Go ahead Bay Area, whoop it the hell up. Call in sick to work, pick up a twelver at the corner store, order some team gear online, call your boys over, and replay game 6 again and again and again on your DVR. It's time to cel-eh-brate, come on! Last night in the O-rena, before 20,677 fanatics-in-arms, your Golden State Warriors rose up and crushed the Dallas Mavericks, 111-86, to close out their first-round, best-of-seven series, four games to two.
It was the biggest game in franchise history since the 1974-1975 championship season and the biggest upset in the history of the NBA playoffs. In fact, many pundits are ranking this upset as one of the greatest in sports history! Not from the Mavs' perspective of course, but screw them, this is our time to shine, baby!
Against all odds, twelve men, led by the greatest Warrior of them all, went toe to toe with the most powerful army in the Association. This is their story. Photo from agtarr on Golden State of Mind.
The Warriors, our Warriors, are a team on the rise. For the Mavs, this stunning setback may be the beginning of the end.
While game 6 ended up being a rawk-ous blowout, there were plenty of nervous moments for Warriors fans, especially in the first half. Backed up against the wall, the Mavs came out desperate and dangerous. The O-rena was packed and the energy was off the hook, but still there was a nervous, edgy undercurrent, unspoken, but there nonetheless.
Anxiety grew when Mavericks slayer Baron Davis limped off the floor with 5:10 to play in the first quarter and the Warriors leading 19-15. The Beard remained in the locker room for the rest of the first quarter and the first two minutes of the second quarter before returning for his Willis Reed moment. Even with Davis back on the court for the second quarter, the Dubs looked wobbly, and they were lucky to take a two-point lead into halftime.
The Mavericks started the second half by aggressively going right at the Beard to take advantage of his tweaky hammy. First with Jason Terry, and then with Devin Harris when Biddy switched on D. Coach Don Nelson quickly changed to a zone defense to protect his gimpy star, and Stephen Jackson handled the rest.
We'd hate to be Mark Cuban's dog right now, cuz something looks like it's about to get kicked. Photo from Golden State of Mind.
Totally worked -- the second half turned out to be the Mav's funeral. After a bit of a shaky start, in which the vaunted O-rena crowd seemed quite nervous, the Dubs punished the Mavs with an 18-0 run keyed by 13 straight points from Jax, ultimately outscoring the Mavs 36-15 in the third quarter to put the game away.