We had Tiger Woods, in contention but failing. The Lakers , with every shot to choke off the Rockets, but stumbling. LeBron James, soaring. The Raiders, being the Raiders.

What a weekend.

Let's go through Super Seven significant things, in order of bigness:

? 1. The Giants took advantage of the Dodgers' first full series without suspended and disgraced Manny Ramirez and won two of three at Chavez Ravine.

Sunday was the biggee: The Giants started Tim Lincecum, finished with Brian Wilson, and managed to bloop and gnaw the Dodgers to an excruciatingly slow death and scramble within 4? games of the NL West lead.

Next up for the less-fertile Dodgers: To Philadelphia for three games, then to Florida for three, then home to play three apiece against the Mets and Angels. Without Manny, the Dodgers could easily go 3-9 over that span.

Next up for the Giants: a seven-game home stand against Washington (with Ryan Zimmerman carrying a 28-game hitting streak) and the Mets.

The dink-and-dunk pennant race has begun.

? 2. The Lakers sleep-walked back into danger by lousing up Game 4 in Houston on Sunday.

No worries about Yao Ming (stress fracture) for the rest of the series? A chance to take a 3-1 series lead? The Lakers let the Rockets run all over them, anyway.

Two things gave the Rockets life: Yao's absence turned up the Rockets' sense of desperation and Derek Fisher's return to the L.A. lineup from a one-game suspension slowed up the Lakers .

The Rockets probably can't sustain this without Yao over the long haul, but Sunday's series-tying victory will guarantee that Fisher and Lamar Odom (two points apiece) hear catcalls for a while.

? 3. Chuck Daly, RIP. He died Saturday morning, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Daly, who coached the Detroit Pistons to two NBA titles and the 1992 Dream Team, was the classic "winning Basketball coach" he just had it all down:

Charismatic, but not over-bearing; tough but not maniacal; a communicator but not a players' patsy.

He coached in the Ivy League, and he coached Dennis Rodman. Both successfully. Nobody else in history could've done that.

? 4. Tiger Woods continues to look strangely vulnerable on Sundays.

This time, he fumbled away "the fifth major" with a shaky final round at the Players Championship.

Woods was in the final pairing, but shot a final-round 73 and

finished in a tie for eighth, seven strokes behind winner Henrik Stenson.

The average Sunday score of the seven players who finished ahead of Woods: 69.7.

In his last three tournaments, Woods has this fade, a similar Sunday struggle to finish fourth at Quail Hollow and his sixth-place at the Masters.

? 5. The Detroit Red Wings grabbed a 3-2 series lead over Anaheim Ducks in that Western Conference series.

Oops, the biggest game of this match-up between the last two Stanley Cup winners wasn't Bay Area TV, unless you count the NHL Network, and I don't, since that sounds like something I could only get if Iclimbed intoGary Bettman'sbackyard and stole his satellite dish.

? 6. LeBron James' Game 3 stat line Saturday in Cleveland's victory over Atlanta: 47 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists.

James looks like he's ready to become the first superstar to single-handedly carry his team to a title since Hakeem Olajuwon lifted the 1994 Houston Rockets.

? 7. Raiders No. 1 pick Darrius Heyward-Bey dropped a bunch of passes in Saturday's early mini-camp practice and then was held out of the final two workouts, apparently due to hamstring issues.

Hmm, I know it's early, but that's more reminiscent of 49ers' bust receiver Rashaun Woods than Cliff Branch.

Or, to be more current, that's closer to Randy Moss during his Raiders days than to Moss' Minnesota or New England iterations.

Tim Kawakami is a columnist at The San Jose Mercury News.