The Golden State Warriors have won their fourth championship in eight years by defeating the Celtics in six games, and Stephen Curry was named NBA Finals MVP.
Just two seasons after having the worst record in the league, the Warriors are back on the mountain top and no one relished the moment more than Curry who called out all those who wrote him and his team off.
"What they gonna say now?" Curry told Andscape's Marc Spears after the game. "[You] hear all the talk about you as a player and us as a team, nobody outside of the Bay Area thought we would be here last October when the season started. Me as a player, obviously this Finals MVP stuff and all that, knew [we were] good enough to win three championships before."
Curry put up 34 points, seven assists, and seven rebounds in the deciding game, giving him 30 or more in three straight games at Boston. He received a phone call from former President Obama congratulating him on his incredible accomplishment.
"But to have the opportunity to go for a fourth [championship], and to accomplish this goal, too, God is great," Curry said about being awarded the Bill Russell trophy. "Just happy I got to do it."
According to research from ESPN Stats & Information, Curry is only the fifth player to win multiple NBA MVPs, a Finals MVP, and a scoring title in his career, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas spoke about all the debates surrounding Curry’s legacy and if winning a Finals MVP solidified him as one of the best players ever. "It helps," he said. "As [Boston's] Cedric Maxwell said to me the other night, he goes, 'There's 32 NBA Finals [MVPs]. I'm one of them.'"
"I'm one of them, too. At the end, it does matter. It helps,” Thomas added. “Steph's legacy is already cemented, in terms of what he's done for the game, how he's improved the game, and what he's done making all the kids want to play the game [the way he does]. He's pushed the game forward."
Curry’s teammate Draymond Green also sounded off on the critics who tried to minimize his remarkable accomplishments.
"To stamp [his career] with a Finals MVP—I know he said it don't matter," Green said. “And it doesn't matter in the sense of like, 'oh, his legacy is not quite this unless he gets that.' Like, that's garbage. Steph Curry is still an all-time great.”
"But to add that to your résumé as a competitor, you want that,” he added. ”For him, well-deserved. It's been a long time in the making. But he left no doubt and he carried us, and we're here as champions."
