The Golden State Warriors legend of Stephen Curry continues to grow. With the ring won tonight against the Boston Celtics, the team from San Francisco (USA) added its fourth title in eight years and extended a dynasty that is already golden history in the NBA.
This is his story step by step:
2015: THE IRRUPTION OF THE "SPLASH BROTHERS"
Stephen Curry landed in the NBA in 2009 and Klay Thompson did the same two years later, but the irruption of the "Splash Brothers" It did not arrive until the 2014-2015 season and coincided with Steve Kerr landing on the bench.
With a spectacular game, very colorful, fabulous confidence in the triples and enormous collective spirit (Draymond Green was the glue that united everything and Harrison Barnes added in all facets), the Warriors made a great leap in quality, finished first in the West and Curry picked up his first regular-season MVP.
There they crossed paths with the Cleveland Cavaliers of LeBron James, their great enemy in those years.
The Warriors ended up taking the title (4-2) with a brilliant decision by Kerr: replacing Andrew Bogut in the starting five with Andre Iguodala, who had been essential off the bench all season and ended up winning the Finals MVP for his fantastic defense of LeBron.
2016: RECORD AND DISAPPOINTMENT
Golden State started its title defense like a rocket.
In the regular season, he swept rivals in the four cardinal points and closed an impressive season with a record of 73-9, the best record in NBA history, surpassing what the Chicago Bulls had achieved in 1996 (72-10).
The structure of the previous championship was maintained, the machine seemed even more oiled, Curry won his second consecutive MVP and even passed a very demanding test in the Western Final with a 4-3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook after go down 1-3.
However, the Cavaliers got in his way this time.
With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love escorting Lebron, Cleveland forced Game 7 after going 1-3 down and triumphed in the final match on Golden State’s court with two plays to remember: LeBron’s block on Iguodala and a triple from Irving in Curry’s face.
2017 and 2018: DURANT PUT THE INCISION
Very few doubted that the Warriors had the best roster in the league, but those who remained to be convinced fell silent when Kevin Durant arrived at Golden State in one of the most talked about -and controversial- signings in NBA history.
With a devastating offensive power and a practically infinite ability to generate offensive shots, the Warriors chained two consecutive rings defeating some Cavaliers in the Finals who, as much as LeBron tried, could not stop these unstoppable Golden State.
As an example, Curry, Durant, Thompson and Green were chosen together for the 2017 All-Star.
In that season, the Warriors only lost one game (and it was in the Finals against Cleveland) on their way to the ring while the following year they suffered much more by having to play seven games to eliminate the Houston Rockets of James Harden and Chris Paul.
Already in the 2018 Finals, the Warriors gave no option and swept the Cavaliers 4-0.
2019-2021: CHANGE OF CYCLE AND INJURIES
The Finals that the Warriors lost in 2019 against the Toronto Raptors marked a before and after.
First of all, the Canadians ended their treble dream (4-2) in a fateful Finals for the Warriors and marked by serious injuries to Kevin Durant (Achilles tendon) and Klay Thompson (anterior cruciate ligament).
Durant left the team that summer for the Brooklyn Nets and things got even worse for Golden State, which saw Stephen Curry break his hand early in the season.
Thus, the course in which the pandemic broke out and ended in the "bubble" The Warriors played it without their two stars with an expected result: they went from being finalists to being the last in the West with the worst balance in the league (15-50).
In addition, Thompson suffered an Achilles tendon injury, his second serious mishap in a row, for which he spent almost a thousand days without playing.
In the 2020-2021 academic year, some positive signs appeared with Curry returning to an impressive level (32 average points per game) and with an elimination in the ‘play-in’ against the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies.
2022: RESURRECTION
In San Francisco Bay they are more from Silicon Valley than from Hollywood, but the resurrection of the Warriors could have been signed by a film writer looking for a totally emotional ending.
With the addition of youth and energy with Andrew Wiggins or Jordan Poole, the Warriors finished third in the West (53-29) in the season in which Thompson finally returned to the courts.
Curry, meanwhile, was on his own: smashing 3-point records.
Thus, the great point guard became the first player in the NBA to make more than 3,000 triples and was named All-Star MVP with an amazing display of 50 points with 16 triples.
It remained to be seen if the rebirth of Golden State reached the playoffs and they did not fail: they eliminated MVP Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets (4-1), subdued Ja Morant’s rebellious Memphis Grizzlies (4-2), stopped the surprising Dallas Mavericks led by Luka Doncic (4-1) and reacted in the Finals against the Celtics after losing 1-2 (final 4-2).
Curry grabbed the headlines as Finals MVP but let’s not forget Kerr’s extraordinary work off the bench, who is an impressive 22-2 in the playoffs having only lost two qualifiers: the 2016 and 2019 Finals. .
