Dirk! Captain Jack! Matt Barnes!
There’s a deluge of NBA related content out here today on the interwebs. Long gone are the days where basketball fans would wait breathlessly for SportsCenter to run the highlights while eagerly hoping for the next issue of Sports Illustrated to hit the shelves.
Nowadays everybody and their mama has a podcast, whether it’s an authority on the game like Golden State Warriors’ enforcer Draymond Green, or random fans screaming on YouTube about who should be traded.
But it’s the “All The Smoke” podcast with former Dubs Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes that has truly raised the bar for unique interviews that showcase their wisdom from many years in the game and their camaraderie with their guests. Those two were foundational members of the We Believe-era Warriors, a band of brothers that stunned the world as an 8th seed knocking off the #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks in the postseason.
That’s why my heart skipped a beat when I saw Stack Jack and Barnes interviewing the MVP from those Mavs, the great Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki. The 7-foot German was an elite big man that was antagonized out of the playoffs by the small but gritty Dubs, who under the teaching of former Mavs architecht Don Nelson were able to swarm and befuddle a prime Nowitzki.
Hearing Nowitzki’s humble, honest commentary on that series is a true treat for any Warriors fan to enjoy like a festive holiday eggnog. He touched on how frustrating it was for all his moves to be stymied by a brilliant Golden State defensive attack. He spoke about the shock of being knocked out by an 8th seed after having gone to the NBA Finals the year before.
He even touched on kicking a trash can or chair (he can’t quite remember) into the wall at Oracle Arena, leaving a hole that the Warriors hung a We Believe jersey next to for inspirational purposes.
Check it out for yourself and relive just how cool a moment it was to see the Warriors shock the basketball world!
