The 2017 Golden State Warriors can seemingly do anything. But they can’t do one thing that the 2007 Warriors could do: those Warriors shocked the basketball world, sneaking into the 8th playoff spot with a late season surge and knocking off #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks four games to two in the first round. The 2017 Warriors — with Steph, Draymond and KD — would have to score 260 points in a game to shock anybody. These Warriors aren’t built to shock; they’re built to demolish.
But both those teams called Oracle Arena home, and it was in 2007 during the Warriors dramatic run behind Baron Davis’s greatness that people first started calling Oracle “Roaracle” because of the decibel level and enthusiasm of the fans. The year before (2006-07) marked the 12th straight season the Warriors had missed the playoffs. No one then would have thought to call the arena where the moribund Warriors played by anything but its proper name. (Oracle is named for a software company that traditionally specialized in databases — a multi-billion dollar enterprise, to be sure, but nothing to scream about for its flash. A good database doesn’t call attention to itself!) But when the 2007 Warriors went on their great run, the whole Bay Area got energized. And by the time Baron Davis threw down this “I’m-a-bad-man” tomahawk slam in Game 3 against the Utah Jazz in round 2 (see below), Oracle had become Roaracle. It’s even louder now, but there’s nothing like that first burst of joy in surprise success.
