@nick

2mo

Davis Detonates On AK47

Before Steph Curry and Steve Kerr, before the Splash Bros and the Dynatsy, there was Baron Davis and the 8-seed Warriors. And on May 11, 2007, they were running away with Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals at Oracle Arena, up 119-99 on the Utah Jazz. That's when Baron Davis went nuclear. Davis took a feed at the top of the key, drove baseline against All World defender Andrei Kirilenko, the Russian whose lethal play earned him the nickname AK47, and exploded off two feet. He brought the hammer down right on Kirilenko's head. Kirilenko collapsed under it. The crowd pop at Oracle was so deafening it registered seismic waves. Davis, whose body seemed to levitate an extra 6 inches, lifted his jersey over his chest and was hit with a technical foul that nobody cared about. The dunk was an immediate poster and a meme before memes were even a thing. The defining image of the "We Believe" Warriors, the little 8-seed that could, had stunned the 67 win Dirk Nowitzki led Mavericks in Round 1 and turned a small market franchise into a national rallying cry. The lifted jersey pose became a t-shirt within hours. You would think that this story has a glorious ending but Utah collected themselves, won the next two games, anded the snuffed out the dream. The dunk however, is immortal. Mike Tirico couldn't contain himself as he belted out an "OHHHHH MANNN!!!" while the effervescent Hubie Brown added in a "Hello!" The YouTube video has 2.1M views and is 18 years old. Lot's of comments remark how Tirico and Hubie and spellbound by the moment and are reacting as fans, not commentators. Until Steph Curry arrived seven years later, it was the single most replayed Warriors highlight of the modern era.

Warriors

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Warriors Become 2nd NBA Team To Win 70 Games: Today in Sports History

On April 7th, 2016, the Golden State Warriors defeated the San Antonio Spurs 112-101, recording their 70th win on the season. The Warriors improved to 70-9 and clinched the top seed in the West. They were just three wins away from eclipsing the 1995-16 Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins. Steph Curry led the Warriors to victory with 27 points and nine assists, and Harrison Barnes added 21 points and eight rebounds. Tim Duncan was held to just four points.

@zach

Rookie Wilt Scores Playoff Record 53 Points: Today in Sports History

On March 14th, 1960, rookie Wilt Chamberlain scored a playoff record 53 points in the Philadelphia’s 132-112 win over the Syracuse Nationals to send the Philadelphia Warriors to the Eastern Division finals. Wilt’s performance is still the most points scored by a rookie in a playoff game today. It remains in the top 20 for most points scored in a playoff game, regardless of rookie status. In the Eastern Division finals, Wilt would set the second highest points in a playoff game for a rookie on March 22nd, dropping 50 points on the Boston Celtics.

@zach

Wilt’s 100 Point Game: Today in Sports History

On March 2nd, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania, setting the NBA’s single-game scoring record that still stands today. The Warriors won 169-147. That season, Wilt averaged 50.4 points per game, and he had already broken the single-game record with 78 points earlier in the season. The all-time great entered halftime with a mere 41 points, with his team deciding to feed him in the second half. He dropped 28 and 31 in the final two quarters, all while being fouled hard by the Knicks. Even with free throws being one of the weakest parts of Chamberlain’s game, he hit 28 of 32 attempts thanks to a new, underhanded approach. The 169-147 final score still stands as the 9th most combined points scored in an NBA game, with 316. Along with a March 12th, 1970 matchup between the Cincinnati Royals and San Diego Rockets that also finished with 316 points, they are the only two games in the Top 10 to take place before the 1980’s. While no television broadcast exists and no video evidence of the game has yet to surface from any of the 4,124 attendees, the radio recording from the 4th quarter was added to the United States' National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2016. No members of the New York press attended the game.