Seventh NBA title for Golden State, winner of game 6 in Boston

“Surreal. The word was dropped on ABC by Stephen Curry, his eyes red with tears, as Game 6 had just ended. A meeting dominated at TD Garden in Boston by the Warriors, except for the first three minutes (12-2 for the Celtics), with Stephen Curry (34 points) and Draymond Green (12 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists) as additional leaders. In itself, the Californian team is only picking up the thread of the dynasty it has unrolled since the successive arrivals in the San Francisco Bay of Curry (2009), Klay Thompson (2011), Green (2012), Andre Iguodala (2013, returned in 2021 after a stint in Miami) and coach Steve Kerr (2014). It is their fourth joint title after 2015, 2017 and 2018 and Kerr’s ninth on a personal basis (3 with Chicago and 2 with San Antonio as a player). 7 By winning their seventh title (two in Philadelphia, five in San Francisco), the Warriors overtook the Chicago Bulls and are now only third in the standings behind the Celtics and the Lakers (17). What makes this title surreal is that they seemed to have reached the end of the cycle. MVP of the final in 2017 and 2018, Kevin Durant left the team in 2019 (for Brooklyn) after a lost final against Toronto (4-2) and marked by the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in Thompson’s left knee. Then affected by an Achilles tendon, the latter took two years to play again, leaving Golden State to fall to 30th and last place in the NBA rankings in 2020, at the end of a rotten season also by absences from Curry. Since then, general manager Bob Myers has been able to make the necessary adjustments to get back on track, making Jordan Poole a backfiring sixth man after starting him in the G-League and Andrew Wiggins the providential winger, as the Canadian depressed in Minneapolis. Wiggins pulverized Jayson Tatum. Still out of the game Thursday (13 points at 5/18, 5 of the Celtics’ 22 stray balls), leaving Jaylen Brown (34 points) to scoop in vain, the offensive leader of the “C’s” led the team in its fall in the second half of a final that rocked in the last quarter of game 4 (Boston led two wins to one and 91-86 with seven minutes remaining). 93.7 The Celtics’ scoring average in the final three games. Against 108 on the first three. Quickly overwhelmed (22-37, 13th) on a 21-0, catastrophic in the second quarter (18 points from the Warriors on opposing stray balls or offensive rebounds), the Celtics plunged to -22 (50-72, 22nd). Income at -8 (78-86, 40th) thanks to Al Horford, they never managed to really pick up, overwhelmed by the address of the visitors (19/46 to 3 points). “Our future looks bright,” said coach Ime Udoka positively. But the present was darker.