The Chase Center was supercharged with the electric energy of victory — even with four minutes left to go in the game.
That's when the dance team and T-shirt cannons emerged onto the empty basketball court, to the sounds of the Black Eyed Peas singing, "I got a feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night."
Thousands of miles away in Boston, Steph Curry was already getting overwhelmed with emotions, as he collapsed in tears onto the red oak floorboards of the Celtics' TD Garden, with the game clock still ticking.
The basketball game wasn't in San Francisco, but for the crowd that packed the Chase Center to watch the Warriors fight their way to the final win on the giant screen of the NBA's biggest center-hung scoreboard, the taste and smell of victory was every bit as real.
"Champions!!!" screamed countless fans as the clock ran down to zero, leaving the Warriors with a decisive 103-90 victory, winning the NBA Finals in Game 6, and earning them the 2022 NBA championship.
"Four rings! Four!" several other fans repeated, marking the fourth championship for the Warriors in just eight seasons.
Still more fans attending the Chase Center celebration simply screamed, their hands and heads to the sky, as confetti and streamers rained down from the ceiling.
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As the television broadcast went to commercial, Queen's immortal "We Are the Champions" began playing over the loudspeakers, and the crowd stopped cheering to sing along. And as trophies were handed out, fans chanted "MVP!" for Stephen Curry, who was named most valuable player in these NBA Finals.
"We had setbacks — we kept going," said a fan named Oliver from Palo Alto, as others danced and screamed around him. "A lot of different guys chipped in. If one guy was off, another guy chipped in — and it was just a complete team effort."
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Looking up at the scoreboard that now read, simply, "Champions," Oliver added: "I just love this team, man."
The Warriors will celebrate their victory with a parade down Market Street in San Francisco, starting at 11:20 a.m. on Monday.
