Oh what the hell, this is a first. The last time the Warriors were in the playoffs, writing about it was the last thing on my mind.

As much as the matchups worked in favor of the Warriors in their series against Dallas, they worked against them when it came time to face the Jazz. On top of that, they just did not get the same performances out of key players that they did in the first round. Some of that has to be attributed to fatigue, but a lot of it has to do with the different style of basketball the Jazz play combined with the inability of the Warriors to adapt.

If you have to single out one key that cost the Warriors this series, it was rebounding. Time and time again, the Warriors just could not secure rebounds. The ugly truth: Utah outrebounded Golden State 269-171 in the five games, including 83-55 on the offensive boards. That breaks down to 53.8-34.2 per game, 16.6-11.0 offensively. The closest margin the Warriors had was 12 in Game 3, their only win. The widest was 28, their Game 2 loss in overtime. The most rebounds the Warriors had were 36, twice. The least Utah had were 44, the most being 60. Utah just had too many big bodies for the Warriors to contend with.

Moving on from the rebounding problems, 3-point shooting comes next. All year long, Warriors fans came to understand this team would live by the 3, die by the 3. They lived by it a lot in the Dallas series but especially in the last two games against Utah, did they ever die by it: a combined 18-69 (26.1%). The three previous games, 42-103 (40.8%). It points to Golden State finally running out of energy, more than the law of averages simply balancing out.

This was also reflected in the play of people like Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson. Davis had three strong games but he didn't look like his usual self in Games 4 and 5. Some of it can be credited to the Jazz tightening up their defense against him, but things were different after the amazing dunk he made over Andrei Kirilenko in Game 3. There was the belief that it would be a turning point in the series for the Warriors, but the exact opposite turned out to be the case.

As for Jackson, he was almost as big a reason the Warriors dispatched the Mavericks as Davis was. That all changed against Utah. Compare: against Dallas, he shot 42-93 (45.2%) from the floor, 19-40 (47.5%) behind the arc, 34-43 (79.1%) at the line and he averaged 22.8 points per game, including two of 30 or more. Against Utah, it was completely different. He shot 19-68 (27.9%) from the floor, 7-32 (21.9%) behind the arc, 38-47 (80.1%) at the line and he averaged 16.4 points per game. Numerous times, he kept shooting in spite of nothing going in and it continually hurt the Warriors. Some of that was his fault. Some of it, truth be told, was also Don Nelson's fault for not doing anything about it. As good a job as Nelson has done with this team, the tendency to let Jackson chuck as if he'd shoot his way out of his slump was not the right move.

The Warriors played Utah tough all three games in Salt Lake City, but one more thing they couldn't do that they did for the most part against Dallas was close out quarters and close out games. Aside from Game 3's blowout win, their only victory in the series, every time the Warriors had a lead with the chance to extend it, they made mistakes, took poor shots, and failed to stop Utah from keeping it close. The closer the games got to the end, the more the Jazz simply wore Golden State down until they had nothing left in the tank. As close as those games were, the Warriors did not play particularly well for long stretches in any of their losses. The worst was Game 2's meltdown when, in spite of nearly being doubled up on the boards (60-32), all they had to do to win was make their free throws. They didn't, Utah took advantage of it, and they won in overtime. That really decided the series right there, but another painful loss was Game 4 when they suffered their only home loss in five games. That sent it back to Utah with the Jazz holding a 3-1 advantage, too much for the Warriors to overcome.

Golden State had no answer for Carlos Boozer, who killed them repeatedly on the boards and in the paint. Kirilenko rebounded from a stretch of very poor play, and a poor season overall, to return to the all-around force he can be on both sides of the ball. Deron Williams played through a couple games with foul trouble to lead the guard play. Mehmet Okur made some big shots. Paul Millsap was difficult to contend with inside. But, the man who really hit the daggers in this series was Derek Fisher. Whether it was clutch 3-pointers or late free throws, he made a big difference.

Ultimately, Warriors fans should look back on this season and find many positives. Among them:

* the January trade with Indiana that somehow managed to get rid of both Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy Jr, while bringing in Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington. No matter what else happened, many fans would've been content with just that.

* the 16-5 run over the last quarter of the season after the Warriors looked down and out with a 26-35 record. Everyone finally got healthy enough to play together as a full squad and Golden State went on a magical run that was capped off with a win in Portland on the last day of the regular season, finishing at 42-40 and securing the 8th spot in the Western Conference.

* the way they completely shut down MVP Dirk Nowitzki and took out the 67-15 Dallas Mavericks in the first round. Make no mistake, it was the perfect matchup for the Warriors and they capitalized on it.

Not only did the Warriors end their long playoff drought, they surprised the country, Davis took his game to a new level and they ended up being one of the last eight teams left playing, both rejuvenating and intensifying Bay Area interest in Warriors basketball. In the process, much deserved recognition came our way for the intensity in which we support our team. No more talk of how we keep wasting our money on a bad team and a bad franchise, excusing mistake after mistake. Now we have people writing about how we have some of the best fans in not just the NBA but all of pro sports.

For once, this season was no failure. Playing meaningful games at the end of April into May was something we had not been treated to in far too long. In fact, for some Warriors fans it was the first time they got to experience playoff basketball. It sure beats the usual trade talks, speculation over who the next coach would be, and debating over who to take in the draft as we hope for a high lottery pick.

Congratulations to the Warriors and the fans that have stuck with the team for so long. Now the key will be building on what they've done so we can start talking about multiple visits to the postseason. I can't wait for next year.