2022 NBA Finals

• 1. Introduction

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  The 2022 NBA Finals began on the 2nd of June with the highest three-point total ever recorded in a championship game. Both teams combined for 40 made three-pointers, breaking the previous Finals record of 35 set in 2017. Stephen Curry hit six of them in the first quarter alone, more than any player had ever made in a single Finals period. His 21 first-quarter points were the most in a single Finals quarter since Michael Jordan's 22 in the fourth quarter of Game 4 in 1993. Golden State led by 12 points heading into the fourth. The Celtics outscored the Warriors 40-16 the rest of the way and won by 12. That reversal, at Chase Center in San Francisco, was the first of many surprises in a six-game series. How did two franchises, each battered by injury and personnel change, arrive at this stage? How did a Boston team that started the year 16-19 reach the Finals for the first time since 2010? And for Curry, holding three championship rings, why did the trophy named for the sport's greatest winner remain out of reach?

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• 2. The Long Way Back

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  Klay Thompson stepped onto an NBA court on the 9th of January, 2022, for the first time in 941 days. He had missed the entire 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons to injury, along with other key rotation players. Stephen Curry played a combined 68 games in those same two years. The Warriors had reached the Finals five consecutive times from 2015 to 2019. Then the dynasty went quiet.

  The 2021-22 season opened differently. Golden State won 18 of their first 20 games. Curry set the NBA record for career three-pointers during that stretch. Andrew Wiggins, acquired from Minnesota in 2020 after six seasons there, was named a starter at the All-Star Game. The Warriors finished 53-29 as the third seed in the Western Conference. On the 16th of March 2022, Marcus Smart dove for a loose ball at Chase Center and landed on Curry's left foot, spraining a ligament. Curry missed the final 12 regular-season games and came off the bench for four of the five first-round games against Denver before recovering. Golden State swept Dallas in five games in the conference finals. That put the Warriors in the Finals for the twelfth time in franchise history and the sixth time in eight seasons.

  Danny Ainge retired as the Celtics' president of basketball operations, and head coach Brad Stevens moved into the front office to replace him. Stevens' first move was trading Kemba Walker for Al Horford, a center who had played 141 playoff games without once reaching the Finals. Ime Udoka, an assistant with the Brooklyn Nets, was hired to take over on the bench. The Celtics sat in 10th place in the Eastern Conference by December. They then won 35 of their final 47 regular-season games to finish 51-31. In the playoffs, they swept a Brooklyn team that many had expected to push them hard. They beat the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in seven games after trailing 3-2. A 2-1 deficit against the top-seeded Miami Heat also became a seven-game series win. It was the Celtics' 22nd Finals appearance and their first since 2010.

  The two franchises had last met in 1964, when Boston defeated the San Francisco Warriors in five games. It was the Celtics' sixth consecutive championship. Fifty-eight years later, NBA Finals home-court advantage went to the team with the better regular-season record. That rule gave the third-seeded Warriors the edge over the second-seeded Celtics.

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• 3. Momentum and Mistakes

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  Jayson Tatum shot 3-for-17 in Game 1 and still set a record. His 13 assists were the most by any player in a Finals debut. Al Horford, who had waited 141 playoff games for this moment, scored 26 points. He went on an 8-0 solo run in the fourth quarter to give Boston the lead. Derrick White came off the bench to score 21 points and Marcus Smart added 18. The Celtics hit their first seven three-point attempts in the fourth quarter. Their comeback from 12 points down was the largest in the Finals after three quarters since Chicago overcame a 15-point deficit in Game 6 against Portland in 1992. Boston's road record in the postseason improved to 8-2.

  Game 2 showed a different Boston. The Celtics committed 19 turnovers and Golden State turned them into 33 points. The Warriors outscored Boston 43-14 in a stretch from late in the second quarter to early in the fourth. Jordan Poole hit a three-pointer from 39 feet at the end of the third quarter, pushing the lead to 23. Boston scored its fewest points since December.

  Game 3 belonged to the Celtics. Boston outscored Golden State 52-26 in the paint and outrebounded them 47-31. Jaylen Brown and Tatum combined for 53 points. Draymond Green fouled out for the second time in three games. He became the first Finals player to foul out after playing at least 34 minutes with fewer than five points, five rebounds, and five assists. With a 2-1 series lead, Boston appeared to be in control.

