Steph Curry returned glory to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, leading them with 34 points and six triples towards the 103-90 victory in the field of the Boston Celtics that was worth the seventh NBA title of the Californian franchise, the fourth in the last eight years.
It had to be Curry, the man who changed the history of the Warriors, to put his signature on a new title for Steve Kerr’s team, this time against a Boston Celtics who saw the dream of conquering their eighteenth crown vanish. After the triumphs of 1947, 1956, 1975, 2015, 2017 and 2018, the Warriors added a new Larry O’Brien trophy to their record and they did it at home, at the TD Garden, in one of the most glorious settings in the NBA .
Curry named Finals MVP for the first time in his career, he led his team with 34 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, supported by 18 points from Andrew Wiggins and a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds from Draymond Green. The Warriors knocked down some Celtics in which Jayson Tatum did not exceed 13 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists. Jaylen Brown’s 34 points and Al Horford’s double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds were not enough for Ime Udoka’s team to force Game 7 of the series.
The Warriors, from 2-14 to 37-22
And that the meeting could not start better for the Celtics, with a 14-2 fueled by 3-pointers from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, and two early fouls by Klay Thompson, which forced Kerr’s timeout. Based on intense defense and good shooting percentages, the Celtics interpreted Udoka’s plan in the best way, but not for long. The Warriors knew how to manage the bad start, limiting the negative partial, and came out between the final stretch of the first period and the beginning of the second with a devastating 21-0 which radically changed the face of the party.
The signal was given by Draymond Green, whose three-point percentages do not exceed 30%, when he connected the first three-point basket of the four in a row by the Warriors. Curry, who had interrupted a streak of four consecutive years scoring at least one triple per game three days ago, broke his, brief, drought, and Poole and Wiggins prolonged the partial until the hard 37-22. It was a psychological blow that threw the Boston team off center, who fell back into their nightmare, lost balls. They already accumulated thirteen at the break, with a disadvantage that touched 21 points in the 54-33 before, with Brown in charge, the Celtics cut it to fifteen to return to the locker room.
The Celtics’ turnover data and the Warriors’ excellent ensemble performance sent clear messages. Those from San Francisco already had four players above ten points in 24 minutes: Curry and Thompson added 12, Poole, 11 and Wiggins, 10. In addition, Green dominated in the paint with 7 rebounds and already distributed 5 assists.
Curry accelerates, Horford responds
Green himself opened, in the third period, a true festival of triples with which the Warriors escaped again to a 22-point lead in the game. 72-50. Horford made three straight 3-pointers for the Celtics, but Porter Jr, with two, and Curry, with two others, the last of which from long range, foiled Udoka’s attempts. However, this was not enough to bring down the competitive soul of the greens. In particular that of Horford, who with a masterful three-point play rewarded the desperate push of the Celtics and cut the margin to nine points (74-65). The Dominican, idol of the local fans, also sealed a tremendous shot and celebrated it by showing his muscles to a Garden that got back into the game completely. Ten points (76-66) was the rent to defend for the Warriors in the last period to become champions.
The sentence, signed by Steph Curry
Kerr’s men managed to maintain their advantage, not allowing the Celtics to get closer, although Curry and Thompson repeatedly pardoned, from the perimeter, the blow that could be definitive. That forced them to struggle until the end, when Jaylen Brown put the Celtics within eight points. It was necessary to remain lucid and Draymond Green and Curry, with great penetration, managed to curb the enthusiasm of the Garden, in which Horford was the last to give up.
The sentence came three minutes from the end, when Curry, from a corner, hit the triple of the 96-81, to reach 30 points. Celtics fans began to leave the stands. Curry’s game would end with 34 points, and the Warriors, pushed by their brightest star, returned to the Olympus of basketball.
