NBA Finals 2022: Golden State Warriors are champions! Here's the Game 6 review vs Boston Celtics
Led by NBA 2022 Finals MVP Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors romped to their fourth title following a 103-90 win at Boston's TD Garden on Thursday.
FollowThe Boston Celtics took a 14-2 lead four minutes into the game. A record-breaking masterclass and meltdown by either team followed. 27 points would outscore the Celtics for the rest of the first half. It included a 21-0 run—a finals record for most unanswered points. Even more remarkably, this run largely came in non-Stephen Curry minutes in a game where Steph was at his best too. Curry ended his streak of nine straight missed threes by making one in the first quarter and finished the first half with joint team-high 12 points. Klay Thompson also had 12 points while Andrew Wiggins added 10. For the Celtics, it was once again their two stars who led the team in scoring in the first half, with Jaylen Brown scoring 14 points and Jayson Tatum scoring 11 points.
After dropping by 22 in the third quarter, the Celtics cut the Warriors' lead to 10 by the third quarter's end. Thanks go in large part to Al Horford, who had 12 points in the period of just five field-goal attempts. Unfortunately, for the Celtics, this was about as good as it would get on the night. Thanks to Curry's 13 points in eight fourth-quarter minutes, the Warriors would pull away to seal their fourth title in eight seasons.
ALSO READ: NBA - 'When the game gets tight, they shrink' - Chris Haynes outlines Boston Celtics' shortcomings
Curry, who won his first Finals MVP, would finish the game as the joint-leading scorer with 34 points on an absurd 57% field goal shooting. His scoring output would be matched by the Celtics' Jaylen Brown, who also had seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Brown's star teammate Jayson Tatum once again struggled after a promising start. After 11 points in the first half on 50% shooting, Tatum would go 1/8 from the field in the second half. The 24-year-old also had five Turnovers.
Turnovers weren't only an issue for Tatum but the entire Celtics team. The Celtics turned the ball over an absurd 22 times. Since the ABA-NBA merger in 1979, no team has turned over the ball more in a Finals elimination game. With constant turnovers, the Celtics couldn't mount a big enough run to offset the Warriors' lead at any point. The closest the Celtics got to the Warriors was eight points with 5:35 left in the game. From there, the Warriors executed well on both ends to close the game.
