The Warriors have won their fourth NBA championship in the last eight seasons after defeating the Celtics 103-90 at the TD Garden on Thursday night.
It was a remarkable journey for Golden State, who, after five consecutive finals, once plummeted to the league’s worst record and now returned to glory after just two seasons.
Steph Curry led the team in Game 6 with 34 points and he was named Finals MVP for the first time ever, and he got some help along the way. He, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala have all been the core of this dynastic run – with the first three rings coming in 2015, 2017, and 2018 prior to this one.
The Warriors winning this season’s title has denied the Celtics what would’ve been their record 18th title – one that would’ve broken the tie with the Lakers for the most in NBA history.
With another Finals in the books, SBOTOP brings to you some of the main takeaways from Game 6.
Steph Curry wins much-deserved Finals MVP
One can argue that this should’ve been his second Finals MVP, but at least the league got it right this time especially since he’s the driving force for the Warriors’ championship run.
This series, the 34-year-old point guard averaged 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game on 48.2 FG% and 43.7 3P%, including his signature performance in Game 4 where he had a 43-point, 10-rebound outing which almost singlehandedly swung the momentum towards Golden State’s favour for good.
Game 6 became a legacy game for Steph Curry. And with four rings, two league MVPs, two scoring titles, one Finals MVP, and one All-Star Game MVP, the league’s greatest three-point shooter ever now joins a legendary group alongside LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kevin Durant to have won all of the aforementioned trophies.
It’s been a dream season for Steph Curry as he also became the NBA’s all-time three-point king when he leapfrogged Ray Allen in the all-time three-pointers made list last December.
With these achievements, his place among the game’s greats is brought up for debate anew, as some would argue that he is now a top-10 player of all-time and one of the greatest floor generals ever.
Too soon to call Jayson Tatum a superstar?
The Celtics needed a breakout performance from Jayson Tatum badly but they didn’t get it in Game 6, which was one of the main reasons why the Warriors are NBA champs once again.
In the final game of this series, Tatum was held to only 13 points on 6-for-18 shooting and turned the ball over five times, although he did have three steals and seven assists.
Fatigue has been a huge factor for the inaugural Eastern Conference Finals MVP here in the Finals. Across this series, the Celtics swingman shot 31.7 FG% with 23 turnovers and he also finished this postseason with 100 total turnovers – the most by any player in playoff history.
Golden State have done a superb job in limiting Tatum as they had big bodies to throw at him such as Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins. In fact, Wiggins’ defence arguably made him the Warriors’ second-most valuable player behind Steph Curry.
On the other hand, Jaylen Brown was the consistent bright spot for the Celtics with averages of 23.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in the Finals. The 25-year-old did his part in Game 6 with 34 points on 52.2 FG% with five three-pointers and some notable NBA 2022 highlights.
Back to the drawing board for the Celtics
There’s no doubt that the Celtics have two franchise players in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. And following this bitter Finals loss, this should help them get better in the long-run.
Boston’s defence has been getting a ton of plaudits, but it’s their offence that’s been holding them back as it was exposed by Golden State.
The Celtics’ offence tends to stagnate in close games and finishing 29th in clutch-time win percentage (.371, 13-22) during the regular season was already a huge concern. They also went 3-9 in games decided by three points or less.
But despite falling short in this Finals, the Celtics’ success since mid-January all the way to this point has solidified their championship contending status ahead of next season.
The updated NBA 2022 odds have them as one of the super early favourites along with the Warriors, Nets, Bucks, Suns, and the Clippers given their single-digit championship odds entering the summer.
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