NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 16, 2022

Stephen Curry

Golden State Warriors

Game 6: Postgame

Golden State Warriors 103, Boston Celtics 90.

Q. What does it means to be Finals MVP?

STEPHEN CURRY: Forget that question. Why you start with that question? We've got four championships. God is great, the ability to be on this stage and play with amazing teammates against a great Boston Celtics team that gave us everything to try to get to the finish line.

This one hits different for sure, just knowing what the last three years have meant, what it's been like from injuries to changing of the guard in the rosters, Wiggs coming through, our young guys carrying the belief that we could get back to this stage and win, even if it didn't make sense to anybody when we said it, all that stuff matters.

And now we got four championships. Me, Dray, Klay, and Andre, we finally got that bad boy. It's special. It's special. Just all the work that went into it, the faith and belief and everybody in that locker room that's getting to spray champagne around the locker room, everybody mattered in that process. So I'm just proud of everybody.

Q. There was two seconds left on the clock, and you sat down on the baseline, head in your hands. I'm assuming you were thinking and feeling a lot of the things you just explained, but what was going through your head in that moment in particular?

STEPHEN CURRY: These last two months of the playoffs, these last three years, this last 48 hours, every bit of it has been an emotional roller coaster on and off the floor; and you're carrying all of that on a daily basis to try to realize a dream and a goal like we did tonight.

And you get goosebumps just thinking about, you know, all those snapshots and episodes that we went through to get back here, individually, collectively. And that's why I said I think this championship hits different. That's why I have so many emotions, and still will, just because of what it took to get back here.

And the fact that when we started this season, 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.

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.

Q. Along those same lines, a couple seconds left, you hugged your dad and disappeared off the floor.

STEPHEN CURRY: I blacked out for a second.

Q. Looked like you were in tears and hugged him. How comfortable are you with letting those emotions out in that way? Was it, I don't want to say overwhelming, but what was the emotions like?

STEPHEN CURRY: It was definitely overwhelming. It was surreal because you know how much you went through to get back to this stage, and nobody, unless you've been on that floor, you just grind day-in and day-out.

Talking about just me personally, my workouts from the off-season last year when we lost in the play-in tournament, it's been a year and six days that I started the process of getting ready for this season. It all paid off. Didn't know how it was going to happen. Didn't know what the environment was going to be like. You imagine what the emotions are going to be like, but it hits different.

You know, out there on the floor, I didn't even know he was down there, to be honest with you. I saw him and I lost it, and I knew the clock was kind of running out. I just wanted to take in the moment because it was that special.

Q. One of the great traits of all championship teams is talent, of course, in coaching, but also is stubbornness, just being stubborn. Can you describe the level of stubbornness that your core group has had the last three years, from Klay coming back from the injuries, to letting Joe spend whatever it takes, to you continue to go revamp and challenge yourself to being still great and Draymond reinventing himself, too?

STEPHEN CURRY: I like that word because, kind of what I was talking about, the narratives that you hear going into this season, especially, and coming off the two years prior where we literally had the worst record in the league and we had a lot of injuries.

Then scratching and clawing, trying to get to the Play-In tournament just to get a playoff berth, we definitely had that mentality that our belief and faith in what we can do.

And we kept saying it all year, our championship DNA, and the leadership of myself, Draymond, Andre and Loon, Klay, Draymond -- all that stuff mattered.

You carry that through the three years not knowing how it's going to end up. All you can do is control that belief and behind the scenes and how you show up every single day. You embody that. And when it comes time to take advantage of an opportunity, things click.

I remember two months ago, I was injured, we were sliding in defensive rating. We kind of limped our way into the postseason, and we clearly said, we have to peak at the right time, not knowing what our rotation was going to look like and what our chemistry was going to look like, because that's what the situation called for.

But, damn, we did it. It's crazy to think about. All that talk paid off. Manifest your destiny in a certain way, and that stubbornness of who we are matters more than what anybody is saying about us, is why we're here.

Q. Do you feel like this one means more? I know you said it hits different, but better, given everything you guys have been through and all -- everything that was said over the last few years with the injuries, and you missing time, Klay missing time, you guys coming back, is this just a better feeling than the past ones?

STEPHEN CURRY: The moment when you get it done is different, but all -- sorry. Comparatively, it's all kind of the same because you're letting out your emotions of the year, and you know you're the last team standing and you're celebrating the Championship.

When I say this one hits different, 2015 to 2019, it was kind of a steady climb to get into the Championship, and whether you won or lost, you kind of just left it all out there.

Then you go to these last two years, and conversations, narratives, we're "too old," the parallel timelines of developing young guys and keeping our core together, all those tough decisions that we had to make, that weighs on you for as much time as we're going through it.

Then you get to a point where you're in a playoff series against Denver and then Memphis and then Dallas and get to Boston, and it's like we're right here, and it's surreal.

Then you get to the finish line, and that's why I think this one is definitely different because of the three years of baggage we carried coming out of that Game 6 in 2019.

I can say it now, I don't know how many teams could carry that as long as we have with the expectations of comparing us now to teams of past and make it to the mountaintop again.

So a lot of people in that locker room that are enjoying this to the fullest, and they should, because of who we are as a team. It's pretty amazing.