NBA: Most Memorable Playoff Runs

The 2007 Golden State Warriors. This is the team that made Don Nelson look brilliant again, after years of mishaps like his NY Knicks gig and the Wang Zhi Zhi experiment made him seem a little crazy. This is the team that made people think that a 5 guard lineup might actually work. You might think I’m exaggerating when I say that, but the lineup that saw the fourth highest minutes for the Warriors in that playoff run featured Stephen Jackson at centre and Matt Barnes at power forward. Nelson was a madman, gleefully attacking basketball conventions for the sake of it, and he was fortunate to meet the first round matchup of his dreams: the Dallas Mavericks, who abandoned Nelly Ball when he left town in favor of a more traditional style of play. The Warriors stormed out of the gate with a Game 1 victory and then rode their incredible crowd to three home victories as they closed out the series in six exciting and fast-paced games. It was the first time an 8th seed had advanced since the NBA extended that round to 7 games.

Of course, none of that really seemed to matter once Baron Davis murdered Andrei Kirilenko in cold blood on national television in the following round. At that moment it felt like the only reason any of that happened was to allow Davis the opportunity to commit black on white crime: