OH MY! I've done so many recaps in my 2 years blogging the Warriors, including some big wins and some painful losses, but doing tonight's recap is an honor. Unfortunately I really don't know what to say. I'm speechless...
And so it ends!
So, I'll just follow what my mom always said-- BE THANKFUL.
Thank You's
1) ONE through 14- Baron Davis aka Boom Dizzle: Don't call it a comeback! A REAL All Star.
- Jason Richardson aka JRich or Die Flying: No apologies necessary.
- Monta Ellis aka Ellis to the Rim: The Rook-Soph game was only the beginning.
- Andris Biedrins aka Dris: The best Latvian player in the association. No question!
- Stephen Jackson aka Action Jackson: Maybe the most underrated all-around player in the league.
- Al Harrington aka TMNHarrington: Who knew he could put the clamps down on guys like Yao Ming?
- Adonal Foyle aka The 'Don: The only thing that matters more than democracy? PLAYOFFS!
- Mickael Pietrus aka MP2: Air France is the most entertaining flight out there. Even better than Southwest!
- Matt Barnes aka Barnes Baby!: Before this year Barnes had made 10 3's in his entire NBA career. This year? Over 100.
- Josh Powell aka Josh POWell: Sweet jumper, tough player.
- Sarunas Jasikevicius aka Sarunas: A Warrior who can hit free throws!
- Kelenna Azubuike aka Kabuki: This D-League pickup was essentially like getting an extra lottery pick in the awful 2006 NBA Draft.
- Patrick O'Bryant aka The Notorious P.O.B.: The first lottery pick ever sent down to the NBDL? Another Warrior first!
- Zarko Cabarkapa aka The Zark Man: I'm so excited about the end of the curse I think I'm going to throw up all over my cabarkapa!
Stephen puts the Action in Jackson!
2) Nellie! Nellie! Nellie!
Ladies and gentleman, here's your 2006-2007 NBA Coach of the Year...
Don Nelson has been a gift from the basketball gods. How many coaches can say they've ended a 12 year curse- that they helped start?
- Monty Out, Nelson In
- One Million Reasons for Nellie to Take the Warriors to the Playoffs this Season
- A Picture Says a Thousand Words
- The Town Going Retro: Past, Present, and Future
- EXCLUSIVE: GSoM @ THE Press Conference
- Nellie vs. Nelly
- Don Nelson Mania on the Web!: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV
Nellie got us out of jail!
3) Chris Mullin and Rod Higgins
Mullie and Higgy's first two years in the Warriors' front office were a complete disaster. However, since they brought Nellie back to the Bay, they've been a complete gift. Thank you.
4) FSN Bay Area
It's been a long 12 years, but at least we've always had the best TV crew in the bidness! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to write The W Column this season and all those shout outs on FSN. Special thanks to GSoM friend Jen Franklin for always hooking us up.
5) Bay Area Sports Media
Thanks for always showing this community so much love!
- Tim Kawakami
- Marcus Thompson
- Damon Bruce
- Janny Hu
- Bob Fitzgerald
- Matt Steinmetz
- Jon from SFist
- Boku Kodama from Jazzbeat Radio
Also props to GSoM friends Preetom Bhattacharya of Basketball News Services, Dennis Velasco over at About.com, Henry Abbott of TrueHoop, and the crew over at Slam Magazine for always showing us so much support.
6) Hoops Blogosphere
If you want your daily dose of hoops, there's no better place than the hoops blogosphere. Check out Ballhype a product of two GSoMers, Jason and Erin Gurney, to stay up on all the great blogging (see Ballhype: Believe the Hype!) .
7) Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird
Two of the worst contracts in the league, a former lottery pick that was probably a stretch, and a 3rd string point guard for Action Jackson, TMNHarrington, Josh POWell, and Sarunas? Um, what were you thinking? There's a reason why the Indiana Posers absolutely collapsed after the trade and the Warriors ended the curse. Thanks though!
- Trade: Dun, Murphy, Diogu, McLeod for Harrington, S. Jackson, Jasikevicius
- The Warriors & Pacers Blockbuster Trade: Throwing Up W's and L's
- Basketball Obituaries -- Mike Dunleavy Jr. 2002-2007
- Dad's got my back!
- Warriors Head Coach Don Nelson Talks about the Blockbuster Trade
- Warriors-Pacers Blockbuster Trade Linkfest
- A Little Pacer Perspective on the Blockbuster Trade
- New Warrior Al Harrington Talks about the Trade
- Everyone's Talking About the Trade!
