BOSTON – There were a few seconds left in Stephen Curry’s NBA season when he saw his father, Dell, sitting along one of the baselines. She came close to hugging him, then fell to the court in tears.
“Surreal,” Curry said. “I just wanted to seize the moment because it was so special.”
For six games in the NBA Finals, Curry had provided Golden State with a narrow range of feats ranging from the extraordinary to the sublime. He passed in front of the defenders’ walls to make bands up and down and backed away for the missing jumpers. It captivated some fans while demoralizing others. He sought the focus and then delivered.
He effectively turned the track into his personal theater and the Celtics into his wasted ones, offering performance after performance in a two-week series whose only flaw was that almost everyone could start anticipating the end, with Curry coming out. of the stage as champion again. .
After Golden State defeated Boston on Thursday, 103-90, to secure their fourth title in eight seasons, Curry, 34, reflected on the long journey back to the top: injuries and unbalanced losses, doubts and uncertainty. He also recalled the exact time he started preparing for the start of this season: 371 days ago.
“These last two months of the playoffs, these last three years, these last 48 hours, every game has been an emotional roller coaster on and off the ground,” Curry said, “and you take it all in one every day to try to make it happen. a dream and a goal as we did tonight. “
The numbers tell a story and are worth highlighting. For the series, Curry averaged 31.2 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 48.2% from the field and 43.7% from the 3-point range. It was the unanimous selection as the most valuable player in the final.
“He brought us,” Draymond Green of Golden State said, “and we’re here as champions.”
But there was also an artistic talent in Curry’s work on the series, and it was a profound reminder of all he’s done to reshape the way fans, and even his teammates, think about the game. The way he stretches the track with his interplanetary shot. The way it uses publishing players to create space with pick-and-rolls. The way in which the self-esteem of younger players around the world has increased.
“When I get home in Milwaukee and watch my AAU team play and practice, everyone wants to be Steph,” said Kevon Looney of Golden State. “Everyone wants to shoot 3, and I say, ‘Man, you have to work a little harder to shoot like him. I see him every day. ”
For two seasons, of course, following Golden State’s catastrophic trip to the 2019 final, a bit of joy was lacking. The warriors fought for a slow rebuild.
The team reassembled the parts this season, but there were no guarantees. Curry missed the last 12 games of the regular season with a sprained left foot, and then aggravated the injury in the third game of the final. All he did in Game 4 was score 43 points to help Golden State tie the game in two games each.
He proved deadly in Game 5, missing all three three-point attempts, but his support cast filled the gap. Among them: Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole, who developed their games during the break without a Golden State playoffs and were indispensable this postseason.
“Our youngsters had the belief that we could go back to that stage and win,” Curry said. “And even if it didn’t make sense to anyone when we said it, all of these things are important.”
For Game 6 on Thursday, Curry blasted the full buffet. He used a fake bomb to send the Celtics’ Al Horford to fly to an expensive row of seats. He trapped defenders in traps and zipped passers-by. And after a big burst in the third quarter, he looked at the crowd and pointed his ring finger. (Translation: I was ready for more jewelry.)
Curry began to get excited when Boston coach Ime Udoka called up his reserves from the bench with just over a minute to go, ceding the series and the championship. Standing alone halfway down the track, Curry seemed to laugh and cry at the same time, a euphoric mixture of feelings.
“You can imagine what the emotions will be like, but it’s different,” he said.
In a world of sports consumed by debate programs, uninformed opinions and hot social media catches, two asterisks, unfair, seemed to follow Curry like smoke. The first was that he had not helped his team win a title without Kevin Durant or had defeated a rival in the final who was in full force. The second was that he had not been named MVP of the final
Whether he cared or not, Curry effectively nullified those two innings against the Celtics, a team that had all its young stars in uniform and even had Marcus Smart, the league’s defensive player of the year, spending much of the series with his. arms tucked inside Curry’s T-shirt.
For his part, Golden State coach Steve Kerr said all that was missing from Curry’s resume was success: an Olympic gold medal. (Note that Kerr coaches the U.S. men’s national team).
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Kerr said impatiently. “Honestly, all the MVP of the final? I guess his career has been so flawless, and that’s all we can find. So it’s great to tick this box for him. But I have a hard time thinking that he really he has acted against him. “
After the game, as the Golden State players and coaches began to gather on a stage for the trophy presentation, Curry hugged them one by one.
“Let’s go back up, 30!” Looney said, referring to Curry’s uniform number.
Then, as Curry headed for a tunnel next to the track, persistent fans cried out to get closer to the track, closer to Curry, before he disappeared from view. He bit into a victory cigar while holding his MVP trophy of the final in height, pushing it into the sky once, twice, three times.
No one could miss it.