For the fourth time in eight years, the Golden State Warriors are NBA champions after winning 103-90 over the Boston Celtics in the sixth game of the NBA Finals at the TD Garden on Thursday night . After falling behind 14-2 to start the game, the Warriors finally took control of things, thanks to a 30-8 run that lasted from the end of the first quarter to the second.
While the Celtics were able to reduce the deficit to one digit in the fourth quarter, Stephen Curry and the Warriors will not be denied another championship, as they apparently had an answer for every run Boston made during the fourth quarter. tram. In the end, Curry, once again, led Golden State on the offensive end. He finished the series with a maximum of 34 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, adding one more chapter to his historic career. The rest of the Warriors offered Curry a lot of help, as Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson also scored in double figures.
The Celtics, on the other hand, were led by Jaylen Brown, who did his best with 34 points, seven rebounds and three assists, but unfortunately for Boston fans, it wasn’t enough to extend his season. match more. In the future, the Celtics reception will have to figure out a way to push this group above the hump, but tonight it’s all about the Warriors extending their dynasty.
1. Curry captures the final MVP
It was no surprise when Curry’s name was named as the winner of the Bill Russell Finals MVP Award. It was even less surprising that it was a unanimous selection to win it. So dominant is Curry’s performance during the six-game series. His 43-point explosion in Game 4 is the only reason the Warriors managed to win and tie the series in two games each. If it weren’t for every cube he made in that game, it’s likely the Warriors will go down 3-1 in this series and today we’re in a very different position.
For most of the series, the Warriors struggled to achieve a consistent production of guys like Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, but Curry remained a constant in every win and loss. It’s not just his goal that helped lift the Warriors to a title, but also the gravitational pull he has whenever he’s on the ground that makes him so dangerous. As he is deadly as he crosses the halfway line, he gets a lot of attention from the defense, which opens up goal opportunities for other players on the ground. It forced the Celtics to make tough defensive decisions throughout the series, whether doubling Curry or playing straight, showing drop coverage on pick-and-rolls, or fighting for the top of the screens. All this confusion caused cubes for Curry and his teammates.
While Curry was the obvious choice for the award, winning it is an important moment as he is his first MVP of the final of his career. Although the future Hall of Fame keeper has two regular season MVP awards in his name, and now four championships in his belt, he never won the Finals MVP for any of the last three rings they won. the Warriors. Andre Iguodala won the honor in 2015, while Kevin Durant won it in consecutive years in 2017 and 2018.
But this time it was undeniably all of Curry’s and culminated with a characteristic performance in Game 6, where he made 6 of 11 from depth on the road to a night of 34 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. It was the fourth time in this series that Curry scored more than 30 points and placed him at 32.5 points per game in his career in the games that won the title. This ranks second all-time in NBA history in the final title games, just behind Michael Jordan, according to ESPN statistics and information.
2. The Warriors showed how afraid they can be of a team
Although the Warriors brought down the Celtics in Game 2 of this series, we never really got to see the Warriors version that can only punish its opponent for appearing in this series. We saw it in the Western Conference Finals on numerous occasions against the Mavericks, as well as in the first round against the Denver Nuggets, but for the most part the Celtics held their own against this powerful Warriors team.
That was until Thursday night. For all six minutes of Game 6, the Warriors put together a masterpiece of a performance at both ends of the court to beat the Celtics. At one point in the second quarter, Golden State made a 21-0 run to completely alter the momentum of the game. It gave the Warriors a 15-point lead, and they never looked back from that point. This series was also the longest in a final game in the last 50 years of the league. The previous high was a 20-0 run … also for the Warriors during the 2019 finals against the Raptors.
That 21-0 run encapsulated this dynastic Warriors team. A team that prides itself on the mantra of “strength in numbers.” It wasn’t just Curry going to work that sparked this career. Five different Warriors players scored cubes during that run to make the Celtics dizzy. It is this kind of depth and altruism with the ball that makes this Warriors team so hard to beat, and that was demonstrated in Game 6.
3. The Celtics couldn’t get out of their way … again
If you want to look at some statistics to see why the Celtics lost this game, look at the fact that they turned the ball over 22 times. To contextualize, in the two games that Boston won in this series it had an average of 12 losses of personnel in those confrontations. In the three previous defeats to this one, it made an average of 17 losses by party. While some teams may outperform these trends, the Celtics were not one of them in this series. Worst of all is the fact that many of his image losses are unforced errors, where guys like Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were neglected with the ball while driving on the edge or panicking when the defense showed them pressure.
Beyond the losses, though, the Celtics really struggled to respond to the Warriors ’runs until the fourth quarter, when it was a little too late. Tatum scored just three points in the second half after scoring 11 in the first, Smart went just 4 of 12 from the field for nine points and his bench generated just six points in total. Brown was the only Celtics player to really have it tonight, but his 34 points alone were not enough to beat a Warriors team that was playing its best basketball at the right time.
While it will be a difficult pill to swallow during the offseason, the Celtics will once again be in the mix of championship contenders next season. This was a team that started to catch fire at the right time in the second half of the season, and throughout the playoffs overcame adversity on numerous occasions to get this far. While it wasn’t the result they wanted, this experience will only help them better prepare for next season.
Warriors NBA championship equipment is now available
The Golden State Warriors have won their fourth NBA title in the last eight seasons. Now you can celebrate with hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts and more. Check out the entire collection here.
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