Champs seize opportunity to silence their naysayers
The initial emotion the Warriors' stars had after winning their fourth NBA title in eight years was joy, so much so that they were overcome with tears.
But once that passed and the realization of what they had accomplished began to sink in?
It was time to bask in the glory — and remind those who doubted them just how wrong they were.
Yeah, the chance to call out their naysayers felt extra special to Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green after the Warriors beat the Celtics 103-90 on Thursday night, winning the NBA Finals in six games and becoming just the second team to clinch an NBA Finals on Boston's parquet floor.
Thompson recalled a tweet from Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. after Memphis beat Golden State late in the regular season. Jackson tweeted the Warriors' longtime motto “Strength in numbers” and, apparently, struck quite the nerve with Thompson.
“This is a collective season and strength in numbers is alive and well,” Thompson said before then going off on Jackson. “I can't wait, there is this one player on the Grizzlies who tweeted `strength in numbers' after they beat us in the regular season and it pissed me off so much. I can't wait to retweet that thing. Freaking bum. I had to watch that, like `this freaking guy.'
“OK, OK. Sorry. Bad memory just popped up. Going to mock us? Like, you ain't ever been there before, bruh. We been there. We know what it takes. Hold that. Twitter fingers, can you believe it? I've got a memory like an elephant. I don't forget. There were a lot of people kicking us down.”
Thompson wasn't the only one with a bone to pick. Wiggins was considered a bust for a long stretch of his career with the Timberwolves, and even the trade that brought him to the Warriors came with a firstround pick attached — a sign that he wasn't valued as highly as the guy he was traded for, D'Angelo Russell.
But in this series, he was arguably Golden State's secondbest player and Thompson said he “made my life so easy” and that the Warriors “cannot be here without them.” Proving the doubters wrong?
“Man, it's a feeling I can't describe,” Wiggins said. “Every day, that stuff is motivating. It put fire in my eyes and I just wanted to prove everyone wrong. Now I'm a world champion. Everyone is going to have something to say regardless, but now when they have something to say, they have to say I'm a world champion, too.”
While Wiggins had heard it for years, Green caught the torrent of doubts during this NBA Finals. The talkative forward had heard all of the chatter about his admittedly rough middle stretch of the series, which included people asking questions about his podcast.
But after he was “pretty solid” in Game 5 and “dominated” Game 6, Green made sure people knew the podcast was coming — and was happening in the postgame revelry.
“Draymond Green Show, live from the NBA Finals about to go down back there. Y'all look out. It's going to be an incredible episode. I told y'all on there before, don't let us win ... (a) championship, and they let us win a championship, and you going to hear about it,” Green said. “So, tune in because it's going to be epic. Jordan Poole going to be on there. Might have Steph Curry on there. Might have Klay Thompson on there ... It's going to be an incredible episode.”
And the podcast plans won't stop when the season does, either. Green promised that “y'all going to get it all summer and next year, too. It's here. It is what it is.”
His Warrior teammates didn't forget the Bostons fans' chiding chants at him, bringing the, “[Expletive] you, Draymond” chants into the locker room after the Game 6 win. You can bet Green enjoyed those immensely.
But even for as many doubters that Thompson and Green had, they pale when compared to Curry's doubters. And now, with a fourth championship and a unanimous Finals MVP to boot, Curry's rising in the history books.
“But Steph, I think he solidified himself today — not even today, just his career, as best point guard of all time,” said fellow four-time champion Andre Iguodala.
While other Warriors were singing his praises and discussing his place in the history books, Curry didn't do much of that, instead focusing on the team's accomplishment. But for a guy who, earlier this week, called himself a “petty king,” he was more than happy to spend the night firing back at his and the team's doubters.
There's the recent one, where Curry somehow acquired a green “Ayesha Curry can't cook” shirt that was being sold ahead of
Game 6, just one week after a local Boston bar put the phrase on a chalkboard and Curry himself responded with an “Ayesha Curry can cook” T-shirt of his own after Game 5.
But he didn't stop there. Back when he was signing an extension to remain with the Warriors, ESPN's First Take did a segment with a chyron that read: “How many titles will Steph win in the next 4 years?”
Two panelists — including former NBA player Kendrick Perkins — held their hands over their eyes in a circular pattern to mimic a zero. Curry, clearly, did not forget about the segment.
“The conversations about who we were as a team and what we were capable of, clearly remember some experts and talking heads putting up the big zero of how many championships we would have going forward because of everything that we went through,” Curry said. “So we hear all that, and you carry it all and you try to maintain your purpose, not let it distract you, but you carry that weight and to get here, it all comes out. It's special.”
And how did Curry get to finish his time in Boston? By putting his hands together on the side of his face and saying good night, of course.