Chill out, bro…

Normally, an 8-seed drawing a two-game road split against the 1-seed is considered pretty good. But after the Warriors absolutely fell apart mentally and on the court last night, they don’t have anything but home-court going for them as the Mavs/Warriors series heads to the Bay. Facing a must-win, Dirk Nowitzki (23 pts) played like he has some hair on his chest, and Avery Johnson scrapped the “Let’s try to run with a track team” plan, starting Erick Dampier and giving DeSagana Diop significant tick … Going big worked. Al Harrington got pushed around on D, and on the other end, didn’t make his first (and only) field goal until well into the second half; Baron Davis got at least one of his two early fouls while trying to help inside; Stephen Jackson got whistled for basically jumping on Dampier’s arm to stop an easy inside bucket. Dallas’ centers even did their thing on the perimeter, like when Diop poked the ball away from S-Jack to ignite a fast break during Dallas’ run where they ultimately pulled away … The bigger story, though, was GS completely losing their composure. Baron and S-Jack were both ejected, and it seems the Warriors were whining at every single foul call, warranted or not. Boom Dizzle hammered Jerry Stackhouse, argued the call, then got his second tech for clapping sarcastically at the refs — think Tim Duncan/Joey Crawford. On his way out you could see him saying “Bull***. That’s bananas. You can’t clap? … Later in the fourth, Jackson (30 pts, 8 turnovers) got tossed and hung around a little too long, constantly yelling at somebody on the court. Nice try by Matt Barnes trying to shield Stephen’s mouth with a towel … Baron did have one real impressive play in the first half when he stepped in front of Josh Howard (22 pts, 11 rebs, 5 stls) on the break to take a charge. Davis risked a third first-half foul and basically got tea-bagged, but he took the chance anyway. That’s playoff basketball … Devin Harris got some get-back from Game 1 when he ran up behind J-Rich and plucked his layup out of the air … Good look by Jason Terry (28 pts), running the break with his headband pulled over one eye and still making a no-look feed … You knew the Spurs would come back strong after dropping Game 1 at home, and the Nuggets gave them a lot of help in tying up the series. Denver missed a ridiculous amount of layups; in the fourth quarter, A.I. missed two easy shots and Marcus Camby missed a dunk with a chance to pull Denver within four points late … San Antonio, meanwhile, made every play when they had to late in the fourth, whether it was Manu bullying his way into the lane when everyone knew he was driving or Duncan scoring on a banker with his back almost completely to the basket and Nene hugging him … The Cavs took a 2-0 lead on Antawn Jamison. We’ve talked about Jamison jacking up a lot of shots (he took 24 last night and scored 31 points), but really what choice does he have? Even the Wizards who were shooting the ball weren’t hitting — DeShawn Stevenson and Jarvis Hayes were a combined 5-for-25 … The AP game story said Drew Gooden (24 pts, 14 rebs) is growing an “1980s-style ducktail hairdo.” Ducktail? We always thought it was a rat tail. Weren’t ducktails in the 50s? Someone must be getting their old-school cartoons and hair styles mixed up … LeBron went for 27 points, 8 boards and 7 dimes while clearly favoring his injured ankle. Is it worth it to let him sit one out if it’s better for Cleveland’s long-term playoff hopes? … Have you seen that commercial for the TNT show “Heartland” featuring Alonzo Mourning? (Zo is in the ad, not on the show.) In the ad, Mourning hits a set-shot 15-footer. When does Zo ever venture that far from the rim these days? … The Pacers fired Rick Carlisle yesterday. No one doubt that Carlisle can coach, but it was clear he’d worn out his welcome with this group. He’ll end up somewhere in the League next year. Seattle, perhaps? … Wednesday morning we got a visit from Troy Hudson, who went straight from his season with the T’Wolves to on his grind pushing his debut solo CD. Troy hung out for a while and checked out the new issue (the one after Kevin Durant) while his boys played College Hoops 2K7 on the 360 … So Drew Barrymore took the No. 1 spot on People’s “100 Most Beautiful People” list. Hmm. Give us a minute and we can make 10 good arguments against that. But then again, none of our picks could touch the quote Barrymore had in the article we read on her cover selection. She said making the People cover, “Made my peacock feathers shine in the golden-hour light and extend to the heavens.” Huh? … We’re out like S-Jack …