Ends and Beginnings (Warriors 111, Pelicans 95)

Sometime around 7:50 PM on Tuesday, the Warriors’ championship season finally came to an end, and their push to repeat officially began. The ending was joyful and genuine, like the season that came before it. There were no long speeches or self-promoting pronouncements. There were just the coaches, players, front-office staff and owners, gathering one-by-one at center court to collect their rings from the Commissioner and soak up the rapturous energy flowing through the building. At the end of the ceremony, everyone on the floor circled around Stephen Curry, everyone in the building circled around those on the floor, and together, we all watched the Warriors’ championship banner emerge — a simple manifestation of all the blind hope and long-suffering loyalty that last season finally rewarded. Then the music stopped, the rings were collected (Alvin Gentry slyly slipped his into his coat pocket as he returned to the Pelican bench), and the Warriors set off to prove that last season was just the beginning.

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