Stephen Curry’s mocked comments to the Celtics after game 3 of the finals.
Stephen Curry was a man on a mission in the 2022 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics. Up to that point, he had won three championships but still didn’t have a Finals MVP to his name. But he was confident his team would eventually take the series despite going down 2-1.
According to former Celtics forward Juwan Morgan, Curry, known for his “night, night” celebration, sent them a challenge following the Warriors’ Game 3 loss.
“Everybody else was paying attention to the court,”said Morgan.“But it was me, Malik Fitts, Nik Stauskas, and maybe Payton [Pritchard] heard it, and Matt Ryan. So, we sitting there, and he looked and was just like, ‘Enjoy y’all last win.’ That was Game 3, and I was just like, ‘Did he say that?'”
Prophecy come true
The first three games of the series were a back-and-forth affair.
Boston won the opening bout 120-108 on the road, largely thanks to Al Horford turning back time with a 26-point performance.
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White also combined for 45 points to help. It was over with a few minutes left on the clock, and Morgan got on the court for garbage time.
The following two games had the teams take turns routing each other again, with Golden State locking up the Celtics in Game 2, holding them to just 88 points. As it turned out, Game 3 was the last time Boston got a taste of victory (116-100) that season.
While Curry already led all players in scoring in the first three contests, he took it up a notch in the fourth meeting by pouring in 43 points to help the Dubs complete a comeback 10-point win and rain on Boston’s parade.
Steph went cold in Game 5 but got enough help from four of his teammates, who scored in double-digits: Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, Gary Payton II, and Jordan Poole.
The two-time MVP then sealed it for the Warriors in the sixth contest by recording 34 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.
Silencing the naysayers
One of the knocks on Curry’s career then was that he was supposedly carried to his three rings, even though he had a statistically better performance than Finals MVP Andre Iguodala in the 2015 Finals and arguably served as the squad’s anchor on offense during the short lived Kevin Durant era.
Of course, his legacy would still have been intact without a Final MVP on his long list of accolades.
But Steph proved his – and the Warriors’ – doubters by leading the team to another title after people quickly wrote off the dynasty.
Unfortunately, Morgan and the Celtics had to be the victim in the 2022 Finals.