  Andrew Wiggins changed the balance over the next two games. He grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds in Game 4. He followed with 26 points and 13 rebounds in Game 5, leading Golden State to a 104-94 victory. Curry went 0-for-9 from three-point range in Game 5, ending an NBA-record streak of 132 consecutive playoff games with at least one three-pointer. Klay Thompson added 21 points that night, shooting 7-for-14 and converting five three-pointers.

  Golden State clinched in Game 6 with a 21-0 run in the first half, the longest such run in modern Finals history. Boston led 14-2 early before falling behind 54-39 at halftime. The Celtics committed 22 turnovers in the final game. They went 1-8 in the postseason when committing 16 or more turnovers. Their primary reserves, Derrick White, Grant Williams, and Payton Pritchard, scored a combined five points on two-for-ten shooting. Jaylen Brown led Boston with 34 points, but Tatum shot 6-for-18 and finished with 13. Across the entire postseason, Tatum committed 100 turnovers, an NBA record for a single postseason. Boston's Finals series record fell to 17-5, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most championships in league history.

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• 4. Curry's Finals

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  Stephen Curry scored 43 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Game 4 to level the series at 2-2. He made 14 of 26 shots and 7 of 14 from three-point range. In the fourth quarter, he personally outscored Boston 10-3 after the Celtics had built a four-point lead. He became just the third Warriors player to post at least 40 points and 10 rebounds in a Finals game. The others were Rick Barry in 1967 and Kevin Durant in 2018. Only Michael Jordan and LeBron James had previously scored 40 or more in a Finals game at age 34 or older. Curry joined that pair.

  Game 6 in Boston produced a similarly commanding night. Curry scored 34 points on 12-of-21 shooting, including six three-pointers from 11 attempts. He added seven rebounds and seven assists. He became the first player since LeBron James in 2017 to score 30 or more points in three consecutive playoff games in Boston.

  Curry averaged 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists across the series and was unanimously named the Finals MVP. It was the first time in his career he had won the award. The trophy bore the name of Bill Russell, who had anchored 11 of Boston's 17 championships. Commissioner Adam Silver would describe Russell as "the greatest champion in all of team sports." Russell died on the 31st of July, 2022, at his home in Mercer Island, Washington. He was 88 years old. The news was announced by his family. Less than seven weeks had passed since Curry held the trophy that carried his name.

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• 5. After the Trophy

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  Steve Kerr won his ninth championship overall with the Game 6 victory, five as a player and four as a coach. He became the sixth coach in league history to win four titles, joining Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, John Kundla, Gregg Popovich, and Pat Riley. The Warriors also became the first team to go from the NBA's worst record to a championship within three seasons. Their lowest mark had come in 2019-20.

  During a team practice on the 5th of October 2022, Draymond Green struck teammate Jordan Poole with a sucker punch. TMZ published a leaked video of the incident on October 7. Green publicly apologized on October 9 and stepped away from the team. The franchise fined him on October 12. Kerr later said the Warriors lacked the trust needed to be a championship team. Green blamed their early playoff exit the following year on the punch. Poole was eventually traded to the Washington Wizards and never regained his form from the championship run.

  On the 22nd of September 2022, the Boston Celtics suspended head coach Ime Udoka until the 30th of June 2023. A team investigation found he was in a consensual but rule-violating relationship with a female staff member. Assistant Joe Mazzulla became interim head coach and was later given the position permanently. Under Mazzulla, Boston won 57 regular-season games in 2022-23, more than in any season since 2009. The Celtics then fell to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, shooting 21 percent from three-point range. Jayson Tatum turned his ankle on the first play of that game and was never fully effective after.

  On the 22nd of June 2023, Boston traded Marcus Smart, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, to acquire Kristaps Porzingis. Just before training camp, the Celtics added Jrue Holiday through a three-team deal. Holiday had won a championship with the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks. The deal also sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee and Robert Williams III, reigning Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, and draft picks to Portland. The 2022 Finals also produced a broadcast first. In Game 1, Mark Jones, Mark Jackson, and Lisa Salters became the first all-African American team to call an NBA Finals game. Two seasons later, the rebuilt Celtics won 64 regular-season games and lost only three in the playoffs. In the Finals, they defeated the Dallas Mavericks in five games to win their 18th championship. That broke a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most titles in league history.

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