The Golden State Warriors and their star point guard Stephen Curry were honored at San Francisco City Hall today for their run in the NBA playoffs this year, just the franchise’s second postseason appearance in the past 19 years.
Curry was given an honorary key to the city by Mayor Ed Lee for leading the team into the second round of the playoffs while also setting the NBA regular season record with 272 three-pointers made.
The Warriors were eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals by the San Antonio Spurs in a six-game series that ended last Thursday.
“The entire San Francisco Bay Area is so proud,” Lee said while sporting a bright blue Warriors jacket. “Our city knows the future holds great things.”
Warriors team president Rick Welts thanked the city for welcoming them—the team plans on moving to a new arena being proposed along the city’s waterfront by the start of the 2017 season.
“We’re a lot closer to that dream of 2017,” Welts said.
He mentioned the fans clad in yellow Warriors shirts who stuck around at Oracle Arena in Oakland after the season-ending loss last week to cheer the team and thank them for the successful season.
“It was clear to everybody at that point that this season wasn’t the end of anything, it was the start of something pretty special,” Welts said.
Curry attended the ceremony with his wife and young daughter and thanked Warriors fans for their support.
Hundreds of fans packed into the City Hall rotunda and on walkways along the upper levels of the building.
“The success we had this year, it’s only going to get better,” he said. “We have our sights set on bigger things.”
Curry told the fans, “Keep those yellow shirts crispy and ironed, bottle up that energy and come next October, we’ll start right up on another mission.”
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
