PLAYOFFS, AT LONG LAST

Congratulations to the Warriors and head coach Don Nelson. Unfortunately, Golden State has a first round match up with the leagues best team, the Dallas Mavericks.

Newcomers, Richardson score big in romp

Janny Hu, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, April 19, 2007

(04-19) 04:00 PDT Portland - -- On the eve of the biggest game of his career, Jason Richardson slept like a baby. Now, he isn't sure when he'll catch his next wink, knowing that what's eluded him ever since he's been a Warrior is finally here.

The postseason. The real season.

"I've been trying for the last five years and coming up short," Richardson said. "I'm so excited, I might not sleep for the next two nights."

Golden State's 12-year playoff drought officially ended Wednesday with its 120-98 romp over the Blazers at the Rose Garden. The Warriors will meet at their practice facility in Oakland today to begin preparing for their first-round series against Dallas that starts Sunday.

Only one eight-seed has ever knocked off a No. 1, that's the beauty of the playoffs. Once you get there, anything can happen. And the Warriors' are about to embark on their posteason journey since April of 1994, the same month Denver upset top-seeded Seattle.

"The basketball gods have a funny way of giving you what you deserve, and we deserved this," said Baron Davis.

On Wednesday, it was as if every lay-up and three-pointer they fired in had some sort of cathartic effect, and no one showed it more than Richardson. The sixth-year guard has carried the heaviest load of any Warrior, and he unloaded it by scoring 25 points, but his biggest score was simply knowing that the Warriors were going to the playoffs for the first time in his Warriors career.

It's why he raised his arms in triumph when the final horn sounded, why teammates took care to find and hug him after the game, and why he and backcourt mate Baron Davis let loose for the biggest embrace.

"Once you play here, you're a part of the history of the franchise and everything," forward Matt Barnes said. "Especially for J-Rich, someone who's been putting his heart and soul out there for six straight years and always going home on the last day of the season.

"So definitely, (we had) to do this for him and the fans and all the people that supported us the 13 years before."

Warriors' coach Don Nelson, who was on the sidelines when the Warriors last made the playoffs in 1994, said he felt vulnerable coming to Portland; that for all his team had accomplished late in the season, anything other than the playoffs would have been a failure.

He didn't have to worry. The Blazers offered about as much resistance as the Mavericks did the previous night, trotting out a junior, junior varsity line-up missing Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Zach Randolph and Joel Pryzbilla.

Wednesday's finale symbolized the best of the Warriors turnarounds. They won on the road. They swept a back-to-back set. And they did it with the unselfish team play that's typified their closing sprint.

Baron Davis netted a triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. Stephen Jackson scored a team-high 31 points, and Al Harrington added 24.

The Warriors (42-40) closed out the season with five straight wins, matching their longest streak of the year, and posted their first winning record in 13 years.

"When we were (nine) games under, we could have easily packed it in," Harrington said. "Baron could have said he's going to rest his knee or rehab. But guys said 'No, we're going to keep practicing. Let's see where we're at and if we're right there, we'll make that push."

"It didn't always look so good," Nelson added. But we achieved a great goal on the last day. Each one of these games has been bigger and bigger, and this was the biggest."

Now, it's time for the playoffs. And Jackson, the only Warrior with a championship ring, is calling in reinforcements. He's bringing the bling out of safe-deposit box and showing it off to his teammates for inspiration.

"Once you make the playoffs, all you need is 16 wins and you're the NBA champ," Jackson said. "That's the easiest way to look at the championship."

This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle