Why Golden State Warriors’ Latest Title Is Most Impressive Of Them All

The current core of the Golden State Warriors are now four-time NBA champions after defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals.

The Stephen Curry-led Warriors defeated the Celtics in convincing fashion at the TD Garden in Game 6, 102-90. Despite falling in a 14-2 hole early on in the game, Golden State went on a 21-0 run during the first half, taking a commanding 54-39 lead over the Celtics entering halftime. The Warriors never looked back as they held Jayson Tatum to just 13 points — two points in the second half — in a series-clinching win.

And while this may be the least-talented of all of the Warriors’ previous title teams over the past eight years, there’s no denying this — it’s the sweetest title of them all.

The 2021-22 Warriors became the only team in NBA history to win a Finals within three seasons of posting the worst record in the league after their 2019-20 squad posted a 15-50 record.

Curry acknowledged the road in winning this one was a lot different from the previous title seasons.

“This one hits different,” Curry said postgame. “This one hits different for sure.”

During this era’s first title win back in 2015, the Warriors were the best team all season long as they posted a 67-15 record and discarded a hobbled Cleveland Cavaliers squad missing both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the 2015 NBA Finals.

In the other two championship seasons, the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in 2017 and 2018 while dominating the league with Kevin Durant in the fold.

It’s also hard to argue that this title win was by far the most difficult of them all.

Golden State wasn’t even the best team in their own division during the season; that title belonged to the Phoenix Suns, a team that won a league-high 64 games. Meanwhile, the Warriors actually finished third in the conference, finishing behind the Memphis Grizzlies and winning just 53 games on the season.

There’s many reasons why this title team feels like the sweetest of all of them. We can point to Curry finally winning his first Finals MVP as a reason why. We can also mention how new young pieces such as Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II and Jordan Poole emerged after not playing on any of the previous Warriors title teams.

However, the resilience of this particular Warriors squad is what makes it so special. Nothing embodies that more than Klay Thompson’s story. The five-time All-Star missed nearly three years of his career after suffering a torn ACL and an Achilles injury before making his return in January of this year.

It’s no coincidence that the return of Thompson also led to the Warriors’ resurgence to the top of the league again. And while Thompson wasn’t his old dominant self in this series, he still contributed in a major way while averaging 17.0 points per game, third among all Warriors behind Curry and Wiggins.

Draymond Green — who showed his own resilience in this series after struggling early on — paid tribute to his longtime teammates — Curry and Thompson — during the Warriors’ championship celebration.

“This journey wouldn’t be the same without those two guys,” Green said. “I couldn’t imagine sharing this journey with anyone else. You know, we built this thing from the ground up, and when you build something from the ground up, that’s your baby, and I think for us, we all appreciate each other and we understand what each of us bring to the table.”

“It stretches far past what we have accomplished on the basketball court,” Green continued. “You’re talking bonds, those bonds will last forever. We are linked and connected together forever.”

Speaking of Green, the 32-year-old forward dealt with his share of critics from the Celtics fanbase during the course of this series. During the Warriors’ three games at the TD Garden, Celtics fans targeted Green with derogatory chants.

And despite fouling out three times during this series, being benched at the end of the Warriors’ Game 4 victory, and not making his first 3-point attempt until Game 6, Green showed exactly why he’s a four-time NBA champion.

“I didn’t learn anything about myself. I knew I was resilient,” when asked about what he learned about himself in this series.

The 2021-22 Warriors may go down in history as the worst of the Curry-era title teams. But it will also go down in history as the most impressive — and resilient — of all of the Warriors’ championship teams.