Here's what we've missed in the world of Bay Area sports while trying to figure out who the Oceanic 6 are......

Here's todays sports news...

Here's todays sports news...

Here's todays sports news...

Attrition has been one of the Warriors' best pickups this offeseason. While the Warriors have taken some baby steps forward, many of the Western Conference rivals have been moving in the opposite direction.

When looking at the Warriors chances to make the playoffs this year, it runs from the bottom up....

There is no doubt that coach Don Nelson and his sidekick Chris Mullen have reshaped the Warriors, and the team now has a pretty strong pool of players from which Nellie can choose to implement his failed system of up-tempo small-ball.

We were pretty much wrong about everything.

Last night in Salt Lake City, in game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series, it was the Utah Jazz who had the energy and it was the Warriors who were a step behind. The Jazz looked confident; the Warriors looked hesitant. The Jazz ran the Warriors off the court. Matt Harpring done brought it. And the Jazz backcourt held its own behind the spirited play of Deron Williams. Did we leave anything out? Oh yeah, the Jazz didn't lose by 20, they, uh, won, 116-112.

Game 1 was a back-and-forth nailbiter (16 lead changes and 21 ties) that went right down to the quick. And like a bamboo shoot to the quick, it hurts. The Ws fought hard all night and had a chance to take the lead on a three-pointer by Stephen Jackson with eight seconds to play, but the shot clanked and so did the Warriors fortunes in game 1.

Improbably, almost impossibly, the Golden State Warriors' dream season continues tonight with game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal matchup with the Utah Jazz. The Warriors are into the semis by virtue of their historic six-game stunner over the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks; the Jazz eeked out a game 7 road win over the Houston Rockets.

The Jazz are the fourth seed in the Western Conference, but in our minds, its the Dubs that enter this series as the favorites. The Jazz are undoubtedly mentally and physically drained after their game 7 thriller on Saturday, while the Warriors are riding a wave of emotion that shows no sign of dissipating.

Warrior Nation, can it get any better? Seriously. After Golden State's tenacious, gutty, and spirited come-from-behind 103-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks Sunday night in the O-rena, the Warriors have taken a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven series. After 13 years of waiting, nobody in the NBA is more jacked up than the Warriors and their long-suffering fans.

The season has gone from just another shit sandwich to a gravy train with biscuit wheels in little more than a month. From nine games below .500 to .500. Not just a .500 record, but playoffs. Not just playoffs, but most favorable matchup. Not just favorable matchup, but a game one victory to take home court advantage in the series and set the basketball world abuzz.

That huge farting noise you heard last night wasn't Mark Cuban sitting on a whoopee cushion, it was the sound of the air going out of the Warriors playoff fantasy balloon.

In a game that featured sloppy ballhandling, poor shooting, and bad behavior by our beloved hometown cagers, the Dallas Mavericks regained their basketball footing and reclaimed the psychological advantage in their opening-round playoff series with the Warriors.

The Sharks begin their Western Conference Semi-finals matchup with the Detroit Red Wings on the road at the Joe Lewis Arena tonight. The Wings played the Calgary Flames in Round 1. The series was tightly played, with the Wings ultimately prevailing over the Flames through their forward depth, better transition game, and (somewhat surprisingly) better team speed as the series went on. Mikka Kiprusoff, the Flames netminder, couldn't hold off the Wings offense forever, and Kipper was the only real hope the Flames had to take the series. ...

Here's todays sports news...

Revel in it Bay Area NBA fans: this year the Western Conference playoffs mean something, because for the first time in 13 years, the hometown Warriors are part of the party.

So let's take a quick drive down the lane and see what the Warriors are going to have to deal with as they knife their way to the Finals. (Yeah, we know, but just roll with the sentiment. It's been 13 years and there's an abundance of pent-up enthusiasm to be dissipated.)

Sharks 3 Predators 2- SFist did something we haven't done in a long time-- watched a hockey game. Well, the last period at least. For those who've never watched playoff hockey, it's great fun. The sport is already pretty intense with it's speed and occasional bouts of violence and the intensity is turned up several notches during the playoffs. Especially when one is facing elimination. Other than a minute of action, when the Predators scored......

