The Golden State Warriors celebrated their NBA championship with a parade through the streets of San Francisco on Monday.
A 103-90 success over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in Game 6 of the NBA Finals last Thursday clinched a 4-2 win for the Warriors, who lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the first time since 2018.
It marked the culmination of a stunning recovery from Golden State, who lost Kevin Durant in free agency following the 2019 Finals loss to the Toronto Raptors and had the worst record in the league in the following season, with Klay Thompson missing the first of two straight years due to ACL damage and Stephen Curry playing just five games of the truncated campaign.
The Warriors lost a play-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies in 2020-21 but beat them en route to a fourth championship in eight years this season.
Curry, who was named Finals MVP for the first time in his decorated career, explained why he was so emotional after the latest success as he addressed fans who gathered to celebrate in the streets.
"Whether you say it out loud or you internalise it, you carry the journey with you," said Curry.
"To know what we've all been through, what my brother [Thompson] went through over almost three years, what we went through as a team to try to re-tool, regroup, rejuvenate what we had, and just taking snapshots of the last three years, all that came out when the final horn sounded.
"It wasn't just the work we put in last week, a month ago, it's the work we started when we changed buildings and trying to carry that championship DNA with us. But that emotion was everything, just letting it out and letting you know that we're back. What are they gonna say now?"
