In a continuation of interviews with the “We Believe” team, we recently caught up with former Warriors guard Monta Ellis. A fan favorite over his six-plus seasons with the Dubs, Ellis averaged almost 20 points per game and was the team’s leading scorer for three seasons. The 2006-07 season was The Mississippi Bullet’s second pro season, and Ellis upped his scoring average by 9.7 points per game to earn the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award.
From what he saw out of Warriors fans during the playoff run through the memorable Baron Davis dunk in the second round, Ellis recently discussed some of his favorite memories from the ‘We Believe’ season with Warriors television broadcaster Bob Fitzgerald. Listen to the full interview here or read up on some of the highlights below.
On the fans’ support during the 2007 NBA Playoffs series vs. Dallas:
“I tell people this all the time: there’s no fans, in no sports, that’s like the Bay Area fans… That year, in those playoffs, we couldn’t even hear each other talk it was so loud (at Oracle Arena). Just imagine being in a place where 18 to 20,000 people stand up the whole game. They didn’t sit down, they stood up the whole game!”
On the team’s confidence against the top-seeded Mavericks in the 2007 NBA Playoffs:
“We won Game 1, and then we came back Game 2 — and the only reason we lost that game was because (Stephen Jackson) and (Baron Davis) got kicked out of the game towards the end, and they still barely beat us that game — we knew then. We knew then, right there, that we were going to win that series because there was no way in the world they were going to come back and beat us at Oracle… When we went back 1-1, we had no doubt we were going to win those games and we were going to win that series.”
On Baron Davis’ dunk on Andrei Kirilenko in the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals:
“Me knowing Baron, his body has to be feeling real good for him to be able to attempt that. So when he went up, and when he hit bodies with him, I knew he was going to try it. When he dunked it, oh my goodness! Like I said: in the playoffs, second round, we hadn’t been there for so long, and for him to dunk like that… man! It was amazing. I’ve never seen nobody get dunked on like that.”
On what the Bay Area and Warriors mean to him:
“I got the bridge and the Bay Area tatted on me, so everyday I wake up, every night I go to sleep, I pray for the city of Oakland, the Bay Area, the people that were genuine to me, and that organization… I love y’all, I miss you guys. I thank y’all for adopting me and thank y’all for all the support from day one.”