The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics 103-90 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday to seal the series 4-2 and win their seventh NBA Championship.

Stephen Curry drained six triples to score 34 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals for the Warriors, averaging 31.2 points and 5.2 triples at a 43.7-percent 3-point rate over the series. He deserves the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Trophy. No one else came close.

It was Curry's first Finals MVP Award and fourth Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy on his sixth Finals trip. The last time he won the title in 2018, Kevin Durant was still his teammate, Klay Thompson still had healthy legs free from a torn ACL and an Achilles tendon injury, and the Warriors were still playing against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the fourth straight time.

Curry lost the Finals in 2019, lost Durant to the Brooklyn Nets and lost Thompson for two entire seasons to injuries. His team finished the 2019-20 season with a poor 15-50 record and then missed the playoffs due to losses in the play-in tournament in the 2020-21 season.

After the 2020-21 season, Curry said everyone would fear the Warriors when they returned. They finished the 2021-22 regular season with a 53-29 record, ranking third in the Western Conference. They knocked out the Denver Nuggets led by back-to-back NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, the explosive Memphis Grizzlies and rising star Ja Morant, the dark horse Dallas Mavericks and their super genius Luka Doncic, before defeating the Celtics and their epic defense in the Finals.

In his 13th season in the League, Curry remained as lethal as always at the 3-point line, where he could make 4.5 shots at a 38-percent rate. He beat Ray Allen's all-time 3-point shooting record. But there was something different about him. The 34-year-old veteran became stronger, especially with his upper body. As a result, the Warriors' opponents realized that attacking Curry ceased to work as well as before.

The Celtics were not an exception on Thursday night. From 1.90-meter tall, 99-kilogram Marcus Smart and 1.98-meter-tall, 101-kilogram Jaylen Brown, to 2.03-meter-tall 95-kilogram Jayson Tatum and 2.06-meter-tall, 108-kilogram Al Horford, none of them got the better of Curry in isolation possessions.

Of course, the Warriors' excellent defense came from teamwork. Andrew Wiggins, Green, Thompson and Gary Payton II combined to deliver 11 steals. The team stuck to switching and regular help without trapping too much on the defensive end in Game 6, but when they decided to double-team the Celtics' ball-handler, especially Tatum, they always managed to strip the ball from his hands.

Tatum was not the only one on his team who was careless with the ball on Thursday. He and Brown committed five turnovers in addition to another 12 by their teammates. The Celtics were not tough enough to protect the rebounds either as they watched the Warriors grab 15 offensive rebounds and turn them into 21 second-chance points.

The Celtics had an amazingly fast start to Game 6, establishing a 14-2 lead in less than three minutes. They seemed ready to win at home and extend the series to Game 7 at that moment. Nonetheless, the two quick personal fouls by Smart a little more than two minutes in the first quarter gave the team a head-on blow because they had to put the Defensive Player of the Year this season on the bench for protection after that.

The absence of Smart set Curry free. When Curry could breathe freely on the offensive end, the Warriors' attacks grew much smoother and more creative. They had a 22-2 run in the following five minutes and led by as many as 22 points (72-50) in the third quarter.

Horford became the first Celtic to stand out by making three triples in the third quarter. He was joined by Brown, who shot 4-for-5 from the field to contribute 10 points in this quarter. They managed to cut the deficit to as little as nine points (74-65). Usually, this was the time for the team's ace to take over. In the Celtics' case, that role should go to Tatum.

However, Tatum failed to respond to expectations. Having scored 11 points in the first half, he shot 1-for-8 from the court to get only two points in the second half. Making unreasonable offensive choices was one thing, but he was totally lost in the game, judging by his facial expressions and body language. In his first NBA Finals series, 24-year-old Tatum was having cold feet in the elimination game. The great defensive work by Wiggins and Green made him uncomfortable, but Tatum has his own problems to overcome, both physically and mentally.

Perhaps Tatum's underperformance was why coach Ime Udoka didn't cut his rotation to intensive seven or even six players. Though he didn't give Grant Williams, Derrick White or Payton Pritchard too much time on Thursday night, the three had the worst plus-minus stats on the court.

On the Warriors' side, coach Steve Kerr cut his rotation to eight players, fewer than usual but long enough for key members to get some rest. Otto Porter Jr started for the third straight game, and this time delivered solid contributions by making two 3-pointers in the third quarter. Payton II's aggressive defense and smart cuttings toward the rim made up for his lack of shooting range. Kevon Loony played only 21 minutes, but had as many as six offensive rebounds during that period of time. Jordan Poole received less time than Looney, but he exploited his 17 minutes efficiently to get 15 points.

The climax of the victory still belonged to the starting players. Thompson failed to rain 3-pointers like many had expected him to in Game 6, but he was playing a key part in the Warriors' offensive system by moving all over the floor alone. Wiggins destroyed every Celtic that tried to challenge him on the defensive end with four steals and three blocks. The four triples he made also punished hard the opponent's defensive choice to leave him open. He might stay in Tatum's head like a nightmare for a long time.

And then there was Green, who has been under a lot of criticism for his retrograding offense, short temper and trouble-causing behavior. As a smart and elite defender, he knows when and how to remain calm in a game, as he did on Thursday. What most didn't predict was that he would make two 3-pointers and one middle-range jumper next to the top of the key. The Celtics were too used to leaving him open, and they were proved right in doing so since Green missed all of his 11 attempts from downtown in the previous five games of the series. When a player begins to make shots like these from outside, the mental damage on the defenders would be bigger than the 12 points he scored.

Having spent two years rebuilding from almost nothing, the Warriors have made it back to the NBA throne in 2022, the fourth time in eight years. Despite their frightening payroll, the team is reportedly willing to keep Poole and Wiggins on big contracts. If they manage to do so, they are likely to continue being one of the best teams in the NBA in the coming seasons.