The Warriors’ 2022 NBA Title Completes the Redemption Season
Prior to the start of the 2021-2022 regular season, people didn’t talk much about the Golden State Warriors odds of winning the chip. After all, they came short of reaching the 2021 playoffs after losing two straight games in the play-in tournament. It also didn’t help that Klay Thompson was still on the road to recovery from the injuries that sidelined him until January 9, 2022.
Even as the Warriors looked to secure a top-three finish and home-court advantage for the first round of the 2022 playoffs, some remained hesitant to believe Golden State was truly “back”.
After dispatching league MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the first round, few pundits changed their stance. Fewer still thought they could get past Ja Morant and the upstart Grizzlies in the 2nd round either. Even as they downed Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in 5 games to return to the NBA Finals for the 6th time in 8 seasons, critics found ways to say they were the underdog against the Boston Celtics.
In the end though, the Golden State Warriors walked out of TD Garden with the 2022 NBA championship, and the team’s tale of redemption came full circle.
Redemption
If Netflix wanted to make a documentary about the Warriors’ success in 2022, the theme would undoubtedly be “redemption” because the 2021-2022 season was about just that for the dubs. The veteran laden squad proved their doubters wrong, time after time this past season.
Steph Curry, for one, redeemed himself last year as people claimed early on that the Curry effect was already on the decline. Not only did he silence the talking heads, he turned back the clock with vintage performance after vintage performance in the playoffs.
Last December, he rewrote history by smashing Ray Allen’s previous record of 2,973 three-pointers made. Curry’s record now stands at 3,117, and that figure is only going up from here.
Curry exploded for 43 points in Game Four of the 2022 NBA Finals. And to cap it off, the 34-year-old point guard claimed his first Finals MVP award ending one of the sillier “knocks” against his greatness that lived on in the blogosphere.
However, Curry isn’t the only one who got redemption in the form of an NBA championship. If there’s one Golden State player outside of Curry that could be considered the x-factor in the series against Boston, it was Andrew Wiggins.
In February 2020, the Warriors acquired Wiggins from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for D’Angelo Russell, Jacob Evans, and Omari Spellman. Golden State also received two draft picks as part of the deal.
NBA writer Nick Wright went to town on the trade, and has since been largely dragged on the internet for his takes in the aftermath of the deal. Three seasons later, the top pick in the 2014 NBA Draft proved his worth. Not only did he receive his first selection as an All-Star, but he provided the spark in the championship series, especially when Curry’s shots weren’t falling. Even when his offense wasn’t rolling, Wiggins found other ways to contribute as well, often clamping down on Jayson Tatum on the defensive side of the floor.
In the title slugfest against the inexperienced Celtics, the small forward out of Kansas averaged 18.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks. He had 26 points and 13 rebounds in Game Five, when Steph Curry was limited to just 16 points.
It’s no wonder why Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr said before the Boston series “I think the Wiggins trade is the key to all this,”
Can the Warriors Repeat?
For the third straight season, the defending champions were unable to repeat as champs. Incidentally, the last team to win back-to-back titles was Golden State from 2017 to 2018.
Of course, that team had Kevin Durant.
While the Warriors are barely week-old champions, many are already asking: can they win again? Stephen A. Smith has this to say regarding the matter “They [the Warriors] are winning the NBA championship again next year. This time next year, Steph Curry will surpass LeBron James and he will have five [championships]. He will tie Kobe Bryant. He will surpass Shaquille O’Neal,”
Smith also added that Steph Curry is why the Warriors would repeat and that no Western Conference teams could prevent Golden State from returning to the NBA Finals. As bold as Smith’s prediction is, it all boils down to who is healthy enough to continue to play at a high level.
In 2019, Golden State lost Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, and Klay Thompson to injuries. The result: they lost to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals.
It’s never enough to have Steph Curry around if you don’t surround him with a healthy supporting cast. If Klay Thompson can regain more of his pre-injury self, Andrew Wiggins can continue flourishing in the system under Steve Kerr, and if the rest of the league doesn’t catch up, the Warriors could very well be hosting another parade next year.
-Iggy Gonzales