Golden State Warriors Basketball Team

The same city that unsuccessfully tried to draw the Raiders football team back to its hometown reportedly is being asked to consider a $95-million arena for the Golden State Warriors basketball team. Warriors President Dan Finnane said the NBA team has not completed its proposal but is seeking a 22,000-seat arena on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex parking lot next to the current 15,000-seat Warriors arena. The arena would have more than 100 luxury boxes.

I don't own a gaming system (making it silly to have a copy of NBA Live), but if I did, when I played it would always be as the Golden State Warriors. . . . Bottom line, this is an endlessly entertaining, high-octane bunch that is never, ever boring. It's like watching any of the "Bourne" movies. Things may not always make sense and the parts might not fit together perfectly, but they sure are a fun way to kill a couple of hours. Don Nelson's squad was already set for a difficult transition in the '08-'09 season after Baron Davis bolted to the Clippers.

The same city that unsuccessfully tried to lure the Raiders football team back to its former hometown reportedly is being asked to consider a $95-million arena for the Golden State Warriors basketball team. Warriors President Dan Finnane said the team has not finalized its proposal but is seeking a 22,000-seat arena on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex parking lot next to the 15,000-seat Warriors arena. The arena would have more than 100 luxury boxes.

Suddenly and swiftly, the question in Clipperland on Wednesday became: What will Elton Brand do? In a whirlwind that amounted to "who has the salary cap space now?" the Golden State Warriors reached deep down the coastline and even deeper into their pocketbooks, offering free-agent forward Brand a five-year, $90-million contract, according to multiple NBA sources who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about player movements.

On a night in which he set an NBA record for futility, Tim Hardaway could find consolation in that it did not cost Golden State a victory. Hardaway missed all 17 shots he tried Friday night at Minneapolis, but Chris Mullin was on his game and the Warriors gained a 106-102 victory in overtime over the Minnesota Timberwolves. "I'm going to frame this box score," Hardaway said with a laugh. "I had to get an NBA record somehow. I was never 0-for at any level. What can I say?"

The Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings shook up the Pacific Division and their futures Friday, trading a proven star for a potential one in a move that even Don Nelson admits is a gamble. Nelson, who as coach and general manager is largely responsible for building the Warriors with one of the highest-scoring threesomes in NBA history, sent part of that group, Mitch Richmond and his 22.7-point average, to the Kings for the rights to rookie Billy Owens.

On Otis, on Winston, on Donner and Blitzen! The 6-foot-5 guy with the cowlick spilling Huck Finn-like over his reddening face bounces off his seat on the visitors' bench in the Sports Arena, yells a last critique at a referee . . . and is forthwith dismissed for the rest of the night. He pads off in sport coat, tie, slacks, tennis shoes--don't tell Huck how to dress, the league tried and he just taped over the designer stripes on his sneakers--and ignominy. Ask Don Nelson, being prescient most of the time is no guarantee of earthly reward, none at all. It's comeuppance time in the real world and the coach of the Golden State Warriors watches his miracle trickle into the sands.

Here's a question Don Nelson no longer asks: What else could go wrong? Nelson used to ask, but fate kept answering. Two seasons ago, the Warriors won 55 games and Nelson was voted coach of the year for the third time. Last season, they lost 312 player-games to injury. Their top scorers--Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Sarunas Marciulionis and Billy Owens--were together on the floor for 2 minutes 37 seconds. The Warriors went 34-48. Nelson emerged looking bloated and haggard at the same time.

Out of nowhere, a socko first round ... Well, up here, anyway. Talk about your tale of two regions. Half of California is out of its gourd -- just not the usual half. If the Golden State Warriors are the NBA's new darlings, however briefly, things must have changed. However hopefully, the team now features a new anthem during warmups: the Beatles' "Revolution." Of course, the old order started changing a while back.

No question, there were moments of indecision for the Clippers in their home opener Saturday at Staples Center. There were times when their attention seemed to wander from the task at hand. They frustrated their coach and a sellout crowd of 19,445 again and again. By night's end, the Clippers left little doubt but that they are a work in progress, displaying flashes of brilliance to go with occasional lapses in judgment during a 110-108 overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors.

