Four reasons the 2007 "WE BELIEVE" Warriors don't necessarily provide upset hope for the Thunder

I will forever argue -- with homerific voracity -- that the 2007 Golden State Warriors' first round victory over the Dallas Mavericks as the eight seed is the greatest playoff upset ever.

Freelantz told me that WWLS radio show hosts Bob Barry, Jr and Matt Pinto mentioned that the Warriors monumental victory might serve as inspiration for the Thunder.

However, although it does say that seeding does not make a team invincible, it's not necessarily inspiration for other 8 seeds -- the circumstances surrounding that series were rather unique and it's hard to imagine a team stepping into that situation again for four reasons.

1. The Warriors had beaten the Mavericks 5 consecutive times and 6 of the previous 7 entering that playoff series dating back to the 2005-06 season.

As a (perhaps delusional) Warriors fan, this gave me confidence going into the series. For whatever reason we seemed to "have the Mavs' number". Granted 3 of those games were decided by three points or less and the last win -- the Mavericks' 80th game -- was a blowout because the Mavs didn't really need it.

2. The Warriors were on a roll after they traded Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy for Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington.

After a trade that happened in between the 40th and 41st games of the season, the Warriors were a different team and they peaked at just about the right time. They won 16 of their final 20 games, including two wins over the Mavs (one being the aforementioned blowout). Immediately prior to that win streak, Baron Davis was injured.

One could very easily argue that the Warriors team the Mavs faced in the playoffs was just an entirely different team than the one that went 26-36 before March.

3. The Mavericks could not keep up with the Warriors' perimeter quickness.

If you recall, the series was a flurry of inexplicable Warriors layups and kick out threes. The reason was that the Mavs really could not contain Baron Davis and the small ball lineup coach Don Nelson ran with. Rather than going big and trying to pound the Warriors in the half-court, the Mavs did the opposite and tried to go small. After getting blown out in Oracle Arena in Game 3, Avery Johnson essentially benched ex-Warrior Erick Dampier for the rest of the series and went with DeSagana Diop as his lone center for the rest of the series. Going small and trying to run with the Warriors simply didn't help.

4. Avery Johnson was Don Nelson's apprentice.

I've never actually known how much stock to put into this, but when you consider points 1 & 3, it does seem to add up to something. The 2005-06 team was 34-48 and not "good" by any stretch of the imagination and yet they still won the season series with the Mavs. And during the playoff matchup, Johnson's attempts to beat Nellie at his own game seemed to speak more to pride than basketball reasoning.

Bottom line: 8th seeds have a chance, but this scenario is admittedly almost not an "upset".

None of this is to say the Thunder can't beat the Lakers, but points 1, 2, & 4 above could have been determined prior to the series beginning and actually gave me a bit of confidence going in. I'm not sure the Thunder have as significant an edge against the 2010 Los Angeles Lakers.