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So what happened over the weekend in sports? The Raiders looked impressive, the 49ers not so much. In baseball, the Giants played some of their best baseball of the season while the A's played some of their worst. We, however, missed it all as we got suckered into the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on TNT and spent most of the weekend online debating the question of who would win a fight between Dumbledore and Gandalf. For the record, Gandalf totally would--Dumbledore just helped defeat some wizard who looked like a snake. Gandalf helped defeat a giant, flaming eyeball.

Now onto the sports

The 49ers- the Niners lost to Da Bears in a preseason game and did not look particularly good in the process. Both teams played their main players throughout the first half of the game and it wasn't very close during it. The Niners made the game closer towards the end but by that part of the game, the only people were playing were the third string players and the towel boys. But then again, preseason football doesn't mean anything.

The Raiders- the Raiders offense didn't look so hot, Daunte Culpepper didn't look so bad, and the Raiders D looked exceptional in beating the Rams' second string. But then again, preseason football doesn't mean anything.

The Giants- Get this, they swept a team this weekend, a good team, in fact-- the Brewers. SFist was of two minds about this weekend series. On the one hand, go Giants. On the other hand, we're rooting for the Brew Crew in the NL Central race and this didn't help. It was a pretty crazy series too featuring lots of offense, another pitcher hitting a home run, a Barry Bonds home run followed by a Barry Bonds faux pas on the bases, a late inning rally on Sunday's game, and the emergence of Kevin Correia as a starting pitcher.

The A's- how cool is Wikipedia? We have no idea if their info on Julius Caesar or Napoleon is in any way correct, but we're pretty sure their info on the complete history of Middle Earth or Gandalf’s biography is top-notch. Why do we bring this up? Because it's much better to talk about this than the A's weekend, when they got shellacked three in a row by the D-Rays. Sure, now that the season is late, the Rays are probably more dangerous now than when things matter for them but considering the A's looked like they were going to turn the corner, this didn't go well. Not even Dan Haren was able to do the do that he do and got shelled on Sunday. Total runs given up by the A's pitching staff in three straight games? 33.

OK, so we've gotten some flak about picking the Warriors to take down the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the opening round of the NBA's western Conference playoffs. We'll be the first to admit it's a homer pick, because, well, we do really want the Warriors to win, and we'll be the first to admit it.

But our pie in the sky has an empirical basis. Here's five reasons why the Warriors will beat the Mavs in this playoff series.

1. Mo' -- The Warriors are the hottest team in the Association right now. Forget the 9-1 finish, forget the 16-7 surge, forget the five-game winning streak. There is a palpable sense of destiny that is sweeping this team along in an upward spiral of confidence and success. These guys aren't just running the coach's plays and hoping for the best -- they truly believe in themselves and each other, and that can go a long way in an adrenaline and emotion fueled arena like the opening round of the playoffs.

It seems like we've all been waiting our entire lives for a Warriors playoff game. Well, tonight is the night. Photo from ESPN.com.

2. Guard play -- To be blunt, Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, and Monta Ellis are going to eat the Dallas backcourt's lunch and then hit them up for juice money on top of that. The bigger, more physical Warriors guards are going to make Jason Terry and his 16.7 ppg average a nonentity, and Greg Buckner better have his matador cape ready because he's going to be watching BDiddy, JRich, and Monta blow past him all night. Devon Harris is slippery, but look for the Dub's guards to swarm on D and force him to give it up.

3. Match-up! -- Coach Don Nelson is a mad matchup scientist (but not a genius), and he's going to have a lot to work with in this series. As mentioned, the Warriors' guards are going to run roughshod over Big D's backcourt, but there are several other juicy opportunities for the W's to exploit. Undoubtedly, Nelson will play 6'9" Al Harrington against the Mavericks' center Erik Dampier. Damps will have to come outside to contest Harrington's sizzling three-point stroke, leaving him vulnerable to fouling and the interior vulnerable to driving. Nellie might also play Stephen Jackson against Dallas' MVP Dirk Nowitzski to maximize Jackson's quickness advantage and make Dirk run on defense. Don't even get us started about Andris Biedrins coming in off the bench. The Mavericks will have no answer for him. Mickael Pietrus will have his hands full with stud Josh Howard, but swarming help from his mates will mitigate the damage.

4. Psychology -- We don't care how hard the Mavs are fronting, believe this: they are worried. How could they not be? The Warriors drilled them all three times this year, by an average of more than 16 points per game! That's 20 percent of their losses for the season! And this ain't some Nellie magic wand, the Warriors domination of Dallas is systemic. Last year, under former coach Mike Montgomery the Warriors took three of four from the Mavs, who, you might remember, went on to the NBA Finals. Oh the lunatic is in their heads alright. Nellie and the boys have Dallas coach Avery Johnson and his team questioning, questioning, questioning. Not a good thing to be grappling with in the first round.

5. Defense -- Did we just write "defense"? Yeah we did. Believe it. The offense has been consistently high-output all year, but it has been the team's defensive improvement that has sparked the recent upsurge in fortunes. Swarming, hawking, swatting, grabbing, infuriating defense in all it's many colors will give the Warriors the ability to build big early leads and maybe even hold them. When you score 106.5 points per game, you only need a little bit of defense to outscore your opponent.

So there you go, five quasi-legit reasons to believe in the Warriors' first-round dreams. Sure, you can find plenty of solid reasons why they won't win, but since we're playing with house money anyway this year, let's dream big.

Game 1 starts in about 10 minutes on TNT and FSN Bay Area. Old schoolers can hear it on KNBR 680.

The Mayor was at his wonkish, earnest, puppy-dog best. To each question, he spent five minutes or so riffing off stats, programs, and pat responses so well that we could just picture him in the studio making all the "politician mannerisms" that you know he's spent hours in the mirror practicing. You know, like the thumb over clenched fist thing or the air karate chop. He was throwing so much stuff out that his voice was going out on him by the end of it.

After the jump, we give the highlights. Well, forty minutes of highlights as we missed the first fifteen minutes or so and then our reception cut out for another few minutes. Stupid hills