Davis, Golden State Prove They Won't Go Quietly

Warriors 125, Jazz 105

OAKLAND, Calif., May 11 -- Baron Davis signaled the Golden State Warriors' arrival in the Western Conference finals when he climbed Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko -- and his spiked haircut -- for an emphatic dunk and taunted him with a jersey-popping celebration. About 30 minutes later, Davis spotted Kirilenko coming out of the postgame interview room and apologized.

"No problem," Kirilenko said, as he shook hands and shared a shoulder hug with Davis. "I was late."

Davis was sorry for showing up Kirilenko, but he certainly felt no remorse for the one-handed slam that teammate and former slam dunk champion Jason Richardson called "the greatest dunk I've seen, with my eyes, in person." After losing two close games in Utah, the Warriors needed a win badly, and Davis led them to victory, scoring 32 points with nine assists as the Warriors moved within 2-1 in this best-of-seven series with a 125-105 victory at Oracle Arena.

"He was terrific," Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan said of Davis. "As a point guard, he had as great a game as you would see. I hate that he had it against us."

Davis had spent most of the night playing as if he were in a video game, constantly pressing the spin button on his hand-held controller to break free of defenders. He split Derek Fisher and Mehmet Okur with a spin move and zipped a pass to a cutting Stephen Jackson for layup in the third quarter. Davis later dipped into the lane, did a pirouette and bumped into Okur's chest before nailing an off-balance layup off the glass.

But late in the fourth, Davis spotted Kirilenko. Instead of spinning around him, Davis went over him. "It seemed like he put his whole body in the rim with that dunk," said Richardson, who scored 25 points and hit five of the Warriors' 15 three-pointers.

Afterward, Davis untucked his jersey, lifted it, then raised his arms as he stared down Kirilenko. "I got lucky," Davis said with a laugh.

Warriors Coach Don Nelson said he was worried about the mood of his team after it arrived from Salt Lake City. "If you saw the guys come off the plane, you wouldn't think they could go on an ice skating rink," Nelson said, "but with the day off and the importance of the game, they found a way to dig deep and find something."

The Jazz won its last playoff game on the road, ripping out the hearts of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming in a decisive Game 7 in Houston, but nothing could have prepared the visitors for Oracle Arena. It's akin to being dropped into a blender. The Warriors have won 14 of their past 15 games at home, winning each of their four playoff games by an average of 17 points.

The last time Utah came to Oakland, the Warriors drilled them by 24 points. This is the same building that turned the 67-win Dallas Mavericks into mush and had the nation questioning the credentials of MVP-to-be Dirk Nowitzki. "It's like you're playing against six guys," said Kirilenko, who had 15 points and three blocked shots. "What can you do?"

The Jazz had won the first two games of this series because of its overwhelming rebounding edge, Carlos Boozer's dominance inside, Kirilenko's emergence as a shot-blocking nuisance and amazing poise under pressure. Utah was bolstered in Game 2 by Derek Fisher's emotional return to the court on the same day his daughter had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.

But on this night, there were no such heroics. Boozer led the Jazz with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but most of his scoring came when the game was out of reach. The Jazz also committed 25 turnovers, which the Warriors converted into 29 points.

Game 3 wasn't very competitive after Jazz point guard Deron Williams (14 points) picked up his third foul, charging into Davis with 9 minutes 2 seconds left in the second period. Fisher, the Jazz's only other point guard, also had three fouls.

At the time, the Jazz trailed by just eight points, but the game quickly got out of control with Kirilenko forced to play point guard. Over the next seven minutes, the Warriors scored 21 of the next 30 points in the game, taking a 60-40 lead when Mickael Pietrus (14 points) nailed a three-pointer.

Without his pick-and-roll partner Williams, Boozer was rolling around the floor lost. He rarely got touches, taking just four shots in the first half. Utah relied on jump shots, which led to long rebounds that put the Warriors out on the run and the Jazz on its heels. The Warriors took a 70-49 lead at halftime, and continued to extend the margin in the third period, as they built the lead to 30 points.

The teams split the regular season series 2-2, with each team winning on its home floor. The Warriors hope to keep the trend going on Sunday.