of attempts to guard him away from the basket, but he's managed to be somewhat productive on the offensive end thus far, while providing an almost absurdly menacing defensive presence (13 blocks in 2 games!). And if we're going to mention intangibles, nothing takes precedence over what has become the Derek Fisher story. Due to my distaste for virtually all things Laker, I can honestly say I'm the farthest thing from a fan of Fisher (an oxy-moronic term to say the least, but I have a friend who has an oddly heterosexual admiration for Fish's physique...), but what he did Wednesday night considering the circumstances was nothing short of amazing (we talking about family here, so at the risk of over-sentimentality...best wishes to the Fishers and for their daughter's healthy recovery). The outcome was out of mortal hands, unfortunately for Nellie's gang, as Game 2 was just not meant to be for the Warriors...

Diesel Derek Fisher Player of Game 2?...Yup, it's fate.

Momentary sidebar about the broadcast crew: Reggie Miller is an idiot. How bad must an ex-ballplayer commentator be for you to catch of glimpse of his inner cheat on air? But during Gmae 2, ol’ Reg managed to go there by blasting the refs for correctly overturning a critical call in the 4^th (especially in light of the recent history of questionable playoff refereeing), in what had to be one of the most asinine rants I’ve ever heard an on-air personality make…and we live in the age of the Waltonian hyperbole. Dick Stockton seems a step a way from letting the play by play get away from him entirely, so combining the two is like a Bow Wow-Omarion duet in a venue devoid of little girls...

Speaking of media, Stern must be relishing the notion of a small-market final four. Maybe this is the season he gets to take his pro-active marketing hat off and sit back and enjoy the Playoffs like the rest of us. Right after that MVP trophy presentation to Dirk...