- GSoM Q&A with Matt Steinmetz - 01/18/07 (Part 1 of 2)
- A Reality Check on the Blockbuster Trade between the Warriors and Pacers
- GSoM Q&A with Marcus Thompson II - 01/30/07 (Part 1 of 2)
- Jon Barry on the Warriors and Pacers Trade
- Simulation Analysis of the Warriors-Pacers Blockbuster Trade
I'm sure Walsh and Bird will be getting a lot of XMas cards this December from Warriors Nation.
8) SB Nation
It was an honor when the biggest, baddest sports blog network of all asked us to come on over from our little blogspot space in February of 2006.
SBN has the Bay covered:
- Athletics Nation (A's)
- McCovey Chronicles (Giants)
- Silver And Black Pride (Raiders)
- Niners Nation (49ers)
- The Band Is Out On The Field (Cal Golden Bears)
9) SBN Basketball
The biggest, baddest collection of hoops blogs around:
- Blog-A-Bull (Bulls)
- Green Bandwagon (Celtics)
- Clips Nation (Clippers)
- Sactown Royalty (Kings)
- Posting And Toasting (Knicks)
- Mavs Moneyball (Mavericks)
- Indy Cornrows (Pacers)
- Pounding the Rock (Spurs)
- Bright Side Of The Sun (Suns)
- Blazer's Edge (Trailblazers)-- Dave's got class.
- Bullets Forever (Wizards)
10) Jason Richardson
Overall it's been a tough year for JRich. He's had to recover from both knee surgery and a broken hand. Statistically this is the worst year of Jason's career since his first in the league. However, anyone who thinks JRich had a horrible year just doesn't know what they're talking about.
Even though he was always out there giving his all when other player's quit last season, JR organized an apology letter to the fans and promised that the Warriors would make the playoffs this season. At the time his apology was extremely honorable, but his promise seemed impossible to live up to. But, Jason Richardson lived up to his promise. A TRUE WARRIOR.
The Mavs don't even want to think about what JRich's going to do in the playoffs!
From everyone in Warriors Nation, JR- much respect.
11) The Dirty Dozen
Know your history: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3, but the curse is over! "We Believe Playoff" and now "We See Playoff".
We've been starving for some playoff action!
12) The ENTIRE GSoM Community
You come here every day (most of you more times than you'd ever admit to your boss or teacher) and you bring a positive attitude, a great sense of humor, and sharp insights 24-7-365. Major props to everyone for blowing the roof off of the open thread for tonight's game. It just shows what happens when GSoMers come out in the masses.
GSoMer are not some collection of random internet posters who start flame wars and act a fool. We're a community and we ROLL DEEP (ahem, GSoM Night at The Oracle). The atma of Warriors Nation.
REPRESENT!
13) My Boys
Last but not least, I'd like to give a special shout out to my boys DJ Fuzzy Logic, Fantasy Junkie, YaoButtaMing, and Hash for pouring their blood, sweat, tears, and bad jokes into this site for the past 2 years to make it absolutely UNSTOPPABLE BABY!
DJ Fuzzy Logic: It was just another afternoon of two PhD students stressing about school, life, the real world, and the below poverty line income. We resorted to our usual therapy, cracking jokes about our favorite hoops love, the Golden State Warriors. But for some reason we just couldn't stop. And then BAM! Golden State Warriors BLOG, the predecessor to Golden State of Mind, was formed. The world was never the same... 1 Dub. 1 Luv. | ||
Fantasy Junkie: I remember when Fantasy Junkie and I were in 8th grade in English class and we were so hyped up about the Warriors-Suns Playoff Game 3 that night. We weren't paying the least bit of attention that day in class (I don't think our teacher was that amused), but it looks like we still managed to learn how to write a little. (DISCLAIMER: Kids, DO NOT ignore your 8th grade English teacher!) That was 1994, now it's 2007. It's been 13 years. We've grown up (haha, highly debatable) and we've been waiting. Oh we've been waiting. We're even more hyped now- call it hyphy! 1 Dub. 1 Luv. | ||
Hash: When times were dark for the Warriors, Hash came in and brought optimism and humor. GSoM without Hash and his sandwich is like the Warriors minus Thunder. Our 6th man was a great addition like Matt Barnes- Hash Baby! Sit next to this man at a Warriors game and you're in for some serious high-fiving. 1 Dub. 1 Luv. | ||
YaoButtaMing: I swear half the time I don't get my man's jokes in his recaps. I must be the only person in the world who doesn't watch Family Guy. This blog wouldn't be the same without YaoButtaMing's crazy insights and undying passion. 1 Dub. 1 Luv. |
Photos: Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images, AP Photo/Don Ryan
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Dallas- we're coming for you next!
Stay tuned for some INSANE Playoff Coverage at Golden State of Mind. Remember, we OWN the Mavericks!