It's been building for the past month, but fans of the historically woebegone Golden State Warriors, awoke this morning with a dazed sense of disbelief to screaming headlines announcing: THE STREAK IS OVER -- THE WARRIORS HAVE MADE THE PLAYOFFS!

It's been so long since the Dubs got an extended play on their basketball season that neither they nor the fans really know what to do with themselves now that the dream has become a reality.

Here's todays wrap-up of the sports news ...

Here's todays sports wrap up...

We're calling it right now -- cancel your reservations at the midtown Manhattan Day's Inn, cuz' ain't gonna' be no Warriors representative at this year's NBA Lottery. After 12 years, THE STREAK IS OVER -- your Golden State Warriors will make the playoffs this year as the number eight seed in the Western Conference.

Unlike Monte Poole or Tim Kawakami, there is no "will they or won't they" coming from SFist. This is a done deal. Their season-long fever has broken just in time, and the Warriors now have only to avoid full-scale collapse and they will walk into the playoffs unchallenged.

Over the last 12 years, nobody has really accused the Warriors of having their act together. They've burned through a litany of coaches, a couple of really bad GMs, and more than one first round draft choice with nothing to show for them but more new coaches, front office suits, and first round draft choices.

Another hallmark of the modern-day Warriors' mean mean stride has been their fast starts, awful middles, and decent finishes. Even in their worst years, the Warriors managed to finish the season on an uptick, perpetually giving false hope for the next season – even if that hope was just a Lottery pick.

This year had all the looks of more of the same, but a funny thing happened on the way to the cellar: the bottom fell out of the middle of the Western Conference.

Warriors, baby, we need to talk. With Monday night's double kiss off -- a demoralizing loss to the Nuggets in Denver and the news that Baron Davis is going under the knife -- our relationship in on the rocks. Again. Sigh.

As such, we find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma. Should we shoulder the slings and arrows of the last month and give you one last chance to make it up to us with a playoff berth, or should we go ahead and change the locks on this season?

If you were born after 1994 you have no idea what it's like. If you're a long-time fan, you might have a hazy, vague recollection of it. If you come from places like Los Angeles, Chicago, or Miami, you desperately miss it. We're talking a big game -- more specifically, a Warriors big game. An important game. A game that means something besides wrapping up a Lottery pick or nudging out Seattle or Memphis for the 11th overall spot in the Western Conference.

Tonight the Warriors play the Indiana Pacers in their biggest, most important game of this season or possibly the last 10 seasons. If the Dubs win, their slight hopes for the last playoff spot in the WC remain on life support; if they lose, consider the plug pulled on yet another failed season.

Playing like the playoff contender that we all want them to be, the Warriors notched their first significant victory of the season last night, polishing off the tough New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets 121-116 at the Oracle.

On Tuesday, the Warriors walked away from the 2006 NBA Draft Lottery slightly disappointed with the number nine pick. If only they had finished that high in the Western Conference this past season.

The NBA Draft Lottery, a transparently made-for-media non-event, is not the actual draft. Instead, it is a drawing of ping-pong balls to determine the order in which the 14 sad-sack teams that didn't make the playoffs will select in the actual draft -- Wednesday, June 28 in Madison Square Garden. Based on a complicated formula of ping-pong balls and futility, the Warriors were expected to get the number nine pick; they had only a 2.2 percent chance of getting the number one pick. For once, they lived up to expectations.

Thanks for nothing.

With the NBA All-Star Game (the WonderCon for posses) coming up and the season kind of, sort of halfway over, it's time to take a look at your 2004-2005 Golden State Warriors. So far, it's been a thrilling season as the team has been one of the big surprises of their division, winning with an exciting up-tempo game and landing two stars on the All-Star team. Oh wait. That's the Washington Wizards, not the Golden......

While losing to the Shaq-led Miami Heat 98-91 isn't that much of an embarrassment, it being the Warriors' seventh loss in a row is. It's especially disappointing in that not to long ago, back in those halcyon days of late 2004, the Warriors had gone on a four-game winning streak and were making people think that maybe Chris Mullin knew what he was doing. Considering that at that point, the Warriors were about to go......

Yesterday the San Jose Sharks re-signed its head coach and two assistant coaches to new multi-year contracts....