With roughly four minutes left in the fourth quarter Sunday night, someone in the upper deck of the Arena decided to stand up and sit down.  Then he or she got some friends to do it, then the next row, then the next section.  Before you could say "Kelenna Azubuike shooting two," the Arena witnessed its first NBA basketball fan wave since well before Monta Ellis was born.  As the wave crested somewhere around section 122, Kelenna bricked the first free throw and hit the second.  The wave crashed to shore with the resumption of the game a few seconds later.  In its wake, however, we've been left with a question tugging at us like the cold Pacific undertow: what's happened to the Arena crowd?

Continue reading this post »

The island of Manhattan for beads and mirrors.  The Louisiana Territory for $23 million and change.  Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell for Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Ike Diogu, and Keith McLeod.  

Continue reading this post »

The first All-Star votes are in and the Warriors are dead last.  I couldn't be happier.  The NBA regularly salutes Warriors' fans as the league's finest.  A large part of the reason why is because we understand what's important in the game.  We cheer louder for court burns than we do free t-shirts.  And we don't waste our time stuffing the ballot box for a global marketing beauty pageant.  All the beauty we need is being delivered nightly from the fingertips of men five men on the court, thrilled to be identified not for their individual vote counts, but for what they do together as Warriors.

Continue reading this post »

Stephen Jackson's return made all the difference for the Warriors.  Things get trickier, however, when you delve into just what Jackson brings that makes this team so dangerous.  Make no mistake, though, the "Jackson Effect" is very real.  Here's how it breaks down in the numbers.

Continue reading this post »

The Warriors were kind enough to send me a crisp new 2007-08 media guide.  Don't let anyone tell you that the book is just shameless self-promotion for the franchise or a dry compendium of facts and figures.  There's gold buried deep in these pages.  Since the team hasn't provide much on the court to get excited about in the season's first week. (Remember when Hudson missed the same shot four times in a row? FAN-tastic!) I've pulled together my favorite useless and/or intriguing Warriors facts.   Impress your friends with answers to trivia questions that will never be asked.

Continue reading this post »

On February 28, after losing 113-83 to the Chicago Bulls, Don Nelson said "it doesn't look like it's going to work out this year."  On May 3, the Golden State Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 to seal the biggest upset in NBA playoff history.  "We Believe" went from a lone homemade sign, to a punch-line among die-hards, to a local rallying cry, to a national catch phrase.  It's hard to say that Bay Area pro basketball was reborn last spring (because it never truly flat-lined), but the roars of the Arena woke it from a long, dark night.  So, now what?

Continue reading this post »