IN NUMBERS – Firsts, series, history… Back on the title of the Warriors through statistics.
0 – No member of the Boston workforce had known the joys of a title before the start of the 2022 NBA Finals. This is still the case at the end of the series, won Thursday by the Warriors after Game 6 (90-103), in the Celtics hall, TD Garden.
1 – Andre Iguodala (2015) and Kevin Durant (2017, 2018) had inherited the title of Finals MVP during Golden State’s last three coronations. This time, Stephen Curry won the bet and lifted the Bill Russell Trophy for the first time in his career. An accomplishment that was (much) missing from his CV.
1 – It is also the number of defeats of Golden State at Chase Center over all the play-offs (12-1), after having faced Denver (4-1), Memphis (4-2), Dallas (4- 1) and Boston (4-2).
4 – Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green claim their fourth championship ring. It is far from the untouchable record of Bill Russell (13), but it allows the magic trio of Golden State to rise to the height of Shaquille O’Neal, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili or a certain LeBron James.
5 – For the fifth time, the C’s lost in the final, as much as the Warriors. The “record” belongs to the LA Lakers, beaten 15 times at this stage of the competition, ahead of the Knicks and the 76ers (6).
6 – Like father, like son. With six rings in total, Mychal and Klay Thompson display the title record for a father-son tandem. Two coronations for the dad, with the Lakers, four for the son, with Golden State. Two titles for the Payton family, one for Gary in 2006 with Miami and one for his son with the Dubs.
7 – This is Golden State’s seventh title, which allows the Californian franchise to appear, alone, in third position among the most successful clubs behind… Boston and the Lakers (17).
9 – Five times champion as a player, three with Chicago and two in San Antonio, Steve Kerr has just won his fourth title as a coach, nine rings in total.
27 – Winners of Games 4 and 6 at TD Garden in the Finals, the Dubs have won at least one away victory in their last 27 play-off series, a record in NBA history.
76 – Golden State-Boston was a duel between two of the original NBA teams, who were therefore playing their 76th season in the League. The two clubs had already met in the final, in 1964.
141 – Celtic Al Horford had gone 141 play-off games without reaching the NBA Finals, a record.
152 – The best shooter in NBA history and the big orange ball, Stephen Curry is also the record holder for winning shots converted in the Finals. In fact, he was already there before the 2022 edition. The Warriors’ double MVP brought his total and therefore his record to 152. His runner-up? Klay Thompson, 106 triples in the final.
132/233 – Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals will have marked the end of two crazy series for Stephen Curry, mute from afar (0/9). “Chef Curry” remained on 132 play-off matches with at least one successful three-pointer. In fact, he had always returned at least one three-pointer in the play-offs so far! He had also converted at least one in his 233 previous matches, regular season and play-offs included.
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