Soul, Passion and Some Luck

Another great win for those Plucky Little Warriors last night...with the help of a little luck, in the form of Kobe Bryant's groin injury which clearly hampered him in the 4th quarter, ultimately leading to his leaving the game at crunch time.

This has been quite a week for the locals in basketball and hockey - the W's get the Spurs sans the best player in the game, Tim Duncan, then get Kobe and the Lakers, only to watch Kobe spend the 4th quarter hobbling around like he just had his hip replaced. The Sharks, meanwhile, get division leading Vancouver minus the best goalie in the league, Roberto Luongo.

But hey, you can only play the cards you're dealt, right? Wins are wins. And, to be fair, due to Stephen Jackson's smothering defense Kobe was having a rough game well before he got hurt.

The biggest thing I take away from this game is the mental fortitude the Warriors are showing this year, a fortitude long missing from this team. Even during last year's great run they didn't show this kind of mental toughness.

It was first evident in their rapid recovery and ascent from their 0-6 start. While previous Warrior teams might have gone in the tank at that point the Warriors went out on a tough road trip and righted the ship.

Then there are the come from behind victories - last Friday, coming from 18 down against the Heat and now coming from down 8 with 3:29 to go against a team that had beaten them 9 games in a row.

That's mental toughness. That's soul and passion, and hey, let's be real, a little bit of luck. But in this league you need to take advantage of your opportunities, and make some of your own luck.

These Warriors are living up to their name. As Lionel Hampton might say, this could be the start of something good...