For twelve long and usually painful seasons, the only times Warriors fans have been able to utter those two words probably had to do with one of a few different scenarios:

* reminiscing about the last time the Warriors weren’t already talking about ways to improve next year, usually with a new coach, while sixteen other teams knocked each other off until one was left standing in November or whenever the NBA Playoffs actually end now

* talking about some other game going on as other teams played meaningful games in late April while the Warriors went golfing, or in the case of many of today's athletes, sitting at home playing video games

* sadly wondering if the Warriors would ever break the curse and we’d have a reason to go wild again

If the 8th-seed clincher last week in Portland or the Game 1 win in Dallas on Sunday weren’t already enough, Warriors fans both new and old came out to Oracle Arena in full force last night to rock it in ways it has never been rocked before as the arena played host to its first playoff game since 1994.

From the moment the Dallas Mavericks took the floor for pre-game warm-ups to a healthy chorus of boos, the fans in attendance represented. The thunderous ovations morphed from the “Let’s go Warriors!” chants that soon followed, to “DE-fense” almost every time the Mavs had possession, to “Cuban sucks,” which the Dallas owner encouraged like a conductor leading his orchestra, to finally being topped off with “Barkley sucks,” an obvious reference to the one-time Round Mound of Rebound who said on TNT that Dallas would go on to win the series in five games after taking Game 2. Perhaps now, the Round Mound of Loud Sound is a more apt description.

Whatever the case, the fans were more than ready for this one. How could they not be after so many years without as much as a sniff of the postseason? The Oracle played host to a giant party with 20,629 of your closest friends, most of which you’d never met before, rocking and rolling with every great shot and play made by the home team. It was as good as any college atmosphere, yet better in every way imaginable. ESPN’s announcers repeatedly marveled both at the action on the court and the ovations in the stands.

As much as has been said about the key roles played by Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington following the January trade that brought them to the Warriors as part of the eight-player deal with the Indiana Pacers, so much of the team’s high level of play has been cemented by people like Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins and even Matt Barnes. Warriors fans know this already along with the job old-yet-new head coach Don Nelson has done; there’s no need to go over it yet again here.

This one, this win, it was for the fans. As much as it can be possible, the fans helped will this team to the playoffs by believing and supporting their guys. They helped turn the Oracle into a place opposing teams have an increasingly slimmer chance of winning in. They helped give the Warriors the extra energy they needed to make that playoff push after being nine games under .500 prior to winning 16 of their last 21. After things went south in Game 2 in Dallas, it was all erased even before the opening tip last night. There's nothing like coming home to this.

After their 109-91 win, the Warriors now lead the best-of-7 series 2-1 and can advance if they simply ride out their home court advantage. Not to get ahead of things, but who’s to say Charles Barkley can’t be right about the series ending in five, only in favor of the Warriors instead? Right now, the Mavericks have done very little to foster much of a belief that they’ll take one in Oakland. While it still remains they were the best team in the regular season, it’s a regular season that means all of nothing at this point.

The Warriors may remain the underdog in the minds of most members of the media, but they’re making great strides in proving everyone outside of the East Bay wrong. They’re only halfway to accomplishing the major upset, but they’ve already succeeded in one very important area: bringing a winning, playoff atmosphere back to the name of the Golden State Warriors. The remaining question is how much longer they’ll continue delaying those talks of how to get even better next year.

With the way the team is playing and the support what it is, Warriors fans can once more be truly proud to say “Yes, I am a Warriors fan!”

Thanks to Obay for the beer, and Playmaker for the laughs. I have been to a Niners Superbowl, A Giants World Series Game, Multiple Sharks Playoff games, and never in all my life have I seen an arena as out of control as tonight in Oakland. If boos could kill, Dampier would be bleeding out his ears, if cheers could elevate players to the level of gods Baron and Monta could have thrown lightning. 13 years of pent up desire for success came to a head in Oakland tonight, and it was electric.

I don't know if you could tell at home watching on TV but no team would want to come into that building on this night and have to play.

In the photos above you have section 112 sporting the Mark Cuban crybaby signs. My friend B chilling before the game. Playmaker as whining Mark Cuban and Obay as Charles "The Warriors Won't Win Another Game" Barkely.

They Believe....Do You?

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Dallas-Golden State series is gearing up to be a heated one. Warriors accomplished their goal of getting a split and taking over home court advantage. Warriors have one of the better home records in the NBA having beat all the top teams and many in convincing fashion. Soem things to watch for in this series are whether or not Stephen Jackson gets suspended for Game 3 following his ejection and outburst in Game 2. Also can Al Harrington and Jason Richardson get it going, Harrington has been a dissappointment thus far in the series, he has to score consistently to draw out the Mavs big men and open things up for his teammates. Richardson has struggled from the field especially from the 3pt line where he is 1 of 11, Richardson needs to regain his shooting form from late in the season when he was above 50% on 3's.

