NBA Playoff Impressions: Yay Area.

Warriors 111, Mavericks 86 - Sheer, utter, and complete domination of an opponent, pummeling into submission, even through injury to the driving force of the team. Stephen Jackson emptied everything in his arsenal, with 21 of his 33 points total coming from outside the arc, and Mr. Playoff Beard himself, though hurt, still chipped in 20 and made the Mavs play him seriously. Double figures from Andris Biedrins, Jason Richardson, and Matt Barnes just kept piling on. After games three and four, you had an idea that Golden State had this series, but you never imagined the clampdown looking like that, with an utterly dejected and somewhat lifeless Dallas team looking at 20+ point leads in the third quarter. Are the Warriors a championship team? Don't know. Doubt it. Can they make some serious noise in the rest of this playoff season? Fuck yes, and I'll be happy to cheer them on while they do it.

(As for Dirk, enjoy your MVP as you're awarded it somewhere besides in the middle of a playoff game. Eight points and eight points only, in a game you needed to show up for again.)

Jazz 94, Rockets 82 - Victories by the home team only remain the rule in this series. Something has to break -- either T-Mac will shake off his playoff exit streak come Saturday, or the dull, old pick-and-roll style will survive for another round, and the fear of a Jazz-Spurs series at any point down the line is absolutely devastating to even consider. Houston, please win, if only for the sake of those of us who have no particular rooting interest, yet would still like to see a Western Conference finals worth watching.

(Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)