Lacob explains significance of ’22 title, moment he won’t forget originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Bringing the Larry O’Brien Championship trophy to the Bay isn’t new to Warriors owner Joe Lacob, as he now has done it four times in eight seasons.
But it doesn’t make each time any less special. In fact, the Warriors’ 2022 championship felt different to Lacob for a variety of reasons.
He explained on The Athletic’s “The TK Show” how privileged he feels to even be able to compare championships, and then explained what separated this year’s from others.
“I’m very lucky to be able to even answer that question. How does this one feel compared to the others? It does feel different to answer your question,” Lacob said. “The first one will always be special because it was the first one, and it was a great achievement, it was our big goal. The next two were certainly great. But this one maybe [was] a little more unexpected to some extent, although I did have high expectations for us this year but I’m not sure we could’ve expected to win it all.
“I think if we could’ve gotten to the Finals, we would’ve felt quite good in terms of where our team was, we had a lot of injuries throughout the year, so I think the way it all came together, not having the whole team healthy until the very beginning of the playoffs, I think it was a great playoff run and I think will go down as something quite special.”
Not to mention, every other Warriors’ title under Lacob came after an NBA Finals win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It was something new for Warriors fans, but something oddly familiar for Lacob, who grew up in the Boston area and loved the Celtics.
Winning at home inside Chase Center would have been nice for the Warriors and Dub Nation, but winning Game 6 at TD Garden was just as sweet for Lacob.
“The fact that we could play the Celtics, who were, as a kid anyway, they were everything,” Lacob said. “In the ‘60s, they were the dynasty in the early days of the NBA. So the fact that we could do it on the parquet floor, not the original parquet floor, but in Boston with that crazy crowd, the fact that by most, were thought to be more athletic and favored maybe in the beginning of the series, so I think it was pretty special.”
RELATED: Lacob says Dubs couldn’t entertain matching GP2’s contract
While Lacob has seen plenty of success with the Warriors over the years, there’s no sign of that changing anytime soon.
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