Basketball
Knicks win NBA Finals in five games, draw record viewership
ESPN•128d ago
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, the Warriors moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1962 and took the city's name, before changing its geographic moniker to Golden State in 1971. The club plays its home games at the Chase Center. The Warriors won the inaugural Basketball Association of America (BAA) championship in 1947, and won again in 1956, led by Hall of Fame trio Paul Arizin, Tom Gola, and Neil Johnston. After the trade of star Wilt Chamberlain in January 1965, the team finished the 1964–65 season with the NBA's worst record (17–63). Their rebuilding period was brief due in large part to the Warriors' drafting of Rick Barry four months after the trade. In 1975, star players Barry and Jamaal Wilkes powered the Warriors to their third championship, widely considered one of the biggest upsets in NBA history. The team struggled in the 1980s, then became playoff regulars at the turn of the decade with stars Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin, nicknamed "Run TMC". The team returned to championship glory in 2015, led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green; they won again in 2017 and 2018 (with the help of former MVP Kevin Durant) and again in 2022. Nicknamed the "Dubs" as a shortening of "W's", the Warriors hold several NBA records: best regular season, most wins in a season (regular season and postseason combined), and best postseason run. Curry and Thompson are generally considered among the greatest backcourts of all time. The Warriors have the third most NBA championships and have the third most Finals appearances; only the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics have more. The Warriors are the second most valuable NBA franchise and the sixth-highest valued sports franchise in the world, with an estimated value of $4.7 billion.
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