How the Golden State Warriors Won the 2021 NBA Finals
How the Golden State Warriors Won the 2021 NBA Finals: A Comprehensive Breakdown. The Golden State Warriors are your 2021 NBA Finals Champions.
The Warriors’ Path to the Finals
The Golden State Warriors were one of the best teams in the NBA during the 2021 regular season. They had a record of 46-18 and were the second seed in the Western Conference. They went into the playoffs as one of the favorites to win the NBA Finals. The Warriors met the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs and won in six games. In the second round, they faced the Portland Trail Blazers and won in five games.
The regular season
The Warriors entered the 2020-21 NBA season with lofty expectations. After winning the 2019 NBA Finals, the Warriors added All-Star point guard D’Angelo Russell to their already star-studded lineup that included Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. The Warriors were the favorites to win the NBA title.
The regular season did not go as planned for the Warriors. They finished with a mediocre 26-14 record and were the seventh seed in the Western Conference. Injuries to Curry, Thompson, and Russell hampered the team throughout the season. The Warriors limped into the playoffs.
The playoffs
The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the NBA regular season to determine the league’s champion. The Warriors have qualified for the playoffs 22 times in their 74-year history, including every season since 2010. They have appeared in the NBA Finals 12 times, winning six championships (1947, 1956, 1975, 2015, 2017, and 2018).
The Finals
The Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals on Sunday, becoming the first team in league history to win four championships in five years. They did it with a complete team effort, led by Finals MVP Kevin Durant, who scored a game-high 33 points. The Warriors won the series, 4-1.
The series
In the 2021 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games to win their first championship since 1975 and their fourth in franchise history. The Warriors won the first three games of the series, lost Game 4, and then won the decisive Game 5 on the road. The series was notable for being the first time in NBA history that two teams had met in the Finals for a fourth consecutive year.
The Warriors were led by Stephen Curry, who averaged 34 points per game and was named the Finals MVP for the second time in his career. Curry was supported by Kevin Durant, who averaged 28 points per game, and Klay Thompson, who averaged 16 points per game. For the Cavaliers, LeBron James averaged 34 points per game and Kyrie Irving averaged 24 points per game.
The Warriors entered the series as favorites, having won three of the last four NBA championships. They had also won both of their regular season meetings with the Cavaliers. However, the Cavaliers were able to push them to the limit in what proved to be an exciting and competitive series.
The game
The Warriors won game one of the finals on Thursday night, in a close contest that saw the lead change hands several times in the fourth quarter. Stephen Curry was the star for the Warriors, scoring 26 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter. Curry was named the Finals MVP after leading his team to victory in all four games of the series.
The Finals were a rematch of last year’s Finals, which were won by the Golden State Warriors in seven games. This year, the Warriors won the series four games to one.