Kobe's-Suns matchup is the least compelling in the West. Suns are poised for a sweep of the Kobe's. Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown and Smush Parker have not played well, Odom is physically and mentally fatigues, Brown who was hurt for most of the season looks slow and rusty, Parker has been benched in favor of Jordan Farmar because of his lack of defense and horrible decision making. I can see the Kobe's winning 1 game if Kobe scores 50+ points otherwise get out your brooms.

Nuggets-Spurs has been an intruiging matchup thus far. Nuggets like the Warriors went on the road to win Game 1 and faltered in Game 2. Iverson and Melo have been great and Nene has procided unexpected ability to slow Tim Duncan without the help of a couble team. If Cmby doesn't do his Foyle impersonation and miss the dunk, the Nuggets could be sitting pretty at 2-0 heading home.

Jazz-Rockets has been what we expected a Snoozefest. The most exciting part of the series was Andrei Kirilenko sheding tears in practice. Maybe he needs a slumpbuster to break out of his wackness, he has the free pass to tap some ass, I suggest he use it.

Eastern Conference=Boring

Pacers fire Jim Carrey errrr Rick Carlisle. Carlisle is a excellent coach but has the personality and communication skills of a rock. The curse of MurphLeavy has ruined another franchise. Memo to Larry Bird, its gonna be hard to rebuild when you have Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Jamal Tinsley and Jermaine O'neal making alot of money. No tradeable assets except for Danny Granger and Jermaine O'neal who has been injury prone the last few years.

Sonics firing Bob Hill was not a shocker. Sonics seem to be on the move and should look to rebuild. Rashard Lewis won't be back and they should look into trading Ray Allen while he still has value left. How about a Ray Allen for Andrei Kirilenko deal? Utah gets the shooter they need and Kirilenko gets a fresh start. Sonics should get a top 5 pick which could begin the process of rebuilding.

Eric Musselman got canned in Sacramento by the Maloofs. Another franchise that needs to rebuild is the Kings. Bibby and Miller both are ideal for eastern conference teams who slow it down and play half court basketball. Artest is nuts, nothing else to say. Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia provide a good start to the rebuilding process.

Troy Hudson is dropping a rap album, WTF. Now we know why he has regressed too much time in the booth.

Mark Cuban is still a whiny bitch.

Sebastian Telfair arrested and consequently dropped by the Boston Celtics. Nice job Ainge, you basically traded Brandon Roy for Telfair. Now you drop the kid, Telfair needs to go to a team with a veteran point guard such as the Warriors, Pistons or Miami. The kid is only 21 and still has a bright future.

Warriors fans finally get a home playoff game, the first since 1994. Oracle Arena will be rockin looking like a sea of yellow and all the fans BELIEVING. Jessica Alba in town for Game 4 is enough reason to buy a ticket to Game 4.

Barbaro wins the 6th man of the year award. Quickest player in the league and range to boot, who would you rather have on your team Monta Ellis or Leandro Barbosa???

Monta Ellis should win the Most Improved award with Kevin Martin with a outside possibility.

MVP should be Steve Nash not the Diggler..

Warrior fans cherish the next 2 games youve waited a long,long time.

In all seriousness it wasn't pouting that spurred the Mavs to victory (all pun intended). They shot better, rebounded better with their bigs in the lineup and got in the passing lanes disrupting the Warriors fast breaks. Their bigs provided blocked shots, and defensive rebounds that allowed the Mavs to get out in the fast break and keep up with the Warriors in the first half. The Warriors fell apart in the third quarter after coming out strong in the first 50 seconds of the quarter.
Dallas started to hit their shots, we knew this would happen, Dirk and Stack are not going to have many bad shooting games. Stack had only laid a goose egg in 4 games in his career. The Mavs were also the aggressors in this game, in a big way. The refs didn't show the Warriors any love, but that is in large part due to the Warriors reacting and not being aggressive. Sorry, swiping at the ball after your man blows by you is not being aggressive.

There were some questionable calls and the Warriors need to expect that when they are on the road playing the best team in the league, they aren't getting any favors. Still 43-27 in free throw attempts is a tough pill to swallow. Not including Baron and Monta getting into early foul trouble, and Pietrus starting to really show some growth in the area of fastest player on the court to 5 fouls. The 24 turnovers also clearly had the Warriors rattled, I can't remember the last time I saw so many bad passes, and fumbled passes when Foyle wasn't even in the game.

