Warriors celebrate championship with parade, champagne and ice cream

[June 21, 2022] By Rory Carroll

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of jubilant blue-and-gold clad Golden State Warriors fans lined Market Street in San Francisco on Monday to celebrate the team's fourth NBA championship triumph in eight years.

The players, who beat the Boston Celtics 4-2 for the title, basked in the adoration of the crowd with several of them leaving their buses to embrace delirious "Dubs" fans under sunny skies clouded only by blasts of confetti.

"This one is the sweetest," a champagne-soaked Draymond Green told Reuters as he took a break from the festivities to pick up an ice cream sundae.

After finishing with the worst record in the league in 2020 and missing the playoffs last season, few experts thought the Warriors and their aging core would reach the pinnacle again.

But led by sharpshooting guards Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, emotional leader Green and a stellar supporting cast, the team got healthy in time for the playoffs and rolled from there to claim the franchise's seventh title overall.

The team has clearly relished proving the doubters wrong.

"What they gonna say now?" Curry, who took home Finals MVP honors, tweeted alongside a photo of him with an armful of trophies and a cigar in his mouth atop his parade bus.

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (middle left) gestures while standing with wife Ayesha (far left) and guard Damion Lee (middle right) and his wife Sydel Curry (far right) during the Golden State Warriors championship parade in downtown San Francisco. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The team's success even surpassed head coach Steve Kerr's expectations.

"When we started camp, I thought we could be pretty good but I didn't know we could win the whole thing," said Kerr, who has five championships as a player and four as the Warriors coach.

"So to be sitting here enjoying the parade today and feeling the love of the whole Bay Area, it's pretty incredible."

Now that the pressure is off, Green said he had just one plan for the summer.

"Chill. Worldwide chill," he said with a smile.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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