Warriors rebound to win Game 3

OAKLAND — Question: When is a basketball team getting outrebounded in a game by a dozen seen as a huge success?

Answer: When you are the Golden State Warriors.

Golden State had 32 rebounds on Friday night at Oracle Arena in Game 3 of its Western Conference semifinal series — 12 fewer than the Utah Jazz. That might be enough to have some coaches rip their hair out.

But Warriors coach Don Nelson was understandably pleased with his team's effort on the boards. After all, his Warriors had been outrebounded by an average of 23 in each of the first two games, both narrow Jazz victories.

The Warriors cut that rebound margin to "just" 12 on Friday — and they beat the Jazz by 20 points.

"We didn't dominate the boards, but we controlled them," said Warriors forward Al Harrington. "We did a pretty good job as a team. Everybody got in there and helped."

The Warriors' best rebounder was Andris Biedrins, who had 13 boards to go along with 13 points.

"He's been a very consistent player for me," said Nelson of Biedrins. "I'm just very pleased that he was able to do what he does — which is get rebounds. Thirteen and 13 — I'll take that anytime."

GETTING TECHNICAL: Golden State star Baron Davis was slapped with his fifth technical foul of the playoffs when he lifted his shirt in celebration after his monster dunk over Andrei Kirilenko late in the fourth quarter of Game 3.

While that technical was meaningless in Friday night's game, it could have major implications down the road. The NBA suspends players for a game when they reach eight technicals during the playoffs. Davis now has five — three in the series against the Mavericks and two against the Jazz.

"I'm a couple of techs away from being suspended, so I've just got to monitor that — the actions and reactions on the floor," said Davis.

"It could definitely cost us a game or a series if we don't control (our emotions)," said Nelson.

FEELING STRONGER: Nelson was concerned about his team's lack of depth after the two losses in Utah. He said his team was beat up, but that he could still only afford to continue using an eight-man rotation.

But the Warriors had a new spring in their step on Saturday following Friday night's win in Game 3.

"We're not all banged up and bruised up like we were coming home from Utah," said Nelson. "Our bodies are in pretty good shape as of today."