Here are my memories up until this 2015 NBA Championship, in no particular order. I’m sure many Warriors fans of my generation can relate.
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Remember when Chris Webber ruined that poster you just got for your 10th birthday …
Remember staying home sick from basketball practice in middle school and watching the Warriors on KICU, when Rony Seikaly blocked Michael Jordan, only to have Jordan make the mid-lane fadeaway anyway, and of course the Bulls won …
Remember listening to Warriors radio voice Tim Roye on late drives home with Dad, listening to elevation sensations and “Spree for 3” …
Remember Jim Barnett teaching all us Bay Area 6th-graders just how important 2-for-1s are …
Remember never, ever beating David Robinson and his Spurs …
Remember feeling like guys like Jordan, Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley played in an entirely different league …
Remember Don Nelson’s mustache …
Remember trying to shoot from fingertips like Chris Mullin and trying to pull off Timmy Hardaway’s Killer Crossover …
Remember Rick Adelman benching Hardaway, and also remember Bob Lanier, Dave Cowens, Brian Winters and Eric Musselman …
Remember Donyell Marshall, Vonteego Cummings, Chris Gatling too …
Remember being excited about Danny Fortson coming …
Remember making a team of David Woods in NBA Live ‘95 on CD-ROM to face a team of Shaqs and Olajuwons … Remember needing a team like the Rockets as a playoff team to root for because the Warriors were never in it …
Remember being pumped that Jordan’s B.J. Armstrong would join the Warriors and even wore #11 in middle school to honor him …
Remember the Warriors hosting a Joe Smith night, giving a free ticket to anyone named Joe Smith …
Remember the way Greg Papa said Andrew DeClercq’s name …
Remember John Starks…
Remember freshman year of high school, not understanding how one of the favorite players could choke the coach …
Remember hoping Casey Jacobsen would leave Stanford and come rescue the Warriors and remember when Mike Montgomery couldn’t …
Remember Antawn Jamison’s 50-point nights and Jason Richardson dunk contests feeling like championships …
Remember Vonteego Cummings, Todd Fuller, Bimbo Coles, Clifford Rozier and Felton Spencer …
Remember trading for Baron Davis and thinking it was strange the Warriors just landed an actual star …
Remember just-after-college roommates spraying champagne when Davis and the “We Believe” Warriors knocked out the No. 1-seed Mavericks in the first round …
Remember never thinking the Warriors would win a championship …
Remember the first time covering a pro game at 20 and Gilbert Arenas, Mike Dunleavy and Jason Richardson treating me so kindly …
Remember arguing that Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis could co-exist …
Remember — and this one is more personal — meeting Curry for the first time when he was a rookie, and having him invite me and a high school player I coached to a Warriors practice and how Curry sat on a medicine ball for 45 minutes inspiring that kid to be greater than he ever thought he could be …
Remember, years later, Curry taking genuine interest in my faith, asking questions and wanting to connect more about it, and then witnessing as his heart never changed a bit while becoming the league’s MVP and a global star …
Remember Joe Lacob getting booed, Mark Jackson given a chance, Steve Kerr given a chance, an agent taking over as GM and suddenly things making sense …
Now, from the eyes of that 10-year-old from the Bay Area blended with my eyes as a 32-year-old who reported on the entire Warriors playoff run, I’ll remember this Warriors’ championship very, very well.
What a ride.
