Warriors superstar Stephen Curry received his third NBA championship ring Tuesday and never expects to get tired of such ceremonies.
The Golden State Warriors celebrated its 2017-18 title win ahead of tip-off in its season opener against the Thunder, with a new banner unfurled in the rafters at Oracle Arena. The two-time MVP reveled in the occasion and asked for specific measures should he ever become apathetic about these sorts of celebrations.
"[It was] kind of an emotional night for a lot of different reasons. Obviously you want to celebrate the championship and get the rings and watch the banner drop, then you've got to turn the page quickly," said Curry after scoring 32 points in a 108-100 victory.
"It's special. I remember looking up there and there was only Philadelphia Warriors banners and the '74-75 teams, so to come into Oracle every night— even in our practice facility — look up on the wall and the rafters and see three championship banners that we brought back to the Bay, it's amazing."
"I don't think I'll ever be at a point where it's kind of a 'blah' moment when you're receiving a ring and seeing a banner come down and seeing all those trophies. If that ever happens I hope someone just slaps me in the face and smacks some sense into me because this is a special opportunity we have."
READ | Curry, Durant lead Warriors past Thunder
Curry acknowledged the Warriors was not in peak condition for the start of the season, but he has no doubt it will stay on an upward trajectory.
"I mean it's the first game. Honestly, we didn't go crazy-hard running sprints and doing suicides in training camp because we've been here before, we know how to continue to build up and pace ourselves so we don't burn out in January or February," he said.
"That's just kind of part of the beast of playing as many games as we have over the last four years and looking to try to repeat that this year. Guys are accountable for themselves and we all know what we need to do to continue to get better and I obviously expect that to happen."
Kevin Durant, Finals MVP the last two seasons, said the hard-fought, gritty victory over the Thunder was likely to be a sign of things to come from Golden State.
"Coming into the game, we were excited about kind of finishing off last season with the ring ceremony, but every game is not gonna be a 140-99 shootout for us," Durant said.
"We are a team that can play tough, play physical … there's going to be more games like that this season, especially with teams starting to catch up a little bit with what we do and our schemes.
"You're gonna have to appreciate those type of games from us because it's going to happen more times than not."
Comments
SHARE