Golden State Warriors Capture Their 7th NBA Championship
June 21, 2022 By Admin
The Golden State Warriors have won their seventh NBA Championship after coming out on top 4-2 in the best-of-seven NBA finals series against the Boston Celtics. All the best NBA online betting sites had the Golden State Warriors as the overwhelming favorites to capture their fourth title since 2015 going into what turned out to be the final game, and those predictions ran true. While the Warriors celebrate their impressive victory, the Celtics make the long journey home, having endured their fifth defeat in the NBA finals.
Prior to this victory, it was during the 2017-18 season that the Golden State Warriors were last crowned the champions of the NBA when they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0. It was the second time the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals in many seasons. They reached the finals again in 2018-19 but fell 4-2 to the Toronto Raptors, which was the first time the Raptors had become champions of the NBA.
A Dismal Couple of Seasons
To say the Warriors’ wheels fell off after that defeat to the Raptor is an understatement to end all understatements. The Warriors moved back from Oakland to San Francisco, and it was meant to be a happy time; it was not. Kevin Durant tore his Achilles tendon in the finals loss to the Raptors, and Klay Thompson tore his ACL. Both were expected to be out of action for a large part of the 2019-20 season. Durant then signed a four-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets. The Warriors wanted to lose Durant for nothing, so they made a two-way sign-and-trade deal that saw D’Angelo Russell head to San Francisco. Unfortunately, the deal triggered a hard salary cap for the Warriors, who were then forced to trade Andre Iguodala’s $17 million salaries to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Adding insult to injury, star player Stephen Curry broke his hand and was expected to miss three months of the campaign. However, he only took to the court five times during the regular season as the Warriors slumped to a 15-50 record to finish rock bottom of the entire NBA.
The following season saw a return to a winning season (39-33), but the Warriors missed out on the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
Warriors, and Curry, Back To Their Brilliant Best
This season saw the Golden State Warriors show glimpses of their capabilities. Klay Thompson returned after two years on the sidelines, while Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins have performed exceptionally well, so much so that they were both names in the 2022 NBA All-Star game.
Then there is the return to the form of Stephen Curry, a player who is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best point guard in the NBA today, if not of all time. Curry was the highest scorer in 39 of the Warriors’ 82 regular season fixtures, and he has essentially carried his team through the playoffs and the finals.
Curry top-scored with 34 points as the Warriors slipped to a 108-120 defeat in Game 1; he also topped the assists chart with five assists. The 34-year-old racked up another 29 points as the Warriors tied the series 1-1 with a 107-88 victory in Game 2.
Again, Game 3 saw Curry find 31 points, but he could not prevent the Celtics from taking a 2-1 advantage into the fourth of a possible seven games. Games 4 saw the Warriors emerge 107-97 victory, and it was, you guessed it, Curry, who was the star of the show, scoring 43 of that total.
After that game, several Warriors players spoke to the media and confirmed what basketball fans already knew: they had to do more to help Curry on the court. Andrew Wiggins stepped up to the plate in Game 5, scoring 26 points and making 13 rebounds, s the Warriors won 104-94. That victory meant the Warriors had one hand on the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy.
The Warriors clinched the title on June 16 with a 103-90 victory in Game 6. Fittingly, it was Curry who stole the show once again. Twice the MVP during the regular season, Curry became the NBA Finals MVP for the first time, thanks, in part, to his 34 points tally. Curry averaged 31.2 points in the six finals games and is worthy of his MVP tag and embodies what it means to be a true warrior.
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