They’ve grown up to be a real threat, and that’s been no easy task for the Golden State Warriors after more than a decade of failure.

Until they slipped into the playoffs last year and crushed the Dallas Mavericks in the first round to pull off one of the great upsets in NBA history, they had been a failing franchise in a great sports market.

Even then, they were a novelty item when they fell to the Utah Jazz in the conference semifinals.

Not anymore. The quartet of coach Don Nelson and stars Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis is proving to be as lethal as any combination in the NBA today. They are 40-18 in the 58 games they’ve played together this season, averaging 61.0 points, 13.8 rebounds, 15.1 assists and 5.03 steals. It has everything to do with why the Warriors lead the NBA in scoring at 110.9 per game, including 31 in a row in triple digits, and have remained just 4.5 games out of the top seed in the Western Conference.

The start of the transformation was when general manager Chris Mullin was hired to restore the franchise to what it was like when he was an All-Star player. But even he had growing pains on the job. He turned the roster over and made a horrible hire in Stanford coach Mike Montgomery before he coaxed his old coach Nelson out of retirement in Hawaii.

It was the return of Nellieball -- with the promise, “We’re going to play small and fast, so try and catch us if you can.” That’s the way it was when Mullin teamed with Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond in the “Run TMC” era of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before last season, the Warriors hadn’t even been to the playoffs in 13 years and hadn't won a series in 16 years. Obviously, it was worth a shot and it worked.

This time around, though, it works even better. The change of rules prohibiting hand checking and blocking the path to the basket in the lane has made small and fast more of a style than something charming. If you don’t have special power players, then this is the vogue way to play. So a lot of teams have adopted this brand of ball, and the Warriors, along with the Suns, are the best at it.

Still, the Warriors began the season 0-6 -- some of that having to do with Jackson serving out a suspension for an off-court indiscretion. But they have lost two in a row only once since then and amassed a 42-19 record since the dismal start. That's fourth best in the NBA over that span, trailing only the Celtics, Pistons and Lakers.

The big difference between this season and last is consistency, and that has come as a result of playing well on the road too. Not only are the Warriors a tough 23-10 in the now packed Oracle Arena, where they increased their season ticket sales a whopping 50 percent, but they’re 19-15 on the road compared to 12-29 a year ago.

All of this explains why they guaranteed the final $2 million of Nelson’s to the fashionable $5 million range and already picked up the option for next season despite his 68th birthday coming. After all, he is only 58 wins behind Lenny Wilkens (1,332) for the most in NBA history. Perhaps more importantly, the players love this style.

He has built the team around Davis and Jackson, a couple of unorthodox players with fearless personalities. Davis is a powerful point guard, prone to spectacular streaks and injuries throughout his career -- and not afraid to voice his displeasure with his coach and teammates. Jackson is a long and skinny swingman with a history of emotional explosions on and off the court. Together, they have been nitroglycerin for this dormant franchise. Their potential, though, has always been obvious.

The unexpected piece of this perilous puzzle proved to be Ellis, the 6-3 guard snatched right out of Lanier High School in Jackson, Miss.

Everybody knew Davis and Jackson could be dangerous. But Ellis … well, not exactly. OK, he did lead his team to two state championships, and averaged 38.4 points, 7.9 assists, 6.9 rebounds and 4.5 steals his senior year. But that was high school. He was projected as a point guard, and the history of point guards skipping college for the NBA is littered with disappointment. It’s why he didn’t go until the second round.

Playing him with Davis really changed everything, however. After a predictably erratic rookie year, he exploded late last season – raising his average to 16.5 points while shooting .475 from the field to win the league’s Most Improved Player Award. But even more impressive has been the continual growth, with the latest buzz wondering if he should become the first player ever to win the award two years in a row – and before his 23rd birthday no less.

Not only is he averaging 19.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists, but he’s shooting a blistering .535 from the field. Granted, he hasn’t grown into 3-point range yet … but there seems little doubt he will as he adds to his sub-180 pounds. He became only the ninth guard in history to shoot 60 percent from the field for a month -- averaging 26.0 points while making .602 percent of his shots in February. Even more impressive is the 33 games in a row he has reached double-figures -- averaging 22.7 points while making .566 of his field goal attempts -- dating back to Jan. 7. All of this is why they dealt high-scoring Jason Richardson to Charlotte for the rights to draft 20-year-old Brandon Wright, the immensely gifted 6-10 forward from North Carolina who will be a factor next season.

What we don’t know is what Nelson can get out of the rest of the team. Al Harrington continues to be erratic, with flashes of exceptional play on offense and rebounding – but they come too sparingly. Latvian post player Andris Biedrins, who won’t be 22 for another couple of weeks, is plenty tough and is close to averaging a double-double with 10.0 points and 9.2 rebounds – but he’s still very raw offensively.

The bench is long and effective, with swingman Kelenna Azubuike, Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes all 20-minute guys who contribute on both ends of the floor. Veteran streak shooter Austin Croshere has had his moments as well. The shame of it all was the wasted time and effort to recruiting the aging and damaged Chris Webber to help up front. He has contributed virtually nothing while Wright is still trying to gain strength and adapt to the NBA. They could have used a legit big body to support Biedrins for the playoffs.

Nonetheless, they are right in the mix. They are within 4.5 games of the No. 1 seed, and 3.0 games from home-court advantage in the first round (or 3.5 games away from falling out of the playoffs to ninth-seeded Denver). Granted, they still don’t play good enough defense to be a serious threat to win the West – or even return to the second round of the playoffs – but depending on the matchup, that certainly isn’t out of the question either.

So in this topsy-turvy race in the West, the Warriors are one intrepid group daring anyone to stop them from running full blast and cranking up 3-pointers. They’re winning and their fun to watch, and that’s a far cry from where they were for more than a decade – just ask the nearly 20,000 delirious fans that show up each game at the Oracle.

The reconnection has indeed been divine.