"I'm the king of L.A.," Baron Davis likes to say, with a smile on his bearded face. But he doesn't even play here. He plays in Oakland. And it's not right. They don't deserve him. We do. "Comfortable everywhere," he likes to say, grinning some more. There is a chuckle in his voice. "From Compton to Malibu."

There's another coach in this Golden State-Utah series, a guy who's one of the best ever -- and certainly the best who never received a coach-of-the-year award. Golden State's Don Nelson has three of those trophies. He has the praise of his players and the gratitude of NBA fans who were sick of the status quo thanks to a freewheeling style that made stars of castoffs and a mockery of NBA standards. But Nelson doesn't have the lead in this series.

Rest assured, below the mohawk and underneath all the tattoos, it's still the same Matt Barnes you remember at UCLA. Still the slender, versatile forward. Still the prankster. Still at his best when riding shotgun with Baron Davis. It's just nothing that he did at UCLA or in his four previous NBA stops during a vagabond career had you ready for this, a major role with the sudden darling of the playoffs.

So, after taking eight years of his career, carving up his body and sullying his good name, the gods gave Baron Davis this postseason. What followed is now called the greatest upset in NBA history, the Warriors slaying the mighty Dallas Mavericks as Davis personally trampled the best-laid plans of Dallas Coach Avery Johnson and Johnson's guards. Welcome back to Mt. Olympus, kid, where did you go? "Ooh, is he good," said Nuggets Coach George Karl, watching from Denver.

Only a few pools of water from overnight showers occupied the deserted parking lot Friday morning at Oracle Arena, home of the suddenly chic Golden State Warriors. The night before, the place was jammed. And most of the home crowd stood the entire second half, in a foot-aching but heartwarming expression of affection. Warriors, Warriors, how do we love thee? Snoop Dogg, Carlos Santana, Kate Hudson, Owen Wilson, Ronnie Lott, Woody Harrelson, Penny Marshall, they know how.

If mere pride goes before a fall, far worse awaited the Dallas Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban, whose bombast set them up for a pratfall for the ages that arrived with a splat Thursday night. In an upset as improbable as the dead-end kids who pulled it off, the Golden State Warriors buried the team that finished 25 games ahead of them, 111-86, taking the series, 4-2. The Mavericks, who went 67-15 this season, became the winningest No.

Now it's a basketball series too? Feud angles didn't get any better than Golden State Coach Don Nelson versus his old boss, Dallas owner Mark Cuban, the problem being the series didn't figure to last long. That was before Game 1 when the Warriors, once 26-35, shocked the 67-win Mavericks as cameras zoomed in on Cuban, slumped in his courtside seat, glowering at the action or jumping up to yell at the referees.

Royalty everywhere else, a pinata here. Already wobbling in this series, the Dallas Mavericks found themselves with worse problems Friday night, swallowed up by a folk movement celebrating the first local playoff game since 1994 and run over by the Warriors, 109-91, before 20,629 in Oracle Arena, the largest crowd to see a basketball game in California. The Warriors, a No. 8-seeded team whose coach, Don Nelson, counted them out in March when they were 26-35, now lead the No.

What a lovely first-round war. It doesn't get any better than the Dallas-Golden State series, which resumes tonight with the Warriors, who were three minutes from shocking the world in Game 5, still ahead, 3-2, and one elusive win away from dumping the Mavericks on their big reputation. A series with the ultimate David and the ultimate Goliath just had the ultimate comeback in Game 5 with the Mavericks rallying from nine points down in the final 3:02.

A funny thing happened on the way to the choke of the ages. Having just blown a 21-point lead, about to become the winningest No. 1 seed to lose in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks' fallen star, Dirk Nowitzki, rallied his teammates from a nine-point deficit in the final 3:02 as they scored the last 15 points to beat the Golden State Warriors, 118-112.