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Stephen Curry walked off the floor with a giant smile after the Golden State Warriors' pivotal Game 5 win over the Boston Celtics.
“One more,” the Golden State Warriors star said to cheering fans in San Francisco after their pivotal win in game 5 of the NBA Finals over the Boston Celtics.
Curry gave a big hug to rapper Jay-Z outside the Warriors locker room afterwards.
Curry was happy, especially for teammate Andrew Wiggins, who had a big game, but this was not a celebration, at least not yet. The Warriors are on the brink of winning their fourth NBA Championship in eight years and Curry believes they must maintain their energy.
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“I think the fact that we have an opportunity to win one more game and accomplish the task, it's exciting. We know it's not going to be easy. We know that that building is a different environment.”
Curry said.
“We had a great win in Game 4. Had some solid moments in Game 3, but couldn't get it done. "We understand what we need to do. It's just about going out and executing, trying to bottle up your emotions, knowing how hard a close-out game is. We've had opportunities in prior series, that first time, to try to close a series out and struggled a little bit. But I think our energy, and especially these last two games, has been amazing on both ends of the floor."
"That's all you want, is an opportunity to play hopefully the best game of the year. Doesn't have to be perfect, but play the best game of the year, in terms of our intensity, focus and execution and knowing what more one more win means."
"You can talk about it, embrace the challenge and a lot of the guys in our locker room have been here before, but just got to go do it.”
Curry and the Warriors know first hand how difficult it is to close out a series in the Finals.
They lost the NBA Finals in 2016, blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers and again lost the Finals in a 2019 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
“I mean, I'm not going to lie to you, it does feel good; but we've been here before, 2016, and we might have been, you know, overly eager. But so -- like it feels good, but we haven't done anything yet, and the mission still is the same.”
Warriors sharp shooter Klay Thompson said he was excited for Game 6.
“We're all eager to get to Boston and play a great game on Thursday.”
Golden State Warriors will be looking to wrap things up in Game 6
Golden State Head Coach Steve Kerr knows the challenges ahead of him as the series shifts to Boston on Thursday night for Game 6. Teams that have led the NBA Finals by three games to two have gone on to win the series 81.3% of the time.
History is in their favor, but nine teams have come back to win the Finals after trailing 3-2, and it’s going to take another level for the Warriors to close out the series.
They will spend Tuesday's travel day and Wednesday's practice day in Boston thinking and preparing a way to finish off the Celtics at TD Garden.
“It's so exciting to be part of the Finals again. You know, I think this whole season has kind of led to this, a lot of individual stories, guys getting better, guys getting healthy. Here we are, we have a chance. We have two cracks at getting one win, but we also know how difficult it's going to be.”
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said the celebrations would have to wait.
“Nobody's celebrating, but we are excited to be in this spot, and we want to take advantage of it.”
Kerr knows first-hand the challenge of closing out a series. He has won eight NBA titles, three as a coach and five as a player.
Kerr also knows closing out the Celtics has been a challenge for previous teams, including Milwaukee and Miami, who lost to Boston earlier in the playoffs.
Kerr plans to stress the intensity they have had in the last two games of this series.
Boston has staved off elimination time and time again in the playoffs and coach Ime Udoka stressed the importance of staying confident, especially at home.
“Our message is to take it one at a time. We've been here before and did it against Milwaukee. Let's bring it back out to the Bay.”
The Warriors, who are in the NBA Finals for the 12th time, are focused on finishing the job and going down in history as one of the greatest franchises in the league's history.
Among the four major North American sports (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL), the Warriors are the 12th franchise to play in a championship game or series six times in an eight-year span, joining the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers; National Football League’s Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers and New York Giants; Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees; and the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadians and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Philadelphia/San Francisco/Golden State Warriors franchise is one win away from moving into sole possession of third place on the all-time NBA Championship list, past the Chicago Bulls, which Kerr helped during their run with Michael Jordan in 1990s.
A win would be extra special for Thompson, after losing over two years of basketball due to injuries. Back on the big stage, Thompson is appreciative and trying to enjoy the moment.
Growing up, Thompson heard all about the Boston Celtics and their legacy from his father, Mychal Thompson, who played in the NBA and won two championships, including one against the Celtics in 1987 as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
"Well, when you face a team with the history like the Celtics, it's awesome. They have had some of the greatest players to ever dribble the ball, all the way to Cousy, and Russell, to Bird, McHale, Parrish, and watching Paul Pierce and Kobe go at it, and now to add to that legacy, it's great."
"Growing up, we would watch those games, and you could just feel the tension in the Forum, or at the Boston Garden, and I know he looks back on those with so much joy as I do, too."
"Because the Lakers-Celtics rivalry really built the NBA, you can say, and it's one of the greatest rivalries in the world. So to kind of be able to be a part of that with Golden State and Boston, it's a new chapter, and it's just awesome to be here. It's like a dream, honestly. Like compared to I what was doing last year in this building at this time of the year, it's a dream."
