Great Post-Championship Interviews in NBA History

Congrats to the Golden State Warriors, who won the NBA championship last night.

It’s their fourth title since 2015 and caps off an impressive comeback. This is a Warriors team that didn’t even make the playoffs the past two seasons.

Pundits everywhere asked hard-hitting questions like “Are the Warriors done?!” and “Is Draymond Green’s career basically over?!” and “Should I try to cook tempeh at home or will that light my kitchen on fire?!”

But those questions were not overreactions. The Warriors are not, in fact, done. Draymond Green seems like he can still play basketball pretty well (and in Game 6 he even made three-pointers for the first time during the entire NBA Finals). And tempeh is something you can easily make. You’d have to try to set it on fire.

While it was a great win for the Warriors, I was UNIMPRESSED by the postgame interviews (except for Klay Thompson’s usage of “cloud 109” and “holy cannoli,” which were wonderful). You just won a championship! Give us some unfettered greatness.

You know, like these guys did.

Kevin Garnett yelling about what is and is not possible

Before the 2007-08 season, the Boston Celtics traded for both Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Next to Paul Pierce, the Boston Three Party won a championship in their first year together.

It was the first title for all of those guys, and Garnett was understandably ecstatic. During the postgame interview, he could barely contain himself as he told us what was possible (spoiler: it’s anything).

“Anything is possible” was later used as the name for a Garnett documentary and as a line in the song by The Lonely Island for the massively popular song “I’m On A Boat.” Now we just need to get Garnett in some flippy-floppies.

Ron Artest thanks his psychiatrist

Those Celtics only won one championship, but they were one game away from another one in 2010. Alas, they ran into the Los Angeles Lakers, who eked out a victory in a low-scoring game full of putrid offense and (I guess?) good defense.

The Lakers won despite scoring 83 points, and Ron Artest had 20 of them. It was his first championship, and he had a laundry list of people to thank.

Perhaps the most notable one on the list is his psychiatrist. Artest credited her with helping him “relax a lot” and overcome the “commotion” of the NBA playoffs.

Artest had a stressful NBA career up to that point. He admitted to drinking Hennessy during games with the Chicago Bulls, and of course, there was that time he was suspended for 73 games after going into the crowd to fight people.

I interviewed Artest for a story once, and even in that brief conversation, I could tell this is a man who has a million things going on in his mind at any given time. It’s pretty cool that he highlighted mental health way back in 2010 when it certainly was more taboo than it is today.

Steve Kerr saves the day 

This one is cheating a bit because Kerr’s words came during the championship parade for the 1997 Chicago Bulls rather than being yelled right on the court.

But it’s a great speech, so I’m going to allow it.

After Michael Jordan passed out of a double team, Kerr hit the game-winning (and championship-winning) shot to defeat the Utah Jazz.

Addressing a throng of fans in Chicago, Kerr steadfastly shared how he had to bail Jordan — who you may recognize as the star of Space Jam — out yet again.

And it’s delightful. Watch it below.