Wild Wild West

1:15 AM EDT May 04, Oakland, CA : Confetti streaming their down way from the Rafters at the Oracle Arena. Golden State Warriors have just thrashed 2007's statistically best team in NBA - Dallas Mavericks by 25 points to storm into the Western Conference semi-finals.

But why the confetti? It was Golden State's first playoff appearance in 13 years and they became the first #8 seed to knock off the #1 seed in a 7 game series. They played tough basketball, very physical, tough 'D' and great offense. Dallas had 67 wins in the regular season while Golden State made it to the playoffs on the final night of the regular season. As expected everybody wrote the #8 off, but nobody seemed to remember that Golden State were the only team that swept the season series against Dallas 3-0. I have always hated Dallas and that scoreline was one reason for me to believe Golden State could pull off an upset and they did that!

It was one of the best ever play off series I've ever seen. Infact I will hold this a step above the SA-Dallas semis last year. The warriors played like real warriors. They came back everytime their back was against the wall and responded like warriors. Baron Davis played game six with practically one leg after pulling a hamstring and still managed a double-double. Such was the determination of the Warriors and Stephen Jackson led the team with Davis injured with 7 on 8 shooting from downtown. And above all, Nowitzki was held to 8 points for one of the worst games in his career.

The Warriors had nothing to lose. They played with passion, they played for the city of Oakland. And kudos to the city. Close to 90% of the people had turned up with the yellow "We believe" t-shirt in the stadium and they stood all thru the second half. Boy! thats a real crowd! Easily one of the best and biggest at about 20,700. They did really believe and so did the 15 warriors. They have pulled off the best and biggest upset in NBA history.

And finally, call this as attitude. Nowitzki in a pre-game before game 4 said, "If we lose this, its pretty much over". Steve Nash, with Phoenix trailing 1-2 said this before game 4 last year "If we could win this game, we can turn the series around". Now, Dallas lost game 4, somehow managed to win game 5 courtesy plenty of Golden State's errors and shades of Nowitzki's brilliance but lost the series 2-4. Phoenix also lost game 4 to trail 1-3, but came back to win the series 4-3.