The Golden State Warriors have won the NBA 2021-2022 Championship

A monumental achievement by a team that were given 1000-1 odds to win the Championship at the beginning of the season. Klay Thompson had missed 900+ days with multiple devastating leg injuries. Draymond Green has lost a big step offensively, rarely scoring in double digits. The addition of Andrew Wiggins, a previous number 1 pick who many thought was a solid rotational player at best. And role players that although high in the draft, had not yet been given the chance to develop into Finals contributers. All valid points, however they all forgot one thing… Wardell Stephen Curry.

The Warriors have now won their 4th Championship in 8 years – 2015, 2017, 2018 and now 2022. Their 21-0 run in Game 6 is the largest scoring run in a Finals game in at least 50 years. You can see that 21-0 run here.

Stephen Curry

He’s done it. He’s completed his monumentally impressive season with the 2021-2022 NBA Finals MVP Trophy. Steph had another incredible game in the Finals and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who this trophy was deserving to. Curry scored 34 points, went 6-11 from 3, had 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and played impressive defence all game long. He finishes the season with the Kobe Bryant All Star MVP, the 3s made leader (again), the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP and the NBA Finals MVP. There really isn’t much more Steph can accomplish on a basketball court that he hasn’t already proven.

Steph’s averages

Steph averaged 31.2 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the 6 games in the Finals. He hit 31 3 pointers and beat his own record for 91 3 pointers in the entire playoffs (22 games).

Curry breaking down as he secures his 4th NBA title in 8 years:

Draymond Green

Draymond has been the center of much controversy these Finals, podcasting most evenings and smack talking his opponents. The Celtics crowd have been chanting ‘F*** Draymond’ during games. Since winning the Finals, Draymond hasn’t stopped trolling the Celtics, this time posting a picture of himself with a Celtic’s shirt saying ‘it’s all about 18’, referring to the Celtic’s 18th Championship which they missed out on. In place of the banner, it reads, ‘Nope!! Maybe in 23’ meaning, ‘maybe you’ll get a Championship next season’.

https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1537871265540624384

Draymond Green played very well in the last few games of the Finals, especially the Game 6 close out. He played his typical stellar defence and hit a few crucial 3 pointers which he had previously been 0-12 in the playoffs.

Jayson Tatum

Jayson Tatum had another subpar performance in the Finals putting up 13 points on 6/8 shooting with 5 turnover playing 40 minutes. Bill Simmons was wary that this performance was coming in his recent podcast asking Ryan Russilo whether he thought Tatum was too young or injured. Bill went through a list of some of the greats at age 24, many of whome have not lead their team to a Finals like Tatum has. Tatum had a hard time being defended by Andrew Wiggins who really stepped his game up defensively.

Jaylen Brown was the Celtics best player this game and in this series in general. Tonight he had 34 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in their unfortunate loss.

Boston Celtics

This is a hard blow for the Celtics who did tremendously to get to the Finals after the start they had in the season. They had a chance to push themselves as a franchise above The Los Angeles Lakers with a higher number of banners (18) but alas it was not to be. They are still in a much better position in regards to their roster, cap space and upcoming picks than their Western rivals. The Jays are still young and their new coach, although seems to have unlocked something in the Celtics, is still a rookie and it showed a few times this series up against Steve Kerr. A few new pieces to compliment the Jays and another year of development for young stars like Payton Prichard may be what the Celts need to push them over this hump.

Player Stats

What can the Celtics do with their roster to push them over that last small hill. Will this dynasty ever end?

The Golden State Warriors have won Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center last night. The Warriors are now in the lead this series 3-2 and are 1 game away from winning the 2021-2022 NBA Finals.

Game 5 was anticipated to be a Celtics win, according to betting sites like Fanduel and looking at the box score shows it could quite easily have been.  Steph had a subpar night and Draymond posted his usual triple single. The Celtics, who played well in the 3rd quarter, made only 4 field goals in the 4th including 1 that was in garbage time. The Celtics were outscored 29-14 before the starters got pulled with a minute left in the game.

The free throw disparity was noticable with Boston hitting 21-31. Celtics players spent much of the game complaining to refs byt had double the amount of free throws. Golden State hit 13-15. This is such an easy way to rack up points, and something the Celtics didn’t take advantage of. The Warriors also shot 23% as a team from 3..

Boston’s bench were outclassed today. The Warriors’ bench players scored 31 points while Boston’s only scored 10. Poole hit another playoff buzzer beater to end the 3rd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZmEXJADy_0

Andrew Wiggins

The MVP of this game was clearly Andrew Wiggins who racked up 26 points and 13 rebounds. He has shot up to number 2 on the Finals MVP list behind Steph and seemed to realise that he is quick enough to blow past defenders at will this game. His impressive rebounding has been vital to some of these stretches where the Warriors have gone on runs.

Stephen Curry

Steph had a bit of a bad night to Steph standards. He lost his playoff streak of consecutive games with at least one 3 point make at 132. Curry racked up 16 points and 8 assists but went 0-9 from 3 point range. It seems Boston finally stopped the drop coverage on him, and doubled him consistantly, which started their motion offence. Interesting to note that the last time Curry lost his streak for the regular season he then hit 13 3 pointers and breaking the record the next game…

Opposite Day?

• Curry had an underwhelming performance hitting zero 3s
• Wiggins didn’t put up his usual 17ish points but got 26
• Warriors played well to start, Celtics had a strong 3rd quarter and let it slip in the 4th
• The Warriors were getting flopping calls on Marcus Smart
• Celtics got technicals for yelling at refs
• Draymond played well, and didn’t foul out

Is it opposite day?

Game 5 Highlights

Player Stats

Game 6 and 7

Game 6 is on 16th June in Boston.

Game 7 (if needed) is on 19th June back in San Francisco.

Do you think the Celtics can beat the Warriors twice in a row? Will Steph be snubbed of another Finals MVP by his teammate Andrew Wiggins?

Steph Curry put on a masterclass at The Garden last night, up there with one of his best performances, winning the game and tying the series 2 – 2.

Steph Curry

Steph had 43 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists against a team with the defence that the Celtics has is a legendary performance. Steph went 14-26 from the field, hit 7-14 3s and went 8-9 from the free throw line.

Curry has shot to the top of the Finals MVP predictions table, an award that would round out his Hall of Fame career.

Game 4 Highlights

Draymond Green

Draymond had another bad night offensively scoring only 2 points and going 1-7 from the field. Steve Kerr pulled Draymond out of the game and was using him intermittently during the 4th where he had some key defensive plays. He did grab 9 rebounds and have 8 assists but spent much of the game arguing with refs – who in fairness, were consistantly bad tonight. A good example of this was Curry’s deep 3 make through a lot of contact that the refs didn’t call. Curry was not happy:

Andrew Wiggins

Andrew Wiggins had another great game in the finals, taking a small percentage of the scoring load of Curry with 17 points. The main story from Wiggins was his 16 rebounds which is a career high for him – great time for a career high. In the words of Kawhi Leonard, ‘board man gets paid’.

Player stats

With the series all tied, and coming back to Golden State, how do we feel this series is going to go?