Stephen Jackson thinks Spurs couldn’t have stopped Baron Davis in ’07

The “We Believe” Warriors made a historic run in the ’07 playoffs, and Stephen Jackson seems to think they could’ve stopped the San Antonio Spurs’ title bid.

There’s probably never been a former player that talks as much about the San Antonio Spurs as Stephen Jackson does. From claiming he was better than Manu Ginobili to bashing the team for their handling of Kawhi Leonard, Jackson is never short of opinions regarding the Silver and Black.

Now a co-host with Matt Barnes of All the Smoke, a successful podcast that frequently welcomes NBA players as guests, Jackson has an uncensored outlet to share his strange revisionist history and opinions. That continued recently when Jackson was a guest on The Bill Simmons Podcast to talk about his basketball career.

Jackson and Barnes were both members of the 2007 Golden State Warriors team that amusingly knocked the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs in six games. Led by Baron Davis, the team became known as the “We Believe” Warriors due to their position as an underdog and their extremely passionate home crowd.

After defeating Dallas, the Warriors had to get through the Utah Jazz before potentially meeting up with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. When asked about how that could’ve gone, Jackson had an answer that you’d come to expect from him by now.

Stephen Jackson on a Potential Warriors-Spurs matchup

“I would’ve felt good about that series because I know that team,” said Jackson. “I knew them well.” Stephen, of course, won an NBA championship with the Spurs in 2003 before leaving for the Atlanta Hawks the following season after not getting the contract he wanted.

“I’m not saying we could stop Tim [Duncan],” admitted Jackson. “But they had nobody on that team to beat Baron Davis.” Of course, the Warriors didn’t quite make it to the Western Conference Finals to give San Antonio a taste of the unstoppable Davis.

The Warriors ultimately lost to the Utah Jazz in five games in the second round, which, if you ask Jackson, was due to a combination of bad officiating in Games 1 and 2 and the fact that Davis was injured toward the end of the first round.

When Bill Simmons suggested the Warriors’ best shot would be to be mean to the Spurs’ roster full of nice guys, Jackson agreed.

“Tim was one of those guys that always had his composure, but the other guys on the team — if Tim’s not going, Tony’s not getting open shots, Manu’s not getting open shots, ’cause can’t many of those guys on the Spurs organization create for themselves,” said Jackson.

By the way, the Spurs still did have Tony Parker, who led the league in points in the paint for much of the 2005-06 season, and Manu Ginobili who, well, is Manu Ginobili.

“We could’ve been in a great situation,” concluded Jackson about a potential matchup with the Spurs in 2007. San Antonio went on to win the championship that season, with “Mr. Can’t Create for Himself” Tony Parker taking home the NBA Finals MVP award.