The good news on the Warriors side is that we still haven't played our best ball. JRich has been particularly awful in the first two games, he was better tonight, but there was significant garbage time stat padding on his part. No one is underplaying Al Harrington. More missed layups, and some of his best drive to the hoop only to get blocked 'Danny Fortsen' impressions. He is 4-22 over two games, and 0-4 on 3's, WTF is going on Al? When the trade with Indiana was made I think we all felt that the real steal was Harrington, now it seems like SJax was the real bargain. If only we had Chris Mills back on the team we could go out after the loss and track down the Mavs Team Bus. I am pretty sure SJax wants to pop a cap in Devin Harris's ass.

Some positives to dwell on going into Game 3 in Oakland on Friday.

• Adonal Foyle is shooting 100% in his playoff career and averaging over 20 rebounds and 20 points per 48 minutes.
• Dampier still sucks, getting 2 rebounds, 2 points and 5 fouls in 14 minutes
• The Mavs are mentally weak and won't win an NBA championship
• $50 the Cuban kid picks his nose.....$50 he.....
• JRich and Al have been awful and have nowhere to go but up
• Pietrus has been so bad, averaging more fouls than points, we won't feel bad about not signing him
• Monta is the real deal, he is getting a taste of the playoffs and he is the future
• I will be at the game Friday so won't be subjected to Charles Barkley's color commentary
• The first playoff game in 13 years, the first at the remodeled arena, the roof is going to come off

Game 1 provided Warrior fans what they have been waiting for over 10 years, a playoff WIN. Riding the hot shooting of Baron Davis, the Warriors used thier "small ball" strategy to take down the top seeded Mavs. Davis was a one man army torching any defender that Avery put on him on his way to 33 points 14 rebounds. With many warriors playing in their first playoff game and having the expected jitters, Davis and Stephen Jackson provided the leadership to get the win. Both Monta Ellis and Jason Richardon had substandard games and hope to rebound in game 2.

The talk after game 1 was how the Mavs lost the game and not about how the Warriors WON the game. By swarming Dirk Nowitzki every time he touched the ball, the warriors forced Dallas's role players to step up and they could not. The biggest offender was Jerry Stackhouse who was held scoreless and provided nothing for the Mavs. If not for all the generous whistles from the Ref's in favor of the Mavs, this game could have been over much earlier.

Like Dallas, the media and everyone else has mentioned, the Warriors have a free swing and all the pressure is on Dallas to win, this should continue in game 2. In game 2, I expect the warriors to come out firing. Let me be the first to predict a 40+ point 1st quarter in which we see Ellis come out of his shell and J-rich hitting a couple of 3-balls in the quarter. Another Warrior who could be in line for a big game is Baby Al Harrington. If Avery decides to start wither Diop or Dampier, Harrington will be relied upon to hit the outside shots and keep runnning the court to tire out the Mavs big men.

Following his stellar game 1, Davis will be the focus of the Mavs attention enabling the others to get more quality shots. Expect a 10+ assists game out of Davis with him setting up his teammates all game long. On defense, expect more of the same from the Warriors. Dirk will still be the main priority of thier attention and again they will challenge the role players to beat them. The Mavs player to look out for is Josh Howard. Howard does alot of the dirty work for the Mavs such as grabbin offensive rebounds, diving for loose balls and playing excellent defense. Howard has a very quick second jump which enables him to grab rebounds faster than his opponents. Howard has one of the quickest pairs of hands in the league. In game 1, on many occasions Howard stole the ball from Warrior players by reaching in and utilizing his quick hands.

The potential League MVP, Dirk Nowitzki will need to supply a big game in order to assure victory for the Mavs. Dirk has a history of rebounding from poor performances and follwing them up with his typical superstar games. The Warriors can't allow to Dirk to get to the free throw line and they must make him put the ball on the floor rather than catch and shoot. Dirk has stated how he doesn't like to drive against smaller and quicker players because of the problems they create. If the Wariors are able to hold the big German down, the WARRIORS WILL WIN.

Prediction TIME:

Dallas has lost back to back games only on one occasion this year other than their losing sreak in the beginning of the year. The last time they lost back to back games was against the Warriors and a OT loss to the Suns. The Warriors hope to do the near impossible and pull off back to back wins vs the Mavs. The Warriors will come out firing and never look back. After quarter #1, Warriors will be winning 41-26 and roll to a easy 108-92 win over the Mavs. The Warriors then head home to the GREATEST FANS in the world and Jessica Alba for games 3 and 4, up 2-0 and a chance to do the impossible.