NBA Finals: do the Warriors liquidate the series?
3:11
(CNN Spanish) -
The Golden State Warriors were crowned NBA champions this Thursday by defeating the Boston Celtics 103-90, in a game led by Stephen Curry.
But a Mexican was also the protagonist in the final game.
This is Juan Toscano.
Juan Toscano-Anderson was born in Oakland, California, in April 1993. Although he is American by birth, he is of Mexican origin, as his maternal grandfather migrated from Mexico to the United States in the 1970s.
And since he has dual nationality, he is the first player of Mexican origin to be an NBA champion.
After the victory with the Golden State Warriors, Toscano-Anderson, 29 years old and 1.98 meters tall, celebrated wrapped in the Mexican flag.
The basketball player, who entered the final minutes of the final game against the Celtics on Thursday, has a career in criminology and law studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Golden State Warriors, NBA champions: how much are winner's rings worth and what are they made of?
Juan Toscano in the NBA. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Juan Toscano's career
Juan Toscano-Anderson arrived in the NBA in February 2020, and wears the number 95 on his back with Golden State.
That's the highest number assigned to the Warriors, according to the NBA.
The previous one was 77, worn by Vladimir Radmanovic.
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"In terms of my daily life, I am very connected to my Mexican roots. I talk to my family every day. I eat Mexican food every day. I spend 75% of my summers in Mexico," Toscano told journalist Marc Spears, quoted by the NBA page.
Before his arrival in the NBA, the player represented Mexico in the FIBA qualification tournament for the Olympic Games in 2016. He also played with the Fuerza Regia de Monterrey team in the 2017-2018 season, when he won the award for Most Valuable Player (MVP).
He also played for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G-League, the minor development basketball league promoted and organized by the NBA, in the 2017-2018 season, according to the NBA.
"It's been a lot of fun," Toscano-Anderson said in a video released by the NBA.
"It has made me appreciate (the fact) that I play at the highest level now."
And, after his arrival in the NBA in 2020, he says that there is a big difference between playing in places like Mexico, in the G-League and now in the top of the US basketball league: "I think one of the great differences are resources. Everything is the best of the best. This makes it easier for you to do your job," he said.
"Playing at the highest levels is very demanding. And also recovering is very important as is everything during preparation," said the player.
The victory of the Warriors
The way Game 6 played out at Boston's TD Garden didn't initially look like it was a sure win for Golden State.
Boston was up 14-2 to start the game.
But the Warriors not only recovered, they stepped on the gas.
Golden State went on a 52-25 run to end the first half.
That included a 21-0 streak, the longest scoring streak in an NBA Finals game in the last 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 get any closer.
Boston, which reached the Finals for the first time since the 2009-10 season, had previously excelled in do-or-die games in this year's playoff race.
Until their loss in Game 5 of these Finals, they were undefeated in postseason games following a loss.
They have earned victory in two win-or-go games against the Milwaukee Bucks and a Game 7 against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, the Celtics led 2-1 in the series before losing three straight to Golden State, including Games 4 and 6 in Boston.
"There's a lot of guys in there, very excited 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 everything that they allowed us to do as coaches this year. The most important message was 'Learn from this, grow from it, take this experience and you will see that there is another level to get there,'" Udoka said.
"A team like Golden State that was there, did that, it was evident in a lot of ways."
This is the Warriors' seventh league title in franchise history, two of which were won by the Philadelphia Warriors in 1947 and 1956.
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