BOSTON – Turns out the dynasty has just been put on hold.
Golden State has won the NBA championship again, four seasons after its last championship. This is the franchise’s seventh title and the fourth for its three superstars: Stephen the curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Greenwho have spent a decade growing up together, winning together, and over the past three years, learning how fragile success can be.
On Thursday, they defeated the Boston Celtics, 103-90, in Game 6 of the NBA finals. They won the series, 4-2, and celebrated a crunch victory on the wooden deck of TD Garden, beneath 17 championship banners, in front of a crowd of frustrated players. The Boston fans booed their team at half-time, and there was rarely any reason to be hopeful after that.
The Celtics took a 14-2 lead to open the game, playing better than they played in a lackluster start to Game 5, but Golden State’s fire threatened to overwhelm them. For nearly six minutes from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second, Boston could not score.
Golden State took a 21-point lead in the second quarter and held on to that position early in the third quarter.
With 6 minutes and 15 seconds remaining in the third inning, Curry hit the third of his fifth game, giving his team a 22-point lead. He reached out his right hand and pointed to its ring finger, certain that he was well on his way to winning his fourth championship ring.
The moment may have spurred the Celtics, who responded with a 12-2 win. However, in the end, they have too many facilities to recover from.
Curry, who had 34 points on 12 out of 21 shots in game 6, won the Finals Player of the Year award.
Golden State celebrated after two sub-record seasons, one that made it the worst team in the NBA. Its players and coaches spent those seasons waiting for Thompson’s injury to heal, the Curry’s (lesser) wounds are healed and their new or young pieces list to evolve to take on important roles.
As they become complete again, the three-player core talks about cementing its legacy.
They were much younger when their journey together began. Golden State drafted Curry in 2009, Thompson in 2011 and Green in 2012.
Curry was 27 years old when they won their first championship together in 2015. Thompson and Green were both 25.
That season was also Steve Kerr’s first season as the team’s coach.
Golden State overcame 67-15 and made it through the knockouts to the NBA Finals, no matter how hard it was. The following year, the team set a league record with 73 wins in the regular season but lost on a return trip to the finals. Kevin Durant joined the team in free agency that summer, and Golden State won the next two championships, becoming one of the greatest teams in NBA history.
Champions have evolved as humans and as players during this time. Curry and Green have added children to their family. They were rock stars on the street, with tons of fans waiting for them at their hotel. Three championships in four seasons made Golden State seem invincible.
Only trauma can stop them.
The dynastic run came to a brutal end in 2019 in their fifth consecutive final appearance. Durant struggled with a calf injury, then tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the final against Toronto. Thompson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the next game. The Raptors won the championship that day.
“It was the end of an era at Oracle,” Curry said, referring to the former Golden State gymnasium in Oakland, California. The team moved to the Chase Center in San Francisco in 2019. He added: “You guys are getting ready for the summer, trying to regroup and find out what happens next year. ”
The two futile seasons that followed were tough for all of them, but no more so than Thompson, who also tore his right Achilles tendon in the fall of 2020, sidelined for another year.
During this year’s final, he still thought about that journey often.
“I wouldn’t change anything,” Thompson said. “I’m so grateful and everything I’ve done up to that point has led to this.”
Entering this season, Golden State was not expected to return to this stage so soon. This is especially true since entering the season, Thompson’s return date is unclear.
But then, hopefully. Golden State opened the 2021-22 campaign by winning 18 of the first 20 games. The team found a gem in Gary Payton IIwho has been pushed aside by other teams because of his size or because he is not a standout 3-shooter. Andrew Wigginsacquired in a 2020 trade with Minnesota, Kevon Looneywho was drafted a few weeks after that 2015 championship and Jordan Poole, who was picked late in the first round in 2019, showed why the team appreciates them so much.
Curry sets career record for 3 pointers and mentoring the team’s young players.
Who can say how good this team will be once Thompson returns?
That answer came in the knockout round.
Golden State beat the Denver Nuggets in five games and the Memphis Grizzlies in six. afterward Dallas lost only one game to Golden State in the Western Conference Finals.
Curry, Thompson and Green, the motives for five consecutive finals in this year’s championship series have completely changed.
“The things that I appreciate today, I don’t necessarily appreciate those things,” Green said. “In 2015, I hated taking pictures and you know, I really don’t put two and two together. Like, man, these memories are so important. ”
They vowed not to disregard any part of the finale experience. Green and Curry make sure their kids will enjoy them.
“It seems routine, but I just know how special this is,” Thompson said before Game 4. “I mean, I’m trying to just be present in everything I do during this time, even if this whole interview, and not looking ahead. Not even looking forward to tomorrow. ”
They face a young Boston Celtics team, just like they were in 2015, led by 20-year-olds Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Smart Marcusshepherded by an elderly statesman Al Horford. The Celtics did nearly everything the hard way as they looked for the franchise’s 18th championship.
Surname scan the nets in the first round but went to seven games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat. Surname won when they had toand commit too many careless transfers when they fail to do so.
Boston is younger, Healthier and more athletic team to the final. The Celtics are not afraid of the Golden State, or the big stage, and have proven it by win game 1 on the road. Teams have traded shots, with Boston confident in its ability to bounce back from almost any setback. Until Game 5The Celtics have not lost their head-to-head matches in the knockout stages.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Green recalled a moment during the Golden State’s flight to Boston from San Francisco between the 5th and 6th Olympics. He, Thompson, and Curry were sitting together when they were beaten by Bob Myers, general manager and president of the basketball team discovered. activities.
“He was like, ‘God, you guys are so funny. Everyone is still sitting together. They all don’t understand, it’s been 10 years. Like, this is not happening. The two were still sitting at the same table,'” Green recalled. “He was like, ‘The boys haven’t even been on the same team in 10 years, let alone still sitting there at the same table and enjoying each other’s conversation and presence.”
In a separate press conference a few minutes later, Thompson was asked about that moment and why the three of them still enjoy being friends. Curry stood against the wall, watching, waiting for his turn to speak.
“Well, I didn’t know about that,” Thompson said. “I owe Draymond some money on dominoes, so I don’t want to see him too often.”
Curry bent over his waist, doubled over with a quiet laugh.
“I was half asleep,” Thompson continued. “Draymond and Bob talked for six hours on the plane. I was just trying to get some sleep. ”
Later, Curry said: “The personalities are all very different. People come from different backgrounds. But we were all talking around a collective unit about how we do things, whether it’s in the locker room, on the plane, in the hotel, whatever. We know how to have fun, joke and keep things light but also understand what we’re trying to do and why it’s all important to winning games. “
