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!”