NBA Finals: Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics clash has all the makings of an instant classic
- Title-winning trio Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson leading Warriors back to top
- But Celtics are considered to be the most complete team and are heavily tipped to win best-of-seven encounter
A resurgent Golden State Warriors are bidding to reclaim their throne at basketball’s summit against a Boston Celtics team chasing history when the NBA Finals tip-off later this week.
After a gruelling regular season and a roller coaster playoff campaign, Golden State and Boston will open their best-of-seven finals showdown on Thursday (Friday 9am, HKT) in what has all the makings of a classic between two evenly matched teams.
Two years ago, the once-mighty Warriors – the dominant NBA franchise of the past decade – appeared to be facing up to the end of an era.
A league worst 15-50 record left them propping up the foot of the Western Conference, a precipitous fall for a franchise that graced the NBA Finals five times in a row between 2015 and 2019, winning three championships.
But with three pillars of that dynastic run – Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson – back to fitness, and under the shrewd leadership of head coach Steve Kerr, the Warriors are back in their preferred habitat.
The Warriors’ swift return to the finals is a by-product of a culture that endured throughout the depths of 2020’s miserable 15-win season, or last season’s elimination in the play-in tournament.
“The times when it was rough, we were losing, I think we still had a good group of guys,” said Warriors centre Kevon Looney, a member of the 2017 and 2018 title-winning teams.
“We were still able to keep that same culture in the locker room, even though we were losing. We still played our style of basketball, still holding guys to a high level and a high standard.”
