A Look Back at One of the Greatest Playoff Upsets In NBA History and the Game That Clinched the Series; Game 6 of the 'We Believe' Warriors Battling the 1-Seeded Dallas Mavericks

On May 3rd, 2007, the 'We Believe' Warriors pulled off one of the greatest playoff upsets in NBA history, sending the Dallas Mavericks fishing in the first round of the playoffs.

To appreciate the gold that the 'We Believe' short-lived run was, you have to remember the reality of the situation. You have to think back before the five straight trips to the Finals, before the three championships, before the 60 points in three quarters and Unanimous MVP and the Chase Center… you have to think back to the times before Stephen Curry. 

To refresh those times were mired in mediocrity. After the famous TMC trio of Tim Hardaway Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin, the Warriors struggled to put together a playoff-worthy team-- missing 13 straight playoffs.

It wasn't until a slightly odd cast of characters were mushed together, that the Warriors found something to excite the city of Oakland.

It was a classic story of a group of misfits banding together, Breakfast Club style, to achieve one goal. And that team had some personalities, all coming from different places and situations. 

We'll start with the newcomers to the team, Stephen "Captain Jack" Jackson and Al Harrington. The Warriors core wasn't getting the job done, so the front office decided to make a blockbuster, eight-person trade that sent off Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy Jr. to Indiana for Jackson and Harrington. 

Captain Jack was freshly assuming his role as the league's hot head, following the infamous "Malice in the Palace" altercation that took place between himself, some of his former Pacer teammates who may have different names now, and some fans and opposing players. With that said, Captain Jack could still ball. He was the versatile wing defender and slasher that the current Warrior squad is looking for-- with the ability to shoot from the outside and post up smaller players. Al Harrington brought a competitive edge to the group. His former Pacer teammate, then-Ron Artest, recalled Harrington having a "hell of a chip on his shoulder."

Baron Davis was brought onto the team the season before through trade. Davis outlived his tenure as a Hornet primarily because of a fall out between him and his then-coach Byron Scott. Davis quickly became a star for the Warriors bringing excitement and buckets but failed to translate the fun into wins-- going 34-48 in the 2006 season.

Jason Richardson was drafted by the Warriors, winning the Dunk Contest in 2003 and 2004. Richardson, like Davis, was an exciting player but couldn't get over the hump, only bringing Dunk Championships to the table.

The roster included a then-journeyman Matt Barnes-- who had been on four teams in three years before joining the Warriors-- and a 21-year-old Monta Ellis-- a second-round pick straight out of high school ready to prove his decision to forgo college right.

The front office made the moves to become winners, but the injury bug was still undefeated. Davis and Richardson missed significant time due to injury, leaving the Warriors nine games below .500 midway through the season. Their play and injury misfortune gave the Dub Nation faithful zero reasons to believe that the team was going to make the playoffs-- let alone what they did once in the playoffs.

But this is why the game is played. Each player on the roster had something to prove-- despite being at different stages of their career. Those personal missions manifested into a late-season push. The squad squeeze into the playoffs after winning 16 of their last 21 games.

That streak was mainly behind a win over the Detroit Pistons-- who had just come off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance the year prior. The Warriors pounced the Piston 111-93.

The Warriors were starting to find their groove with the new guys, and the next game, a fan named Paul Wong, brought a hand-made sign to the game. Its message was simple, yet carried a hope that Warriors' fans hadn't seen in a long time: "We Believe."

The phrase took off. Wong sold "We Believe" tees and other merchandise. Golden State’s marketing team soon approached Wong for the use of the slogan, and it became the motto for a fanbase that was looking for something to grasp on to believe in.

So wrap your mind around this. At the time, some fans had never seen the Warriors in the playoffs. Youngsters who never saw their city win a playoff series. So making the playoffs in itself was a massive deal for the Bay Area.

The series that followed was difficulty magical. Not only did the Warriors face the one seed to open up the playoffs, that one seed was the hottest team in the NBA at the time. The Dallas Mavericks, led by that year's MVP Dirk Nowitzki, were a 67-win team coming into the playoffs as the favorites to win it all. 

On top of that, since the 16 team playoff format was introduced in 1984, only two eight seeds had beaten a one seed, and both occurred when the first round was the best of five. This time the Warriors had to win a best of seven-- aka four games.

