Tonight the Warriors pulled off a monumental win on a monumental day. Yes, it was Adonal Foyle's birthday as well as GSoM's own DJ Fuzzy Logic's (see It's your birthday, we gon' party like it's your birthday...), but it was also the 10 year anniversary of Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G.'s passing. The Dubs came through tonight and gave the birthday boys a great present today and paid their respects to Biggie Smalls.
TEAM.
"It's all About the Benjamins" - Money Open Thread
First and foremost thanks to all of you for helping set a GSoM open thread record tonight with over 270 comments. It makes the game that much more fun to watch when you can talk about it with so many other nutty die-hard Warrior fans.
I know many of you didn't get to catch the game on your TV sets because it was on NBA TV. Flip through the comments and you'll hopefully get a taste of tonight's great game. The excitement, the drama, the confusion, the hope and the victory are all captured there.
"Hypnotize" - The 1st Half
In the 1st half of the game the Warriors were pushing the tempo to a level that was just hypnotizing. The Dubs put on a full on blitz that made the Clippers look slow and dazed. At the half the Warriors were up 65 to 48. The Warriors owned the battle of the boards and the game looked like it was going to be a great case study for Nellieball 101.
"Juicy" - BABY-BABY-BABY!
In football there's the West Coast Offense pioneered by legendary 49er and Stanford genius Bill Walsh. The West Coast equivalent in hoops is Nellieball. In the 1st half the Warriors were about as Wessyde as you can get, but the in the second their style and game flow dramatically changed.
People often say that Bay Area is like an East Coast city with Cali weather. Although we're typically laid back, the Bay can also be gritty and tough. In the second half the Warriors went East Coast and prevailed because of their gritty swagger and tough defense. As the hip hop world used to say circa 1994 the Warriors went BROOKLYN BABY-BABY-BABY! in the 2nd half. It was actually pretty cool to see this team be successful with a 2nd half personality switch. No gimmicks- it's all about the W.
Someone in the Clippers organization must've dissed Barnes Baby!
"The What" - Coach Mike Dunleavy Sr.
If I remember correctly Funleavy Sr. had some not so nice things to say about Warriors Nation recently.
Good thing you're not the head coach of the most underachieving team in the league-
Oh wait!
"Mo Money Mo Problems" - The Clippers' Payroll
Good thing Clips' sucka owner Donald Sterling shelled out the dough for Coach Dunleavy, Chris Kaman, Tim Thomas, and Sam Cassell. Good thing for us that is.
"Flava In Ya Ear" - Kickin' that brand new flava in your ear!
I'm still shocked. The Warrior team we witnessed tonight was was unlike any other we've seen face the Clips in the past few years. Seriously.
- Hoops Smarts: Whether it was Monta Ellis drawing smart charges or Nellie outcoaching Dunleavy, the Warriors were the smarter team tonight. I swear it was just a week ago when I did my former Raider Head Coach Bill Callahan impersonation and told Fantasy Junkie "The Warriors have to be the dumbest team in the league." I'm glad the Warriors have been hitting the film room and studying hard to lose that label.
- Confidence: These guys came into tonight's game believing they were going to win. They knew they were a smaller and less physical team than the Clips, but they still ended up dominating the points in the paint (Warriors-58, Clippers 32), an area where Dun Sr's mess usually kills the Dubs.
- Pride: When the game got a little too close for comfort, the Dubs didn't let down. This was their night and they weren't about to give up. It takes pride to play this hard when your team has the daunting task of leap-frogging several teams just to sniff the playoffs. These fellas just don't quit.
Is there any other 29-35 team in the league that generates so much excitement from their bench?
"Big Poppa" - Warrior Wonder
Tonight's W would not have been possible without our All-Star snubee Boom Dizzle. Despite being in foul trouble for most of the game BD was bringing it on the defensive end and had a brilliant scoring night that screamed EFFICIENT. 8 for 10 FG's and a perfect 9 for 9 from the charity stripe just gets it done. Baron did a nice job on the boards as well, collecting 7 rodmans to go with his 25 points.
"I love it when you call me Boom Deeeaaaazy!"
* Game Photos by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
R.I.P. Biggie Smalls
UPDATE: Check out the Clipper perspective on the game over at Clips Nation.