Gold Rush
The Golden St. Warriors wrapped up the 2021-22 season on Thursday night by beating the Celtics into submission 103-90 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The win gave the Warriors their 4th championship in the Steph Curry era and their 7th overall surpassing the Bulls into 3rd place all-time for titles.
The Celtics started the game on a 14-2 blitz and appeared to look like the fighter who tried to hit their opponent with their best shot because he knew he didn’t have much left in the arsenal. That 12-point 1st quarter lead for the Celtics slowly & methodically turned into a 21-point deficit late in the 2nd quarter as the Warriors crashed the boards and forced the Celtics into careless turnovers. Despite late runs in the 3rd & 4th quarters for Boston they could never completely cut into that 20+ point lead. Steph Curry personally put the C’s to bed with 9 points on 4/6 shooting in the 4th quarter and kept the Celtics at bay. The Celtics never got closer than 8 points and were never capable of coming all the way back.
The young Celtics found out what championship play looked like as the Warriors calmly dispatched them throughout the series. With a chance to put a stranglehold on the series in Game 4, Steph Curry put on a show for the ages scoring 43 points & the Warriors won Game 4 by 10. With the series tied 2-2 the Celtics again had a chance to push GSW to the brink of elimination but couldn’t take advantage of an off shooting night for Steph Curry. Andrew Wiggins & Klay Thompson combined for 47 points and the Warriors outlasted the Celtics 104-94 despite being being out-rebounded by 12. In Game 6 the C’s committed 22 turnovers while giving up 15 offensive rebounds to the Warriors. For all the hype surrounding Jayson Tatum(and with good reason), he did not have a great series and looked overwhelmed in the close out game scoring just 13 points on just 6/18 shooting. Jaylen Brown led the C’s with 34 points while Al Horford added 19 points & 14 rebounds.
For the victorious Warriors, Andrew Wiggins had 18pts, 6rebs & 5 assts and Draymond Green had maybe his best game of the entire postseason with 12pts, 12rebs, 8 assts, 2blks & 2stls. Jordan Poole scored 15 points off the bench but it all came down to Stephen Curry putting the team on his back. Curry finished with 34pts, 7rebs, 7assts & 2stls while drilling 6 3-pointers. Curry was unanimously named Finals MVP averaging 31.2pts, 6.0rebs & 5.0assts during the 6-game series. Kudos to Coach Steve Kerr who did the best coaching job of his career this year.
With Steph Curry, Klay Thompson along with a young nucleus of Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney & Gary Payton II, the Warriors will walk into the 2022-23 as the odds on favorites to win the 2023 championship. Indeed… the dynasty looks to be far from over.
Talk That Ish
After the Warriors wrapped up the championship and hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy, the key players waisted little time in getting their petty on. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson & Draymond Green let their feelings be known:
Steph Curry’s Legacy
Now that the Warriors have won their 4th championship the questions on Steph Curry’s legacy are in full gear. To date, Steph Curry has done the following:
- 4x NBA Champion(2015, 2017, 2018, 2022)
- 2x NBA MVP(2015, 2016)
- 1x NBA Finals MVP(2022)
- 1x Western Conference Finals MVP(2022)
- 8x NBA All-Star(2014-19, 2021-22)
- 1x NBA All-Star MVP(2022)
- 8x All-NBA Team Selection(2014-19, 2021-22)
- 2x NBA Scoring Champion(2016, 2021)
- NBA 75th Anniversary Team
- NBA All-Time Leader in Made Three-Pointers
Some are ready to put Stephen Curry in the top-10 all-time. I’m not so sure I’m ready even with Steph’s incredible accomplishments. I still have these players in my top ten:
- Michael Jordan
- Kareem Abdul-Jabaar
- Magic Johnson
- LeBron James
- Tim Duncan
- Bill Russell
- Wilt Chamberlin
- Larry Bird
- Kobe Bryant
- Hakeem Olajuwon
I believe Steph will finish Top 15. He transformed the art form of shooting and he also can do it all. Stephen A. Smith & Colin Cowherd offer their thoughts:
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