Among all the pressure of a rubber match with the Cleveland Cavaliers in today's start to the NBA Finals, Golden State Warriors forward Matt Barnes drew an unforeseen matchup between this team and one of yesteryear.
The 37-year-old, who is the only member left in the roster from the 2006-07 “We Believe” Warriors team that shocked the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs, claimed his old Dubs team would go to a seven-game series with this year's star-studded Warriors.
“It would definitely go seven games. And I would have to hit the game-winning shot for this team,” Barnes enthusiastically told reporters.
“What the eighth-seed 2006-07 Warriors lacked in superstar pedigree, they made up for with toughness. We had a team full of Draymond Greens. Our mindset was that way.”
Matt Barnes believes a playoff series with the "We Believe" Warriors and this year's Warriors would go 7 games and come down to a last shot. pic.twitter.com/Hv2Ga4IX1o
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) June 1, 2017
Barnes has been known to be one of the most avid fans of that team and still keeps in touch with the likes of Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, and Stephen Jackson — teammates that helped take down a 67-15 Mavericks team after going a valiant 9-1 in their last 10 games of the season to claim the last playoff spot.
Despite being a whopping 25 wins behind the Dirk Nowitzki-led Mavs — the “We Believe” slogan was chanted into existence, with role players like Barnes having excellent games and going toe-to-toe against the league's MVP, who was coming off a 50-40-90 season.
To say a team with no All-Stars would beat a team that has four of them is a bit of a reach, but it just speaks to how much of a David and Goliath type of story that was 10 years ago.
Presently, the 2016-17 Warriors sit only four games away from bringing another title to the city by the bay.
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