This was Steph Curry's time. This was Andrew Wiggins' time. This was another championship moment for the Golden State Warriors -- another chance to witness true basketball greatness. (michaelgrange)
became the Warriors -- a modern NBA dynasty playing basketball in a ‘new’ way that has come to define the sport -- they have owned the third quarters of key games.
There was no question of who the Finals MVP would be as Curry was the fulcrum around which everything revolved for the Warriors as they completed their climb back up the NBA mountaintop after two injury-plagued seasons that ended in the draft lottery The Warriors were going to go as far as Curry would take them, and he put them on his deceptively strong, broad shoulders and took them all the way.
Wiggins has always showed the ability to rise to the occasion in his career, it’s just that there never seemed to be enough occasions. Some of that was on him as a former first overall pick in 2013 who often didn’t play with the kind of intensity that might have been expected and some of it was playing in a Minnesota organization that could never seem to get things right.
“The support system, everyone on this team, this organization, they support you and they want to see you do good, and they put you in a position to do good … And I feel like I'm pretty easygoing, so I just came in here and hoop. I'm playing basketball, and I'm playing hard, and I feel like people respect that. And I'm just trying to win. At the end of the day, no matter what it takes or whatever they need from me, I'm here to help them win.
But if they can’t pull it off, if the stars don’t align one more time, this title and this performance by Curry, Wiggins and the rest of the Warriors will cement their legacy. A 12-0 run had the Celtics up 14-2. But the Warriors defence stiffened. Brown and Tatum each got in trouble by over-dribbling, Wiggins helped the Warriors get on track with a triple from deep, and slowly Golden State began chipping away the early momentum.