Baron giveth, Baron taketh away. That was the story of game 2. The Warriors just threw up all over themselves and showed why they were the 8th seed. Dallas didn’t even play that well, but they stayed composed and let the Warriors self destruct. Davis and Stephen Jackson acted as if they were owed something by the referees. My thought was that as the 8th seed, they probably have to continue to play well and play hard before getting any real calls. Even as a biased Warriors fan, I didn’t think what Davis and Jackson were complaining about was that big of a deal. I’ve seen worse.

Since they won game 1 when I did running commentary, I decided to do it for game 3 as well. The Warriors should win this game if they are to win another because it will be in front of a raucous crowd. The Golden State fans might be the most underrated fans in the NBA and they’ll probably be louder than they’ve ever been.

First Quarter

• The game is joined in progress with the Warriors leading 11-8 with 7:25 left in the first quarter. This is the 21st century and we still have games joined in progress. Something needs to be done.
  
• Looks like Dirk has finally come to play as he’s scored all 8 Mavericks points.
  
• Bill Walton calls Stephen Jackson “one of the most undisciplined players in the NBA”. I guess you get labeled that when you shoot your gun into the air outside of strip clubs.
  
• Even though they aren’t rebounding well, they are still able to get out on the break well.
  
• The penetration is excellent as Biedrins has a couple easy dunks.
  
• J-Rich hits a three to put the Warriors up by eleven and Double J just yelled, “Money!”
  
• Stackhouse gets an alley-oop to cut the score to 29-20 Warriors at the end of the first.

Second Quarter

• The Commish is there amongst the yellow shirts that say, “We believe.”
  
• David Stern has some mighty earlobes.
  
• Jim Grey just said that the Sonics are going to Las Vegas and the Commish just said, “No!”
  
• Jason Richardson is playing like a man possessed and he’s all over the court.
  
• He just out jumped everyone, pushed the ball up court, saw nothing and decided to shoot a tough fifteen foot jumper. He has 14 so far.
  
• And he just hit another three to put them up by 15. Double J just gave me a high five. Double Bri is laying on the bed nodding his head in approval.
  
• Matt Barnes hits a three in the corner and tries to get the Reggie Miller four point play action, but the refs weren’t falling for it.
  
• Dirk is having a hell of a game, but it’s really a one man show.
  
• You know the Warriors are playing hard when they are fighting each other for rebounds.
  
• B-Diddy and J-Rich are out of the game and the Mavs have cut the lead down to 9.
  
• Jerry Stackhouse is still finding the back of the rim every time he shoots.
  
• Al Harrington finally made a bucket on a put back and now he’s 5-1000 from the field in the series. And of course he missed the free throw on the three point play try.
  
• Biedrins goes to the free throw line and the announcers immediately make fun of his free throw shooting and of course, he makes both.
  
• After Stackhouse hits a three to get the game within 10, B-Diddy takes it right to Nowitski for the lay-up and the foul, leaving Dirk with three fouls.
  
• Warriors up 61-48 at the half.

They Believe

(courtesy of ESPN.com)

• Biedrins starts the second half rather than Harrington (they might’ve started the game this way, but I didn’t see the starting lineups) and fills the lane and gets an early and resounding dunk.
  
• Richardson takes Nowitski baseline and hits a circus lay-up plus the foul (he made the free throw too), to put the Warriors back up by 18 – Avery calls a timeout.
  
• Jerry Stackhouse looks exactly the same as he did in college except for some reason he has a mustache that looks like it was drawn in by an eyebrow pencil.
  
• Double Bri and Double J are asleep by the way – I think they think the game is in the bag.
  
• There’s really no difference in this game from game 2 except the Warriors are using their energy to simply out hustle the Mavs at every opportunity (and they’re not crying over the calls which are still mostly going the Mavs way).
  

At this point, my television all of a sudden changes to KQED and I see fish. Someone must’ve sat on the remote. I look at the time difference between the live game and the game as I’ve taped it on Tivo and find that I’m out of luck as the game is already over and the channel isn’t going to be switched back. Sadly, I go to ESPN.com and check the score and notice the Warriors won the game by 18. Double J and Double Bri had the right idea. Maybe I should’ve gone to sleep as well. The Warriors up 2-1 with game 4 in Oakland this weekend. And I guess I’m going to have to blog that one too. Or else, they might lose.

The intro starts with Floyd Jr. watching the first episode of this show and notices that he comes off as the bad guy. We’re talking Clubber Lang in Rocky III except he didn’t ask Oscar’s wife if she stayed up all night thinking about a real man. And this makes him very happy. He finds himself very entertaining.

After the show is over, Floyd Jr. says he’s going to “ice that mother plucker”, except he used a far more indecent word. It would’ve been hilarious had he used plucker though. After being inspired, he decides to go running. It looks like it’s about midnight. Floyd Jr. says he has to be able to back up all his talking.

Floyd Jr. is shown again doing wicked jump roping tricks. Then they show who looks to be even younger Mayweathers. Let’s just hope that they aren’t Roger’s children. Whoops, I spoke too soon. I feel for that child.

Floyd Jr. says that his whole life and childhood was boxing. Even at family BBQ’s they had family sparring sessions. Floyd Sr. and Roger were street fighters before they were boxers. Senior Floyd’s mother comes on and says that Floyd Sr. used to bloody up the kids in the street and she had to tell him to leave them alone. But when he was shot in the leg, his career ended and his one goal from then on out was to raise his infant son to be the next champion. They show a young Floyd Jr. doing an interview and Floyd Sr. says that of course he’s good because it’s his son. Floyd Jr. says his dad expected him to be perfect and if he wasn’t, he’d get cussed out or slapped. Then Floyd Sr. says, “no pain, no gain.” Floyd Jr. wasn’t even allowed to eat candy. Floyd Sr. is very proud of how he raised his son.

