Enlarge image
Stephen Curry (l.) was voted the most important player in the final series and is here celebrating with his co-star Klay Thompson
Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP
The Golden State Warriors have won the NBA championship for the seventh time, making them one of the greatest teams in basketball history.
In the sixth game, the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics 103:90 (54:39) and won the finals 4:2.
For the team around superstar Stephen Curry, it is the first championship since 2018, but the fourth in the past eight years.
Curry had the most points for the new champion with 34 points and for the first time in his career was recognized as a Finals MVP.
"We found a way to do it," said the 34-year-old with the white winner's cap on his head.
"I'm standing here with two trophies and that means a lot." In the past two years, the Warriors hadn't even reached the playoffs after many injuries.
It is the ninth title for coach Steve Kerr
“I'm so proud of this group.
I thank God every day that I can play this game at the highest level with great people," said the 34-year-old before the award ceremony on US television.
“It's surreal.
We were so far away
You end up at the bottom with injuries.
It's just never guaranteed, you don't know if you'll ever get back there.” Steve Kerr clinched his ninth career title—five as an NBA pro and now four as a Warriors coach.
National player Daniel Theis missed being the second German after Dirk Nowitzki to win the NBA title.
Theis was not used in the last game of the finals anyway.
The Celtics must continue to share the title of record champions with 17 titles each with the Los Angeles Lakers and continue to wait for the next championship after 2008.
In the once again very loud TD Garden, the Celtics had a much better start and in the first few minutes they pulled away up to 14:2, before the Warriors recovered, slowly reduced the twelve-point deficit and at the end of the quarter it was 27:22 lay in front.
By half-time, the guests managed a 21-0 run, which, according to ESPN, had not happened in a final game for 50 years.
The often nervous Celtics suffered again from the many ball losses in their own attack.
It was twelve before the break.
In the third quarter, Boston came up again
Despite their best efforts, the young key Celtics players often found no means against the veterans on the other side.
Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart have been boiled over and over again by Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
As so often this season, the Warriors were particularly effective immediately after halftime.
In the middle of the third quarter, Curry hit his fifth three and increased the lead to 22 points.
However: Boston's oldest player, Al Horford, increasingly braced himself against the impending defeat and almost single-handedly brought the Celtics to only ten points behind with twelve points before the last quarter.
The fans believed in a comeback again - but the Celtics always had at least eight points less than the Warriors and could not avert the huge disappointment.
kjo/dpa
