Warriors are rising, and Lakers are ... the Lakers

Out of nowhere, a socko first round ...

Well, up here, anyway.

Talk about your tale of two regions. Half of California is out of its gourd -- just not the usual half.

If the Golden State Warriors are the NBA’s new darlings, however briefly, things must have changed. However hopefully, the team now features a new anthem during warmups: the Beatles’ “Revolution.”

Of course, the old order started changing a while back.

The Lakers’ effort in their series against Phoenix has left something to be desired -- like effort -- but at the top of their game they’d still be underdogs to the 61-win Suns ... and this is only the first round.

Barring an upset, this is the last roundup before you start hearing about the moves the Lakers hope to make for Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal and/or Jason Kidd.

In the really bad news, even if they bag an elephant, it might not be enough.

Lakers ambitions haven’t diminished, but Lakers resources have. Their problem is simple and it’s not how many shots Kobe Bryant takes: not enough front-line players.

As Randy Jackson would say, check it out, dog.

After three seasons, it’s clear that the Lamar Odom-Bryant tandem isn’t enough ... meaning Odom will be available.

Despite the hope the Lakers have for Andrew Bynum, they face a grim realization: With Kobe 28 and aging daily, they don’t have much time to develop Andrew, so he may be available.

Jordan Farmar is a nice young player, but that doesn’t mean he projects as a starter, much less one ready to take on Steve Nash as a rookie.

Smush Parker, the two-year starter they got off the waiver wire, is out of here. It was probably the realization he wouldn’t be asked back that blew up his head.

Kwame Brown’s vast potential is still unrealized at 25 and with one year at $9 million on his deal, they can’t make a big deal without throwing him in to balance out the money.

Brown is a pleasant, painfully young man whose foibles are bigger than he is. Huge, powerful and athletic, he can be scary, as in his Game 3 breakout after rolling his ankle, which prompted comparisons to Willis Reed, fanciful as that was.

Brown has one overriding feature -- he gets discouraged and shuts down.

Reed tore a hip flexor, got his leg shot up and dragged it out for Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. If that happened to Kwame, a SWAT team couldn’t get him out of the trainer’s room.

When effort in a playoff game is an issue, you have real problems

That’s what Phil Jackson does. Seemingly unfazed at seeing them give up in Game 2, he sat back and called no timeouts as they fell behind by 17 in Game 3, telling them it wasn’t so bad they couldn’t work it out.

Tune in today to see how far metaphysics and their late-arriving sense of desperation can take them.

Golden State Coach Don Nelson has a different genius, a word tossed around so much it’s meaningless, but it’s appropriate in his case, even if he’s not unaware of it.

Nelson specializes in the impossible, or what looks like it, with a daring approach the league is just starting to catch up with 15 years later (it’s the one the Suns use), totally changing the dynamic.

Nevertheless, after a career of shocking the world, Nelson never had one like the one he’s working on, leading (once) mighty Dallas, 2-1, going into Game 4 here, where his Warriors went 30-11 during the regular season.

The Mavericks pride themselves in being able to play any style -- which is why Coach Avery Johnson dared to change his lineup in Game 1 -- but Nelson has spread them out so far, they can’t help defensively and their size means nothing.

Making it pure Cinderella, the Warriors aren’t taking it game by game but minute by minute behind former UCLA star Baron Davis.

Davis’ career cratered while he missed 98 games in four seasons (after missing none in his first four).

The anguish extended into February when he had arthroscopic knee surgery. By March, the Warriors were 26-35 and Nelson said they were out of the playoff race.

They finished 17-5 with Davis back, sitting out practices and playing limited minutes.

Now Nelson no longer worries about breaking him down.

“If I do, I do,” Nelson said Saturday. “It’s the playoffs. What am I waiting for?

“If he breaks down, he breaks down and we go home....

“I never had a player like Baron with the skills he has and the body he has.... There aren’t many like him. Maybe [Detroit’s Chauncey] Billups, but Billups doesn’t have his playmaking ability.

“I said all along, if he [Davis] had played 38 minutes a game, which is what stars play, he’d have had Nash-like numbers and a Nash-like year.”

Davis has to settle for a Steve Nash-like postseason. As long as he lasts, after what he has been through, this is the NBA Finals, Final Four and Olympics rolled up in one.

“It’s been a process,” Davis says. “It’s been a struggle. It’s been a learning process.

“One thing, I always wanted to play in the NBA. Through all the frustrations, through all the injuries, through all the ups and downs with coaches, I’ve never lost my love for basketball. I never lost my ability to work hard and appreciate the game.”

Of course, one Mavericks win here and everything goes back to normal.

Now for the game of all their lives.

mark.heisler@latimes.com