Junior And Senior

Shane Mosely is doing impressions of Tito Trinidad, himself, Winky Wright and the Jr. Mayweather. De La Hoya and Mosely spar. Mosely says De La Hoya’s punches feel really crisp. De La Hoya hits the speed bag and tries to look mean. Sorry buddy, it didn’t work. But you still look handsome.

Floyd Jr. is shown doing his punching workouts with his eyes closed. It was like Michael Jordan shooting free throws with his eyes closed while making fun of Dikembe Mutombo. They show Floyd getting a physical which is mandatory for making sure he’s in good enough shape to box. He must not have seen the same workout stuff that I just did. I would’ve passed him immediately, except maybe make sure he didn’t take my wallet like he took Oscar’s bag.

Oscar’s camp watches a Floyd Jr. fight and they notice that Mayweather’s opponent gets so caught up in the fight that he doesn’t throw jabs. Freddie Roach, Oscar’s trainer says that Mayweather is going up in weight and the strength at Oscar’s weight may be an issue for Pretty Boy Floyd. Roach says that he has Parkinson’s which he believes came from fighting, but he doesn’t blame boxing and he still loves the sport. Oscar says that he worried how Roach would keep up with the training and says that he actually has to keep up with Roach and he’s inspiring.

They do a media call with Roach and Roger Mayweather finds his way onto the call as “Jeremy”. The person running the call says, “This isn’t Jeremy.” Roger says, “I’m Jeremy” in a way that makes you think he’s never said the name Jeremy ever in his life. The person relents and lets him ask his question. He asks Roach how they are going to beat Floyd Jr. Roach doesn’t understand what Roger is saying. I guarantee he wasn’t alone. He asks the question again. Roach says that he should watch on May 5th, and he can enjoy it. But for Roger, that answer wasn’t good enough. Roach says that he’s not going to reveal any game plan. Mayweather starts to ask him again, before Roach asks him if he could speak English. Then Roach hangs up on him. Roger cackles like a mad man.

On Mayweather’s media day, he shows up wearing Jordan brand clothing. Ok, maybe I’m the only one who notices this stuff. Mayweather says that Oscar is always talking about how he’s in the best shape in his life and then gets tired near the end of the fight. He questions whether Oscar is doing it right. It looks like Floyd Sr. and Floyd Jr. are getting back on the same page. I’ll give it to Floyd Sr. because he may look like hell, but he still has some guns. Floyd Sr. tries to rhyme like Muhammed Ali and let’s just say that he didn’t get those lines from 50 Cent. Or maybe he did and that’s the problem. The narrator says that the senior Mayweather’s issue with Roach may simply be because of the corner Roach occupies being De La Hoya’s trainer. Floyd Sr. was once in that role and now is no longer. Floyd Sr. says that when Floyd Jr. challenged Oscar, he not only challenged Oscar, but he challenged his father as well. Oscar says that he couldn’t guarantee that Floyd Sr. would’ve trained him with the same passion that Roach is training with him because he’d be fighting his own son. Floyd Sr. says that he should be the one training Pretty Boy Floyd because he knows De La Hoya. Roger says he doesn’t need Floyd Sr. to beat De La Hoya. Roger says Floyd Jr. picked Roger and Roger didn’t force him too.

Tito Trinidad comes to support Oscar. This is the same Tito Trinidad who beat Oscar in the one fight that has defined Oscar’s career. Oscar was winning big early and decided to “box” his way to victory rather than push the tempo. He eventually lost on decision because of it. Tito says that Oscar is bigger and has the “testicular fortitude” to beat the young Mayweather. Ok, he didn’t really say “testicular”. I added that part. Though I wonder how you’d say that in Spanish?

Oscar leaves camp early because it’s his wife’s birthday. Oscar has some mariachis serenade her while he gives her a birthday cake. He forgot his wedding ring, but luckily Roach flagged him down while in the car to give it to him.

Floyd Jr. says he never had a stable home. He says he lived with his grandmother and his dad would pick him up to take him to the gym and drop him back off after. Floyd Jr. says the love he wanted is the same love he gives his children. He says because of how much of a disciplinarian his dad was, he was scared to talk to him about anything. He says that he wanted to talk to his dad about so many things that were happening in his life but he couldn’t because he was too scared. He says that one of them has to be the bigger man and he’s the one trying to stop the childish stuff from going on. Sensitive Pretty Boy.

As most of you know, I was in quite a little car accident last weekend. I had been running minimally but this week was going to be my last week of strong running before Pat’s Run. Because the accident left me with badly bruised knees, I haven’t been able to run this week and really haven’t been able to put much weight on my right knee. I really thought about not running. After all the running I’ve been doing it would’ve really bothered me to not be able to run. But more importantly, I would’ve been bothered because I wouldn’t have been able to run with everyone who has joined. Team Lucha~! is all for one, one for all, and three for five. And today, I signed my kids up to run. Here’s a look at Team Lucha~!

Team Lucha~! Roster

GG
Eddy Zucko
Tawni
Shoesless
My dear mother
HJ
Young Randall
Double Bri
Double J

That’s quite a roster if you ask me. I can’t sit there and watch them. I’ve iced my knees, taken my inflammation medicine, and pretty much decided in my head that I’m running no matter what. I’m running for Pat. My cousin told me that I could cause a set back if I ran and my thought was that he was right, but it’d be a set back worth having to grunt and groan through. And then all I really had to look for as far as inspiration was concerned was who this run was for. It made my decision even easier. I can’t complain about my knee in Pat Tillman’s race.

If anyone else wants to join Team Lucha~!, click here.

I’ll be back with a follow up post after the race this Sunday.