For the fourth time in eight years, the Golden State Warriors are NBA champions after leaving with a 103-90 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden on Thursday night. After trailing 14-2 to start the game, the Warriors eventually took control, thanks to a 30-8 series that lasted from the end of the first quarter to the second.
While the Celtics eventually managed to reduce the deficit to single digits in the fourth quarter, Stephen Curry and the Warriors would not be denied another championship, as they seemed to have the answer for every Boston run after all. In the end, Curry led again for Golden State in the offensive end. He finished the series with a record 34 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, adding another chapter to his already legendary career. The rest of the Warriors offered Curry a lot of help, as Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Draymond Green and Clay Thompson also scored double-digit points.
The Celtics, on the other hand, were led by Jaylan Brown, who did his best with 34 points, seven rebounds and three assists, but unfortunately for Boston fans, that was not enough to extend their season with one more game. In the future, the Celtics’ front office will have to figure out a way to push this group over the hump, but tonight is all for the Warriors to expand their dynasty.
1. Curry catches the elusive MVP of the finals
It came as no surprise that Curry’s name was announced as the winner of the Russell MVP Finals. It was even less surprising that he was unanimously chosen to win it. Curry’s dominant performance over a series of six games. His 43-point outburst in Game 4 is the only reason the Warriors have won and tied the game in two games. If it wasn’t for every bucket you made in this game, the Warriors would probably lose 3-1 in this series and today we are in a very different position.
For most of the Warriors series, they struggled to make a steady production of boys like Clay Thompson, Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, but Curry remained a constant in every win and loss. Not only did the result help elevate the Warriors to the title, but the gravitational pull he has when on the floor makes him so dangerous. Because he is deadly as soon as he crosses half of the field, he attracts so much attention from the defense, which opens up opportunities for goals from other boys on the floor. This forced the Celtics to make difficult defensive decisions throughout the series, whether to double Curry or play straight, show cover for falling in pick-and-roll or fight over the screens. All this confusion led to buckets for Curry and his teammates.
Although Curry was the obvious choice for the award, winning it is an important moment, as it is his first MVP in the finals of his career. Although the future Hall of Fame guard has two regular season MVP awards in his name and now four championships under his belt, he has never won an MVP in the finals for any of the last three rings the Warriors have won. Andre Iguodala won this honor in 2015, while Kevin Durant won it in successive years in 2017 and 2018.
But this time it was definitely Curry’s turn and he finished it off with a characteristic performance in Game 6, where he went 6 of 11 from deep down the road to night with 34 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. It was the fourth time in a series that Curry had scored more than 30 points, making him 32.5 points in his career in a title match. This ranks second for all time in NBA history in the finished title games, lagging behind only Michael Jordan, according to statistics and information from ESPN.
2. The warriors showed how scary a team can be
Although the Warriors blew up the Celtics in Game 2 of this series, we really never saw a version of the Warriors that could simply punish their opponent to obedience in this series. We saw this in the Western Conference finals many times against the Mavericks, as well as in the first round against the Denver Nuggets, but for the most part the Celtics stood up against this powerful Warriors team.
That was until Thursday night. For all but six minutes of Game 6, the Warriors created a masterpiece of performance at both ends of the floor to overtake the Celtics. At one point in the second quarter, Golden State went 21-0 to completely change the momentum of the game. This gave the Warriors a 15-point lead and they never looked back from that point. This series also proved to be the longest series in a final match in the last 50 years of the league. The previous peak was a 20-0 series … also by the Warriors during the 2019 finals against the Raptors.
This 21-0 series encapsulates this dynastic Warriors team. A squad that prides itself on the mantra “strength in numbers”. Not only Curry will work, which caused this run. Five different Warriors players scored buckets during this run to stun the Celtics. It was this type of depth and selflessness with the ball that made this Warriors team so difficult to beat, and it showed in Game 6.
3. The Celtics couldn’t get out of their way … again
If you want to look at a statistic to see why the Celtics lost this game, then look at the fact that they turned the ball 22 times. For context, in the two games Boston won in that series, he averaged 12 turnovers in those games. In the three losses before this one, there were an average of 17 turnovers per game. While some teams may be able to overcome these trends, the Celtics were not one of them in this series. What’s worse is the fact that many of their turnovers are unforced errors in which guys like Marcus Smart, Jaylan Brown and Jason Tatum were just careless with the ball as they drove to the edge or panicked when the defense showed pressure.
Beyond the revs, however, the Celtics were really struggling to respond to the Warriors’ runs until the fourth quarter, when it was a little too late. Tatum recorded just three points in the second half, after placing 11 in the first, Smart came out with only 4 of 12 from the field for nine points and their bench generated only six points in total. Brown was the only Celtics player to really make it tonight, but his 34 points alone weren’t nearly enough to beat the Warriors, who were playing their best basketball at the right time.
Although this will be a difficult pill to swallow in the mid-season, the Celtics will be in the mix of contenders for the championship again next season. It was a team that started to ignite at the right time in the second half of the season and during the playoffs they overcame the difficulties many times to get here. Although this was not the result they wanted, this experience will only help them prepare better for next season.
Equipment for the NBA Warriors Championship is now available
The Golden State Warriors have won their fourth NBA title in eight seasons. Now you can celebrate with champion hats, shirts, hoods and more. See the entire collection here.
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