But the Warriors had a secret weapon… their head coach. And no, it was not Mark Jackson or Steve Kerr-- who called most the series as a color commentator for TNT. The genius who led the 2007 Warriors squad was named Don Nelson-- the former Dallas Mavericks head coach. 

Nelson was behind the craftsmanship that landed Dallas' superstar, Dirk Nowitzki, and coach Nowitzki for the first six years of his career.

Current Warriors broadcaster and then-player Kelenna Azubuike described Nelson's knowledge of Nowitzki's game as "insightful."

"He knew Dirks every move pretty much," Azubuike said. "And we made him turn the ball over a ton because of that. He'd get the ball around the free-throw line in coach [would] say 'he's about to spin,' and he'd have us practice sending one guy over there when he's about to turn, and we'd be able to steal the ball. It wasn't just a play, it was a bunch of stuff like that, and it helped us out tremendously."

Nowitzki struggled that series, receiving a hard blow to his reputations as an all-time great. His shooting percentages, which were at a 50-40-90 clip, dropped tremendously-- Nowitzki shooting 38% from the field and 21% from three in the series.

Along with that, Nelson was one of the first coaches to embrace positionless basketball, which allowed Davis, Richardson, Ellis, and Jackson to get busy. Nelson had the Warriors playing small ball before small ball was popular and winning. The closing lineup for the Dubs often featured Davis, Barnes, Jackson, Richardson, and Harrington.

The small lineup featured long, athletic guards and scrappy soft traps that may have been flawed but got the job done. Along with their defensive grind, the Warriors-- especially Davis and Jackson-- put pressure and Dallas-- primarily Nowitzki-- by getting consistent paint touches. Davis and Jackson were unstoppable, getting downhill, finishing at the rim and creating for their jump shooters.

The squad skyrocketed expectations, playing at a level that no one predicted, but the series still went to six games. After falling to the Mavericks in Dallas in Game 5, the Warriors needed to win Game 6 in Oakland to avoid elimination at the one seed's arena. 

At this point in the Cinderella story, the Mighty Ducks like team usually become overwhelmed and lose the fight to the Goliath and takes home a moral victory. Not this time.

The Warriors jumped out on the Mavericks in Game 6. They raced out to a 12-2 lead, forcing Dallas into silly turnovers and putting on a Showtime Lakers like show in Oracle.

Dallas didn't lay down quickly, though. The Mavericks withstood the initial uppercut the Warriors landed and through a jab of their own taking the lead to finish the first quarter. For every Warriors' play, the Mavericks had one fo their own-- Jerry Stackhouse being the leader of the Maverick front.

Coming out of halftime, Oracle was rocking. The fans were electric, and that energy spilled onto the court. 

"It was the greatest atmosphere I'd ever experienced in a basketball game in the NBA, and that's not hyperbole," Steve Kerr praised. "This place was so loud."

Adonal Foyle, a former Warrior veteran, described the crowd, "It was like being in the desert for 10 years, and you finally saw water. It was just that guttural— people in the arena hours early, screaming of pure pleasure and desperation. They'd been waiting for one moment, and they finally got it."

Davis, who had suffered a hamstring strain in the early minutes of the second quarter, played out of his mind-- slicing to the rim, dishing out assists, and hitting circus threes to build a Dub lead.

From there, Barnes and Jackson finished the job. By the late third quarter, the Warriors pushed their lead to 20 and kept their foot on the gas. Dunks, threes, and a championship like celebration followed, as the eight seed Warriors dismantled the one seed Dallas Mavericks 111-86, in Game 6 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs, securing a 4-2 series win.

"It felt like we won the championship to me," Jackson recalled. "Even though we lost the second round, it still felt like we won the championship because Oakland celebrated it like we did. The city made us feel like we won the championship."

The 'We Believe' Warriors team played well above anyone's expectations. There was so much that went into their first-round playoff series that made it special, from the players to the coach to the style of basketball, all the way down to the history of the franchise and the fan base. Everything felt like a scripted Cinderella story, and even though the team eventually lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Utah Jazz, they are forever immortalized as the We Believe Warriors: a symbol of hope; something for a tortured fanbase to believe in.