Historic NBA Teams, Celtics and Warriors Review After Nearly Six Decades

Present in each of the NBA’s 76 seasons, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors are two of the richest history teams in the North American basketball league. The Celtics have just reached their 22nd final. The Warriors will play their 12th. And only once did they meet at the big decision.

Part of this is explained by the fact that the Warriors played in Philadelphia until 1962 and, in the same conference as the Celtics, could only face them in earlier stages. But since moving West and becoming a Californian, the team has rarely matched its best moments with those of the Massachusetts formation.

The only meeting, in 1964, was part of the historic rivalry between centers Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Chamberlain, as usual, posted impressive stats in the best-of-seven series with 29.2 points and 27.6 rebounds per game, but as usual Russell’s Boston got the better of it: 4-1 over San Francisco. Warriors.

The pivots are no longer the owners of the game, at least not traditional ones like Wilt and Bill. Today, three-point shots are decisive, which did not even exist in the final 58 years ago. And it was largely thanks to them that the Golden State Warriors (named in 1971, on the move to Oakland, name kept on returning to San Francisco in 2019) established themselves as a power in the last decade.

With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson possibly the two greatest pitchers in history, the team reached five straight finals between 2015 and 2019, winning three of them. Then, Kevin Durant, present in the two most recent titles, left, and Thompson suffered injuries that ruled him out for two seasons.

In those two seasons, Golden State did not even qualify for the finals, the “playoffs”. In 2019/20, he had the worst campaign in the entire league. But he managed to rally himself with the arrival of Andrew Wiggins, the rise of Jordan Poole and the return of Thompson, reaching his sixth final in eight years – something that only the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls had achieved.

“We started the year with a lot of hope and confidence, something we didn’t have in the previous two. We felt we had a chance to get back into the fray, the players felt that too,” said coach Steve Kerr. “After being out of the playoffs for two years, everyone came in hungry. We started off strong, with a lot of team connection, a lot of camaraderie.”

There were injury problems throughout the campaign, the third-best in the Western Conference. It was only in the playoffs that the team was healthier, which allowed them a relatively smooth path to the decision, with clear superiority over Denver Nuggets (4-1), Memphis Grizzlies (4-2) and Dallas Mavericks (4). to 1).

The Boston Celtics’ trajectory this season was pretty bumpy. Led by a rookie coach, Ime Udoka, started the championship with 25 wins and 25 losses and was in eighth place in the East. Thereafter, he won 26 times, lost only six, and advanced to second in the conference.

The team is the first in 41 years to reach the finals after having a maximum of 50% in the opening 50 games – the Houston Rockets reached the 1981 decision in this way, in which they were defeated by Boston itself. If champions, the Celtics will be the first to win after such a start.

For the right to face the Warriors, they easily passed Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn Nets 4-0. From then on, they had extensive series against the title-defending Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat. In both clashes, he won Game 7 to survive and take the stage that is well known to the team but not to its players.

Seventeen-time NBA champions Boston have a chance to isolate themselves as the biggest winners, leaving arch-rivals Los Angeles Lakers behind. However, none of the athletes who currently defend the green and white team have experience in the decision. It can be a problem against a veteran opponent, but youth, of course, also have their perks.

Forward Jayson Tatum, 24, is ten years younger than Golden State standout Stephen Curry. Draymond Green, 32, another key Warriors figure who teamed up with Tatum on the U.S. Olympic team last year, told the young man he has a shot at being the top player in the league (MVP) next season.

The winger’s main partner is also winger and also young Jaylen Brown, 25. Point guard Marcus Smart, 28, is largely responsible for marking and was named the best defensive player in the league. The rotation has center Al Horford, 35, its veteran, who, after 15 years in the NBA and 13 playoff seasons, will finally play in a final.

“It was hard to get here. Like, really,” Tatum said. “We’ve had some really tough times throughout the season, times where you… not that you doubt yourself, but you ask yourself, you know, you ask yourself, ‘Can we do this?’ You start to realize how hard it is to win. . But you have to trust yourself and work, because it won’t rain forever.”

It has rained in Boston for the last few years. There was clear potential in the group that was built up little by little, with athletes who started their NBA careers already wearing the green jersey. But the results were disappointing, and coach Brad Stevens decided to become a manager. As a top hat, he threw his chips on a rookie coach, Ime Udoka, 44, a questionable bet that has paid off.

As on the court, the bench duel will have a big difference in experience. Steve Kerr, 56, has been Golden State’s captain since the 2015 title season. A three-time champion, he was included in the list of the 15 greatest coaches in league history. Now, he is looking for his fourth cup, which would be the Warriors’ seventh and left them isolated in third in the list of champions, ahead of the Chicago Bulls.

Owner of the best campaign among the finalists, Kerr’s team plays the first two games at home in San Francisco. The series then heads to Boston for two more games. Then, if necessary, there will be a duel in each gym. The confrontation starts at 10 pm this Thursday (2), with transmission from ESPN and the streaming service Star+.