With a cigar in his mouth, ski goggles to protect against the many splashes of champagne and the golden trophy in his hand, Stephen Curry counted to four again and again in the dressing room at the title celebration. “One, two, three, four – four championships,” the 34-year-old basketball superstar yelled in all directions after renewed success with the Golden State Warriors. Three years after the bitter final defeat against the Toronto Raptors and after two years without taking part in the play-offs, the Warriors made this special NBA championship perfect on Thursday evening (local time) with a 103:90 against the Boston Celtics.
“All titles are unique and special,” said coach Steve Kerr, who after five titles as an NBA professional – including alongside Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls – has now won four as a coach and has long been one of the greats of the industry matters. “But this one was probably the most unlikely title given where we’ve been for the past few years.”
Curry, Thompson, Green and Andre Iguodala have been on board for the first three of the now four titles in eight years. Because of this accumulated experience, the Warriors were favorites before the start of the finals against the Celtics. But then the record champions won the first game in San Francisco and, after equalizing, also their first home game in Boston and seemed to be too big a task with their extremely strong defense. But the young team around the leaders Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart lost far too many turnovers in the following games, gave the Warriors easy baskets and finally lost the third and decisive game in a row in front of their own fans in the TD Garden.
