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The victory gives the trio of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green their fourth title together – all under head coach Steve Kerr – adding to their 2015, 2017 and 2018 championships. They have won 21 games in the NBA Finals together, having recently passed Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili (19) for the most NBA Finals wins by a trio in the past 30 years.
Curry, who was in tears on the court after the final whistle, earned NBA Finals MVP honors for the first time in his career.
“That’s what it’s all about, playing for a championship and what we’ve been through for the last three years,” he said. “At the start of the season nobody thought we would be here except everyone on this pitch at the moment, and that’s amazing. Very surreal, though.
“You never take it for granted because you never know when you’re going to come back here. And coming back here and doing that means the world,” he said.
This title ends a blow for the Warriors, as they were plagued with injuries for a few years and were back in the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Golden State went 52-25 to end the first half. That included a 21-0 run – the longest scoring streak in an NBA Finals game in the past 50 years.
The Celtics cut the Warriors’ lead to single digits late in the third quarter and again in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t close.
Boston, which made the Finals for the first time since the 2009-10 season, had already excelled in do-or-die games in this year’s playoffs.
Until their loss in Game 5 of these finals, they were undefeated in post-season games after a loss. They had two win-or-go games at home against the Milwaukee Bucks and a Game 7 against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Still, the Celtics led 2-1 in the series before losing three straight games to Golden State, including Games 4 and 6 in Boston.
“There are a lot of guys in there, very emotional right now,” Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said after the game.
“The message was that we thank them for the effort and the growth and all that they allowed us to do in terms of coaching this year. The most important message was ‘Learn from this, grow from this, benefit from this. this experience and see that there is another level to reach,” said Udoka. “A team like Golden State that’s been there, done that, it was obvious in a lot of ways.”
It is the Warriors’ seventh league title in franchise history — two of which were won as the Philadelphia Warriors in 1947 and 1956.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who normally presents the Larry O’Brien trophy to the NBA champion, did not attend Games 5 or 6 due to NBA health and safety protocols.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the game aired on ESPN. It aired on ABC
CNN’s Jill Martin and Ben Morse contributed to this report.
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