A sobbing Stephen Curry was in his father Dell’s arms as the last buzzer of the Golden State Warriors’ NBA Finals victory against the Boston Celtics rang on Thursday night. Curry was equally fatigued, overwhelmed, and relieved.
After the 103-90 Game 6 triumph, Curry had a team-high 34 points and was about to win his first Finals MVP award. However, despite all eyes at Boston’s TD Garden being focused on the future Hall of Famer, Curry managed to take a quick break from the chaos.
“I kind of blacked out,” 34-year-old Curry said to reporters.
“Given my personal background, I began preparing for this season a year and a half ago with my off-season workouts after our play-in tournament loss last year,” Curry said in remarks to media. Everything paid off. had no idea how it would transpire. had no idea what to expect from the surroundings. Though the emotions strike differently from what you had anticipated,
Curry’s basketball journey has been remarkable, even for those who are not familiar with him or his large NBA family.
Amid a sea of green-clad Celtics supporters, the older Curry was effortlessly identifiable as he stood near the baseline, cigar in hand, getting ready for his son’s fourth NBA championship.
To be honest with you, Curry admitted, “I had no idea he was down there, out on the floor.” I knew time was kind of running out when I spotted him and lost it. It was so unique that I just wanted to savor the experience.
After seen Dell play for the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors as a child, Curry has experienced these kinds of embraces in the past, first as the encouraging son and then as an NBA champion.
However, after two underwhelming seasons, Curry believed something was different in the closing stages of Thursday’s Game 6.
After Klay Thompson missed two seasons due to two career-threatening injuries and Kevin Durant signed a free agent contract to play for Brooklyn in 2019, it was believed that the Warriors dynasty was over. Golden State was eliminated in the play-in round prior to the 2021 postseason after finishing in the NBA’s bottom half in 2020.
If Curry’s three prior championships demonstrated his potential for Hall of Fame status, then his fourth league title and first Finals MVP honor solidified his status as one of the sport’s most tenacious winners. Curry has demonstrated that he is the “greatest point guard of all time,” according to longtime colleague Andre Iguodala. Head coach Steve Kerr called the 2022 Finals Curry’s “crowning achievement.”
Four years after LeBron James, the city’s favorite son, Curry was born in the same hospital in Akron, Ohio. The quick-shooting Dell was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1988 at the time, but he later became well-known with the Hornets and contributed to the spread of the 3-point shot in the NBA.
In the end, Dell concluded his career in Toronto, where Stephen Curry could frequently be seen hoisting up shots at the Air Canada Centre, where he was a fixture alongside his father and younger brother Seth.
After Dell retired in 2002, the family—including mother Sonya and sister Sydel—returned to the Charlotte region, where Seth excelled in high school at a nearby Christian school with plans to follow in his father’s footsteps and attend Virginia Tech. (Sydel has filed for divorce from Dell; Sydney is now wed to Warriors guard Daimon Lee.)
Despite his shooting prowess, Curry’s release point was much too low for the collegiate level. During a period when college recruiters were evaluating his prospects at the next level, the 160-pound guard had to modify his shooting form because shots from his waist may be easily deflected by taller players in the NCAA.
He and Dell worked on his jumper with an apparently never-ending schedule of drills throughout the summer before his sophomore year.
“For me, it was the most frustrating summer ever,” Curry said in a 2013 interview with Sports Illustrated.
“For the first three weeks, I really couldn’t shoot outside the paint,” he added. “Every summer at camp, I would get comments like, ‘Who are you, and why are you playing basketball?’” It took me a month and a half to eventually figure it out, and I was really that horrible.
Curry was therefore only given the option to walk on at Virginia Tech. In the end, he accepted a scholarship offer from small Davidson, an underdog basketball team surrounded by elite schools like Duke and the University of North Carolina.
Though it very well might have been the last word from the Curry clan, the 6-foot-3 point guard instead began to make 3-pointers. As a freshman, he shot 40.8 percent from beyond the arc. As a sophomore, he shot an incredible 43.9 percent and established an NCAA record for the most 3-pointers made in a season (162).
Even though he fell short of his previous year’s average of 38.7 percent, he still led the country in scoring with 28.6 points per game.
The Warriors selected Curry with the seventh overall choice in the 2009 NBA Draft. Soon after, Thompson, another Splash Brother, Draymond Green, and, in 2014, Kerr, would also join Curry.
Since then, Curry has made more 3-pointers than any other player in NBA history (3,117), revolutionizing the game and elevating the shot to the status of a crucial weapon for any contending team.
He has been selected for eight All-Star teams, won two NBA MVP awards, been named to four NBA First Teams, and is regarded by many as the best shooter in NBA history, if not the best ball handler as well. If the accolades weren’t enough, the Warriors have paid him $254 million in salary. He also has four years and almost $210 million left on his current deal.
Despite all of his achievements, Curry has never seemed more worthy than he does right now as the MVP of the Finals and four-time NBA champion.
“You want Steph to win a finals MVP, and I know he said it doesn’t matter,” said Green. “But as a competitor, you want that to be on your resume.” ‘Well merited for him. It’s been in the works for a while. However, he made it clear. left no room for doubt. He carried us. And we represent champions here.