by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors are enjoying their best season ever. The Warriors best regular season was in 1975-76 when they finished 59-23, beat Detroit in the playoffs and lost to Phoenix in seven games. Their most successful season however, was the 1974-75, when they ended 48-34, but went on to win their first and only NBA championship surprising the world and taking care of the Washington Bullets, on a 4-0 sweep, with Rick Barry winning the MVP.

As I have written previously, I remember covering the Warriors as a writer for the bilingual El Mundo News of Oakland, in those years Spanish was not as prevalent as it is today, as the Golden State is as bilingual as any other state in the country. I even remember the days the Warriors played at the Cow Palace in Daly City,they were the San Francisco Warriors, prior to moving to their current arena at Oakland, and soon another page in the history of this franchise will be written, when they eventually move west to San Francisco. They will probably change their name to San Francisco Warriors again when they move to Mission Bay.

The Warriors have their best shot this season to win their first NBA title in 40 years, and their second in history. Today there is not really a dominant team in the NBA, unlike those sensational Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990’s. I had the privilege of calling Warriors games on Spanish radio during the Bulls dynasty. And that was a real dynasty, as they won six NBA titles in an eight season stretch.

Michael Jordan was the best player in the world, and he showed his talent and leadership winning the MVP with ease during the regular season and also during the finals multiple times. Michael Jordan internationalized basketball all over the world, like Pelé did for Fútbol. I Covered the great MJ as well as Edson Arantes Do Nacimento(Pelé)when he came to the Bay Area as ambassador of FIFA and representing Brazil, I interviewed the Babe Ruth of Soccer for Spanish television during the 1994 US World Cup, Pelé is truly a great person. But the winter of 2014-15 belongs to the Golden State Warriors, Giants had a parade to celebrate their third title, the A’s look World Series bound until a team by the name of Kansas City showed up, the 49ers were out of it early, so the Warriors are the biggest shinning sport star in the Bay Area firmament.

Hard to argue that the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls were not the best team ever. They did finished with the best record ever in an NBA season with 72-10, the Warriors current coach, Steve Kerr was part of those Jordan-Pippen-Rodman-Salley-Harper and company teams. I was fortunate to have work in the NBA during the “peak”years, with the commanding court presence
of:Jordan,Magic,Harper,Malone,Stockton,Mullin,Bird,Barkley and other great Hall of Fame players, many who formed the famous “Dream Team”that represented the US in the Olympic games of Barcelona, in 1992, when Michael Jordan was king and nobody was better. That is when the NBA really went ‘international’when marketing of the NBA super star jerseys were sold like hot cakes in Europe,Asia,Latinamerica, and of course here in the United States.

How fast do we forget? The current season has been so spectacular for the Warriors that many forget that last season(2013-14) the team finished with 51-31 record, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the LA Clippers, and that was an exciting and very entertaining season, the last one by coach Mark Jackson, a very good coach.

The rest of the season will be very important for this team that is on his way to the postseason. Their biggest enemy will be themselves, free of injuries, they could go very deep into the playoffs, but like in baseball, in the NBA there are teams that get hot at the end of the season,at the right time, and those(not necessarily with the best win-lost record)are the ones that can upset everybody.

Recently Warriors point guard Stephen Curry was received by President Obama as the two posed for pictures in the Oval Office. Curry was not there on a basketball mission, although he would love to return to 1600 Pennsylavania Avenue in a few months to be welcome as champions of the NBA. Curry has a long life fight and campaign to prevent malaria.

As a super star, Stephen Curry is one Warrior that is living his dream, for these are the Glory Days for the Golden State Warriors. I know that every team in every sport league say they have the best fans ever. But here in the Bay Area, it is my experience, from covering all sports, that among the major sports, the most loyal and consistent fans have been the Warriors fans. From Al Attles days, to the Steve Kerr team today, Warriors fans have been there always supporting their team, they haven’t built a new facility, but Warrior’s fans generation after generation have lived and died with their W’S.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s and the Spanish TV voice for the Los Angeles Angels and does Sportstalk each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com